Professor Scott Wilson BFA, MA, Mus Doc

BFA Simon Fraser, MA Wesleyan, Mus. Doc Toronto

For the past three decades Scott Wilson’s music and sound art has explored the intersection of a variety of different and sometimes contradictory practices. Combining aspects of instrumental/vocal composition, field recording, immersive multichannel electroacoustic sound and visuals, cross-cultural collaboration, live coding and improvisation in works that are each a bespoke solution to a unique artistic problem, his output holds few firm allegiances to schools, styles or genres, and regularly transgresses the boundaries of the ‘acceptable’ to be found in even the most supposedly experimental fields of artistic practice. A particular interest in collaboration has led to a rich range of output, including cross-cultural and interdisciplinary works. These and other pieces including hyperreal soundscapes using sound from the natural world, a collaborative musical palimpsest on classic Qawwali recordings, and music created by sonifying the particle collisions of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have been presented around the world. Also active as an educator and mentor for young artists, he is the co-director of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) and since 2004 has taught at the University of Birmingham.

I regularly teach on both undergraduate and postgraduate syllabuses with a specific focuses on musical composition (both instrumental and electronic), electronic music performance, and spatial audio.

I am happy to supervise students interested in instrumental and/or electronic composition (including mixing the two), particularly those undertaking projects involving realtime computer music environments such as SuperCollider, immersive audio, multimedia, live electronic performance, network music, live coding, and sonification. I also supervise ‘technical’ projects where appropriate, and performance practice projects involving contemporary music and/or technology.

Find out more - our Music postgraduate study  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

As a composer my research focuses on musical composition for both acoustic instruments and electroacoustic resources. I have a particular interest in immersive audio, real-time interactive computer systems, live coding, sonification, and works mixing electronic sound and live performers. I have a longstanding interest in cross-cultural collaboration, in particular with practitioners in Asia. I am also active in the development community of SuperCollider, a DSP and audio synthesis programming language. I was the lead editor of The SuperCollider Book, the second edition of which was published in 2025 by MIT Press.

Further information about my musical activities and my career can be found on my personal site: https://scottwilson.ca

Research group(s)

As part of my research and the Department’s focuses on Composition and Electroacoustic music, I work closely with colleagues and postgraduate researchers within Centre for Electronic Music. This involves many external concerts and performances, in particular with BEAST.

My compositions have been presented internationally (the U.S., the U.K., Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Colombia, etc.) with notable performances at the Huddersfield Festival, ZKMusikFest (Germany), Inventionen (Germany), the Open Ears Festival (Canada), CMMAS (Mexico), Centro Nacional de las Artes Delia Zapata Olivella (Colombia), the National Arts Centre (Canada), IntAct (Thailand) and elsewhere. They have been broadcast on CBC Radio (Canada), the BBC, Concertzender (Netherlands) and Radio France. I am a regular performer of live electronic music, both alone and with others (for example as half of the duo Scirk with Dirk Stromberg). My written work has been published by Cambridge University Press, MIT Press, and in journals such as Organised Sound, The Computer Music Journal, Leonardo and Pulse.  I have given keynote presentations at events in Athens, Birmingham, Bangkok, and Shanghai, and regularly present and/or perform at conferences and festivals around the world.

Further information and examples of my work are available at http://scottwilson.ca