Maggi Payne (born 1945,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States) is an American composer, flutist, video artist,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

/editor, and historical

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ing engineer who creates electroacoustic, instrumental, vocal works, and works involving visuals (video, dance, film, slides).

Early life and education

Payne was raised in

, and attended Interlochen Music Camp and Aspen Music School. She received her B. Mus. in applied flute at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, studying with Walfrid Kujala, flute, and Alan Stout, Ted Ashford, and M. William Karlins, composers.Gavin Borchert. "Maggi Payne", '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed November 27, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). She received her M. Mus. at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, studying with composers Gordon Mumma, Ben Johnston, and Salvatore Martirano. She studied with

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

, where she received her MFA in

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and recording media.

Career

She has collaborated since the 1980s with video artist Ed Tannenbaum, composing several works for his ''Technological Feets'' live dance/video-processing performances and built a flame speaker at the Exploratorium in collaboration with Nick Bertoni (1983–1985). Payne has been a recording engineer at Music and Arts record label since 1981, where she has recorded both contemporary and historical music. Her video works include ''Crystal, Io, Circular Motions, Solar Wind, Airwaves (realities), Liquid Metal, Apparent Horizon, Liquid Amber, Effervescence, Cloud Fields,'' ''Quicksilver, and Through the Looking Glass.'' Her films include ''Orion'' and ''Allusions''. Her works involving dance include ''System Test (fire and ice)'' and ''Allusions''. Her works have been choreographed by Molissa Fenley, Wendy Rodgers, Gina Gibney, Gail Chodera, Deborah Hay, Carla Blank Reed, and Carolyn Brown. Payne's works are available on Aguirre, Innova, Root Strata, Lovely Music, Starkland, The Label, Music and Arts, Centaur, Ubuibi, MMC, New World Records (CRI), Digital Narcis, Frog Peak, Asphodel, and/OAR, Capstone, and Mills College labels. She received two Composer's Grants and an Interdisciplinary Arts Grant from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, and video grants from the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

and the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowships Program. She received four honorary mentions from

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

, one from Prix Ars Electronica, and placed in the Barlow and "Luigi Russolo" per giovani compositor di Musica Elettroacoustica competitions. In 2022 she received the SEAMUS AWARD. Commissions include 2019 Francisco Lopez for ''Through Space and Time'', 2018 Berkeley Arts Commission 8 channel installation titled ''Immersion, Bay Area Soundscape'', 2015 Jacqueline Gordon ''BAM'', for diffusion over 36 speakers, National Flute Association High School Soloist Competition 2005, flutist Nina Assimakopoulos, pianist Sarah Cahill, trombonist

Abbie Conant Abbie Conant is an American trombonist and former professor at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen. She was selected in a blind audition as the overwhelming first choice for Principal Trombonist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra ...

, Starkland, composer Annea Lockwood, composer/pianist David Mahler, and the Hartt School of Music at Hartford, and several others. Payne has also had works selected and performed on the

60x60 60x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuo ...

project for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. She was Co-Director of the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM) at Mills College in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

from 1992-2018, where she taught recording engineering, composition, and electronic music since the 1980s.

Discography

Solo releases: * 2017 ''Crystal'' LP re-release, Aguirre Records: includes ''White Night, Scirocco, Crystal,'' and ''Solar Wind'' * 2014 ''Desertscapes'', for two spatially separated women’s choirs, CD, Lorelei Ensemble, Beth Willer, conductor and artistic director * 2012 ''Ahh-Ahh Music for Ed Tannenbaum’s Technological Feets 1984-1987 LP, Root Strata: includes Flights of Fancy, Gamelan, Shimmer, Back to Forth, Ahh-Ahh (ver 2.1), and Hikari '' * 2010 ''Arctic Winds'' CD (electroacoustic
Innova Recordings
includes ''Fluid Dynamics, Distant Thunder, Apparent Horizon, Arctic Winds, System Test (fire and ice), Glassy Metals,'' and ''FIZZ'' * 2003 ''Ping/Pong: Beyond the Pail'' CD, And/oar (soundscapes) * 1991 ''Crystal'' re-released on CD,

Lovely Music Lovely Music (full name: Lovely Music Ltd.) is an American record label devoted to new American music. Based in New York City, the label was founded in 1978 by Mimi Johnson, an outgrowth of her nonprofit production company Performing Artservices In ...

