Sam Salem (co-artistic director, composer) creates audiovisual works for performers, electronics and video, which challenge traditional notions of concert presentation and instrumental virtuosity. All of Sam’s work is intrinsically cross-disciplinary. He works with field-recordings, generative models, audio analysis and re-synthesis, amplification and objects / “devised instruments”, extended instrumental performance techniques, embedded electronic devices for DSP and sounds synthesis, and digital animation techniques and videography. His work therefore draws upon electronic and computer music, instrumental composition, visual art, computer science, and English literature. He have a lot of interests!

Fortunately, my chosen idiom allows me to combine these freely, with the aim of synthesising and exploring new languages and forms of expression. If I were to attempt to briefly summarise my aesthetic interests, I would say that my work is primarily concerned with ambiguity and notions of the Uncanny, i.e. the strangely familiar. I see huge potential for exploring this particular territory through the use of machine-learning and A.I. processes. It is therefore apt that my first research project as PRiSM Lecturer in Composition is to explore the use of machine-learning in audio synthesis in collaboration with PRiSM’s Research Software Engineer, Christopher Melen. - Sam Salem

Sam’s acousmatic compositions have been performed in concerts and festivals around the world. He has received a number of awards and mentions for his work, most recently: Concours Luc Ferrari (2012, Winner), the Luigi Russolo Competition (2012, Audience Award / Jury Special Mention), Prix Destollos (2012, Nomination by Grand Jury), Metamorphoses (2012, Finalist) and Prize Phonologia (2013-2012, Finalist). He has undertaken a number of compositional residencies, including STEIM (2011/2012), TU Berlin (2012), and Musique et Recherches (2011), and recently completed a residency at La Muse En Circuit (Paris 2012/2013). He currently teaches at Leeds College of Music.