Tod Machover, composer and Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab

Machover has received numerous awards for his work, including a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres from the French government and, most recently, the first Ray Kurzweil Prize for music and technology. He has designed and built Hyperinstruments—a field 
he founded to augment musical expression using smart computers — for the most diverse musical performers and situations, such as Yo-Yo-Ma, Prince, the Boston Pops, and Disney's Epcot Center.

He has composed five operas, including the science fiction Valis (based on Philip K. Dick's novel), Resurrection, and the audience-interactive Brain Opera, now permanently installed at Vienna's House of Music. One recent project, Toy Symphony, used specially designed hi-tech Music Toys to introduce children to musical creativity in radically new ways, enabling them to collaborate with world-class orchestras and soloists in high visibility concerts.

Machover studied at The Juilliard School with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions. He is currently Professor of Music & Media at the MIT Media Lab, and has recently been named Visiting Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Due to technical difficulties, the tape of this keynote is not available. More information on Machover's opera-in-progress Death and the Powers is available on his website.