Doug Laustsen is a musician and educator originally from New Jersey and currently living in Austin, TX.
As a composer, he writes music for interactive electronics and electronically assisted musicians. This has included a piece commissioned by Meerenai Shim and installations that have been shown at NMASS and Austin’s Soundspace at the Blanton Museum of Art. You can see more of his projects here.
As a trombonist he plays or fills in with Austin groups performing a mix that includes reggae, afrobeat, and things not so easily described. Before coming to Austin, he led a Philadelphia based group performing arrangements of iconic video game and television music called Beta Test Music.
In the past he has been a radio host on WRSU-FM, the college radio station of his alma mater Rutgers University called Endless Possibilities. He is also an educator working with students from six to adult and in settings ranging from one to a hundred people. Currently he teaches privately and with Austin Soundwaves. He can be found on facebook, twitter, instagram, and e-mail.
the Performers for the June 3rd performance Were:
Seetha Shivaswamy, Flutist, performs as a soloist and chamber musician in concerts throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. She has toured internationally with and recorded for Grammy/Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman, and is the featured flutist on his single ‘Pray for Me Brother’ written for the United Nations. Her flute playing can also be heard on NYC-based experimental artist DJ Spooky’s album ‘The Secret Song’, the soundtrack to 2012 film ‘Bernie’ starring Jack Black and Shirley MacClaine, the UK feature ‘Bombil and Beatrice’, released at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, and on the soundtrack for Terrence Malick’s film ‘To The Wonder’, starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams. She has been a featured performer at South by Southwest Music Festival, Fusebox Festival, SAARANG at IIT Madras, and Austin Chamber Music Festival. Seetha’s flute playing can also be heard on several recordings for PBS documentaries, TV commercials, and video games. Seetha holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor’s Degree from Ball State University, where she studied classical flute performance with Karl Kraber and Julia Larson Mattern. She has a certificate in contemporary flute technique and improvisation from her studies in Europe with the Dutch Flute Virtuoso Wil Offermans. Other mentors include Emmanuel Pahud of the Berlin Philharmonic, Ransom Wilson of Yale University, and Edward Beckett of London Symphony Orchestra. Seetha is a faculty artist with Austin Chamber Music Center, teaches students from the El-Sistema inspired program Austin Soundwaves, and maintains an active private flute studio. www.austinflute.com
Spencer Johnson is an Austin based saxophone player, originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He’s played with a number of groups in the Austin area, ranging from reggae to funk to afrobeat. In his free time, he teaches math at Austin Community College. He likes carbohydrates and excuses to use the low A key on his bari sax. You can follow him on instagram if you want to see sporadically posted pictures of food and animals.
Originally from Australia, Sarah Brown came to the US to undertake a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, which she completed in May 2016. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance from the West Australian Academy of the Performing Arts, and a first-class Honours Degree in Performance and Research from the University of Melbourne.
Sarah performs regularly with professional orchestras, new music groups, and rock bands. She has played trumpet with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Air Force Band. Sarah has toured China multiple times with the Australian Concert Orchestra and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sarah moved to Austin to make friends and eat tacos. She is a teaching artist for Austin Soundwaves, an El Sistema-inspired music program dedicated to providing quality music education to the underserved members of the Austin community.
Tiago da Silva is a self taught multi-instrumentalist who studied film composition and orchestration at Berklee College of Music. He has a background in jazz improv, electronic music, and sound design for film and applies these various approaches to his music.
Alan Retamozo is an active composer and guitarist based out of Austin, TX. He collaborates in a diverse array of creative ensembles as well as his own Slant Ensemble. More info at www.alan-retamozo.com
Steve Parker is a musician, artist, and curator who creates communal, democratic work to examine history, systems, and behavior. His projects include elaborate civic rituals for humans, animals, and machines; listening sculptures made from salvaged marching band instruments that are modeled after obsolete WWII acoustic locators; and cathartic transportation symphonies for operators of cars, pedicabs, and bicycles. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2004 and a Harrington Scholar in 2009.
Parker has performed and exhibited at leading venues and festivals internationally. Highlights include Art Basel Miami Beach, the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Lincoln Center Festival, the Fusebox Festival, Tanglewood, Los Angeles Philharmonic inSIGHT, the Stone, Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans), the Blanton Museum of Art, the Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia), the Contemporary Austin, Bowerbird, and the Gene Siskel Film Center (Chicago). As a soloist and as an artist of NYC-based “new music dream team” Ensemble Signal, he has premiered 200+ new works.
Parker has been awarded support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, the Copland Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Mid America Arts Alliance. He is the Curator of SoundSpace at the Blanton Museum of Art, Executive Director of Collide Arts, and faculty at UTSA. He holds degrees in Math and Music from Oberlin, Rice, and UT Austin.