Natasha Barrett
- Year of birth, place
- 1972, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Role at the ZKM
- Guest Artist
- Institute / Department
- Institute for Music and Acoustics
- At the ZKM
2009
- Biography
Natasha Barrett (*1972, NO/ UK) composes acousmatic and live electroacoustic concert works, sound-art, installations and interactive music. Her inspiration comes from the natural and social world around us: the way it sounds and behaves, systems, processes and resulting phenomena. These interests have led her to use cutting-edge audio technologies and exciting collaborations involving soloists, ensembles, visual artists, architects and scientists.
The musical application of spatial audio in its contemporary music context has guided her work since the late 1990's. The composition »Little Animals« (1997) was a breakthrough in her career as an acousmatic composer, and since then, she has produced acousmatic compositions in formats spanning traditional stereo for sound diffusion performance, Wavefield Synthesis and 7th order 3D Ambisonics.
Prominent amongst her audio-visual collaborations has been work with the »OpenEndedGroup« and Marc Downie, commissioned by IRCAM (FR), EMPAC (USA) and the Ultima Festival (NO). These exciting works are challenging to install, yet nevertheless have been performed in Europe, USA, Norway and Taiwan. Interactive installation collaborations have included bioluminescence and 3D immersive sound spaces with Anthony Rowe from Squidsoup (UK), large sound-architectural installations with OCEAN Design Research Network (NO), and sonification-based installations and compositions created in collaboration with geoscientists at the University of Oslo.
Her work is commissioned and performed throughout the world and she has received a solid list of international awards. These have included the Nordic Council Music Prize for the work »The Fetters of a Dream«, and the prize Euphonie d'Or of the Bourges International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (IMEB) for the work »Utility of Space« which, in their words, »represents particularly brilliant moments in the history of electroacoustic music«.
Beside her work as an independent composer, she is active in artistic performance, education and research.
