Butch Rovan
- Composer
Joseph Butch Rovan, the composer and performer of electronic music, is
currently a faculty member of the Department of Music at Brown
University, where he also serves as the director of the Multimedia &
Electronic Music Experiments and co-director of the doctorate program
in Computer Music and Multimedia. Rovan has published many articles
about gestural control and interactivity based on his own research.
Before he chose an academic life, Butch Rovan was a member of a rock 'n' roll band, playing saxophone and doubling as lead singer. During the 1980s, he toured extensively before studying contemporary music at the University of California, Berkeley. His experience as a performer led him to develop responsive electronic devices to incorporate the aural aspects of live performance to electronic music.
After Berkely, Rovan worked as the product manager for MAX, OMS and MIDI hardware. In 1992, he composed the music for the underground feature film Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers (1992), which so far, is his sole movie score. In the 1990s, Rovan served two years as a "compositeur en recherché" with the Real-Time Systems Team at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris. He then founded the computer music studios at Florida State University before becoming of the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia at the University of North Texas.
Rovan's compositions have been performed throughout Asia, Europe and the United States; he frequently performs his own work, including concerts for custom gestural controllers, clarinet and interactive electronics. His work "Continuities," for glove controller and interactive electronics, was performed at the 1999 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Beijing, as well as at the 2000 SEAMUS national conference at UNT. Other recent concerts include the 1999 Seventh Biennial Symposium for Arts and Technology at Connecticut College and the 2000 University of Florida Computer Music conference. He performed in August with clarinet and interactive electronics at the ICMC in Berlin.
Rovan is the recipient of several awards, including a jury selection and second prize in the 1998 and 2001 Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competitions, and a first prize in the 2002 Berlin Transmediale International Media Arts Festival.
Before he chose an academic life, Butch Rovan was a member of a rock 'n' roll band, playing saxophone and doubling as lead singer. During the 1980s, he toured extensively before studying contemporary music at the University of California, Berkeley. His experience as a performer led him to develop responsive electronic devices to incorporate the aural aspects of live performance to electronic music.
After Berkely, Rovan worked as the product manager for MAX, OMS and MIDI hardware. In 1992, he composed the music for the underground feature film Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers (1992), which so far, is his sole movie score. In the 1990s, Rovan served two years as a "compositeur en recherché" with the Real-Time Systems Team at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris. He then founded the computer music studios at Florida State University before becoming of the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia at the University of North Texas.
Rovan's compositions have been performed throughout Asia, Europe and the United States; he frequently performs his own work, including concerts for custom gestural controllers, clarinet and interactive electronics. His work "Continuities," for glove controller and interactive electronics, was performed at the 1999 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Beijing, as well as at the 2000 SEAMUS national conference at UNT. Other recent concerts include the 1999 Seventh Biennial Symposium for Arts and Technology at Connecticut College and the 2000 University of Florida Computer Music conference. He performed in August with clarinet and interactive electronics at the ICMC in Berlin.
Rovan is the recipient of several awards, including a jury selection and second prize in the 1998 and 2001 Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competitions, and a first prize in the 2002 Berlin Transmediale International Media Arts Festival.