Rodney Waschka II
Director of Arts Studies
Interdisciplinary Studies
Winston Hall 101
Bio
Rodney Waschka II is perhaps best known for his music made with compositional algorithms and his theatrical pieces including three unusual one-act operas. An internationally recognized expert on computer music, Waschka also performs as a narrator/vocalist/actor — often with electronic music. His works are regularly presented across the world and recorded by labels in the USA, England, Portugal, Canada, Poland, and Australia. His poetry has been published in the New York Quarterly, RE:AL, Jones Ave., and elsewhere.
Waschka also directs the Arts NOW Series.
Responsibilities
Director of the Arts Studies Program.
Director of the Arts NOW Series, which presents concerts, lectures, and other performing arts events for the University community and the general public. The Arts NOW Series programs feature contemporary work in the arts: new works, new techniques, new interpretations and contexts, and new connections to older work.
Research Publications
Recent and Upcoming Recordings:
Composer, A Note for Joe Alexander, flute and tuba, Phasma Records, forthcoming.
Re-Release — Composer, Euwe Suite and Runes, on the Blank Forms boxed set of all recordings from Jerry Hunt’s IRIDA record label. New York, NY: Blank Forms, 2022. Available here.
Composer, Riding with Phil, flute and string trio, Iwona Glinka, flute; Yaroslav Tokarev violin; lias Sdoukos, viola; and Renato Ripo cello; album: “Teth”. Kwidzyn, Poland: Phasma Records, Phasma 023, June, 2021. Available here.
Performer, A Tuesday with Rodney (duration 20 minutes), for vocalist and real-time interactive computer music, Jeff Morris, composer and electronic computer music performer, on the compact disc, Hearing Voices: Human Sounds, Digital Ears, North Hampton, NH: Ravello Records, RR8033, 2020. Available here.
Composer, Considering Jupiter, amplified piano and electronic computer music, Olga Kleiankina, piano. Lansing, Michigan: Blue Griffin Records, BGR505, July, 2019. Available here.
Composer, Film Noir Trailer, for two speaking flutists, Iwona Glinka, flutes. Kwidzyn, Poland: Phasma Records 004, September, 2018. Available here.
Composer, Au Revoir, Svetozar, for string quartet and zheng, performed by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. Hobart, Australia: Ablaze Records, AR 00032, March, 2017. Available here.
Recent and Upcoming Performances and Publications:
Waschka’s compositions in bold italics:
July 10, 2024: Premiere of A Note for Joe Alexander at the Greek National Opera as part of the Phasma New Music Days.
February 1, 2024: Premiere of Piano Suite performed by Yifei Xu at Columbia University sponsored by the NYC Contemporary Music Symposium.
January 16, 2024: Premiere of the alto sax version of Cogito Lodewijk Heyligen, performed by Phil Barham at NCSU.
November 4, 2023: Premiere of Trialogue performed by the Athenia Trio at the SCI Conference in Athens, OH.
October 22, 2023: New York City premiere of Slippery Rock Stomp in Tribeca.
September 28, 2023: Performances of Waschka pieces A Portrait of Bessie Coleman, Harriet Quimby, Mary Lady Heath, and Raymonde De Laroche; La Verdad; A Portrait of Pablo Picasso by One of His Lovers; and Shoelace along with performances by Waschka of pieces by Peter Garland, Tera de Marez Owens, and Allen Strange at NCSU in Raleigh.
September 28, 2023: Premiere of Slippery Rock Stomp at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. Two performances.
September 24, 2023: Screening of Inside Scofield at the 66th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, Monterey, CA, USA.
September 2, 2023: Screening of Inside Scofield at the MusicFilm Festival, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
October 18, 2022: Documentary film, Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (Waschka, associate producer) available on Blu-ray and DVD and available for streaming via Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer here.
September 2021: Tom Moore interview with Waschka published in Sul Ponticello (in Spanish). Check it out here: https://sulponticello.com/seccion/zoom/conversando-con-rodney-waschka/
R. Waschka II, “Minimal Fitness Functions in Genetic Algorithms for the Composition of Piano Music” Proceedings of the 2015 ICMC, San Francisco: ICMA, 2015, pp. 408-411.
Presentations
June 17, 2019: Keynote speaker at the international Music Meta-Creation Conference.
Projects
Minimal Fitness Functions for Genetic Algorithms in Music
Dynamical Systems as Compositional Algorithms
Education
Doctor of Musical Arts Computer Music/Media University of North Texas
Area(s) of Expertise
Music Composition, Algorithmic Composition, Electronic Music