Bang on a Can

Born in 1982, Tristan Perich began formally composing at age 10. As a teen he attended Philips Academy, Andover, then went on to Columbia University where he received degrees in music, math and computer science. More recently, he received his master's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch School of the Arts in 2007.

In all of his creative activities, Perich is inspired by the aesthetics of math and physics, and works with simple forms and complex systems. The challenge of elegance provokes his compositions for solo instruments, small ensemble and orchestra. As a visual artist, he works primarily with machines to create pen-on-paper drawings that explore the limits of traditional drawing through randomness and order. Cantaloupe Music and Perich found one another when he attended the Bang on a Can Summer Institute in 2002.

In 2004 he began work on 1-Bit Music, combining his music with primitive, hand-programmed electronics that investigate the foundations of digital sound. Early versions of the device were received with excitement by the international electronic music community and press, including BPM Magazine, Res Magazine, Wired News and Cool Hunting. Surface Magazine called the boxes "profound throwbacks to the traditional album, a response to the intangibility of iTunes and mp3s in the form hand-held artwork."

Perich's compositions have been performed in New York, New Haven and Australia as well as at Mass MoCA by ensembles including counter)induction, Due East, Y Trio and Ensemble Pamplemousse. His recent activities include electroacoustic pieces for 1-Bit Music with instrumental accompaniment; a composition for ten violins and ten-channel 1-Bit Music, "Active Field," which will be performed in summer 2007 at PS1; and work with the experimental electronic ensemble Loud Objects.

Perich is proud of the two invitations he's received to speak at meetings of Dorkbot, a group of "people doing strange things with electricity."