Warren Burt was raised in upstate N.Y. and attended the State University of New York, Albany (BA, 1971) and the University of California, San Diego (MA, 1975) before moving to Australia in 1975. In Australia he has worked in academia (La Trobe University, NSW Conservatorium, Victorian College of the Arts, Australian National University), education, and radio (freelance and commissioned productions for ABC and PBAA), and as a composer, film maker, video artist, and community arts organiser. His works have been performed and shown in the USA, Australia, Europe and Japan and he has had grants from the Australia Council, the Victorian Ministry for the Arts and the McKnight Foundation (USA). He has also been artist in residence with a number of organisations, such as the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation, the Los Angeles based art-science think-tank International Synergy, the Broadcast Music Department of ABC Radio, the Monash University Music Department, the RMIT Department of Fine Arts, and the American Composers Forum.
His work with electronic and computer music is recognised internationally, including 1989 performances at Ars Electronica, Linz; and Steirischer Herbst, Graz; and 1994-95 performances and installations in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and Germany.His first book, “Writings from a Scarlet Aardvark, 15 Articles on Music and Art, 1981-93,” was published in 1993 by Frog Peak Music, USA. A second book, “Critical Vices: The Myths of Post-Modern Theory”, written in collaboration with Nicholas Zurbrugg, was published in 1999 by Gordon and Breach, New York.
Recent CD releases of his work include “39 Dissonant Etudes” (Tall Poppies, Sydney, 1996), and “Recitative-Tracing: On Guns and Cock-Fighting” (on “Winded”, Innova, St. Paul, 1998). His electronic composition “La Strega Bianca della Luna II” was selected for inclusion in the 1999 Sonic Circuits International Electronic Music Festival. In 1998 he was an artist-in-residence at the Djerassi Artists Program, California,. He was awarded a 1998-2000 Australia Council Composer’s Fellowship. Currently he is working on a large video opera with a grant from the Music Board, Australia Council.
His work was included in the collection Videotapes from Australia that was shown in North America 1979-80, Venice Biennale 1980 and toured Australia as Australian Artists’ Video, 1980. See Videotapes From Australia entry. Other collections include Griffith Artworks, Brisbane.
Education: B.A., Albany State University, 1971; M.A., Univ. of California, San Diego, 1975. Teaching at Music Department of La Trobe University, Melbourne, 1975-78.
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