(electroacoustic): includes ''White Night'', ''Solar Wind'', ''Scirocco'', ''Crystal'' + additional tracks ''Ahh-Ahh (ver 2.1)'', ''Subterranean Network'', ''Phase Transitions'' * 1986 ''Crystal'' LP,

(electroacoustic): includes ''White Night'', ''Scirocco'', ''Crystal'', ''Solar Wind'' Compilation albums: * 2017 ''BAM'', on the ''Acoustic Deconstruction'' LP, The Label * 2016 ''Reflections'', for solo flute on VAYU: Multi-cultural Flute Solos From the Twenty-First Century CD, AMP Recordings, Nina Assimakopoulos, flute * 2015 ''Beyond'', for Steven M. Miller on ''Between Noise and Silence'', Innova Recordings CD/DVD * 2014 ''Black Ice'' and ''STATIC'' on ''Gravity Spells: Bay Area New Music & Expanded Cinema Art'' DVD/LP handmade boxed set created and curated by John Davis—limited edition * 2013 ''Pop'' on ''SEAMUS'' ''Electro-Acoustic Miniatures'' 2012: ''Re-Caged CD'', ''SEAMUS'' * 2008 ''60X3'', on the "60x60 (2006–2007)" 2-CD set, Vox Novus * 2007 ''System Test (fire and Ice)'' on the "Far and Wide" DVD, Computer Music Journal (Winter 2007, Vol. 31/No. 4) * 2007 '':60 Fizz'' (electroacoustic), on the "60x60 (2004–2005)" 2-CD set, Vox Novus * 2006 ''ReCycle'' (electroacoustic), on the "Women Take Back the Noise" CD, Ubuibi * 2006 ''Of All'' for solo flute (Nina Assimakopoulos, flute), on the "Points of Entry: Laurels Project, Volume I" CD, Capstone Records * 2006 ''it's elemental'' (soundscape), on the "Overheard and Rendered" CD, And/oar * 2005 field recordings edited by

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, N ...

on the "Twice Around the Earth" CD, ReR Megacorp * 2004 ''60 Spin'' (electroacoustic), on the "60X60" CD, Capstone Records, CPS-8744 * 2001 ''Moiré'' (electroacoustic) on the soundtrack for ''Jordan Belson: Collected Films: Bardo'' * 2000 ''White Turbulence 2000'' (four channel electroacoustic work), on the "Immersion" DVD-V/DVD-A, Starkland * 2000 ''breaks/motors'' (electroacoustic), on the "Oasis: Music from Mills 2001" CD,

* 1999 ''HUM'', ''Aeolian Confluence'', and ''Inflections'', on "The Extended Flute" CD, CRI * 1999 ''Raw Data'' (electroacoustic), on the "End ID" CD, Digital Narcis Ltd. * 1998 ''Chris Mann Piece'' (electroacoustic), on "The Frog Peak Collaborations Project" CD, Frog Peak * 1998 ''She Began'', with text by writer Melody Sumner Carnahan, on "The Time is Now" CD, Frog Peak * 1996 ''Desertscapes'', for 2 spatially separated choirs, on the "Desertscapes" CD, MMC * 1996 ''Moiré'' (electroacoustic), on the "Storm of Drones" CD,

Asphodel Records Asphodel Ltd ( ''Asphodel Records'') was a San Francisco-based independent record label founded by musician Mitzi Johnson and Naut Humon in 1992. The label is named after the mythological flower that grows along the banks of the River Styx in Ha ...

* 1994 ''Resonant Places'' (electroacoustic), on the "Consortium to Distribute Computer Music (CDCM)—Music from the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM) at Mills College" CD, Centaur * 1988 ''Airwaves (realities)'' (electroacoustic), on the "Another Coast" CD, Music and Arts * 1986 ''Subterranean Network'', on the "Mills College Centennial" 3-LP album,

* 1980 ''Lunar Dusk'' and ''Lunar Earthrise'' (electroacoustic), on the "Lovely Little Records" boxed set of six 7" records,

As performer: * 1999 flutist on "The Extended Flute" CD, CRI (performing works by Maggi Payne,

David Behrman David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) is an American composer and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of Columbia Records' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of Terry Riley's ''In C''.< ...

, William Brooks,

Mark Trayle Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955, in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015, in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, impro ...

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, born Roman Haubenstock (; 27 February 1919 – 3 March 1994) was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna. Life Haubenstock-Ramati was born in Tonie (a village near Krakow, to which it was ...

) * 1996 flutist on "Non Stop Flight" by

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

, CD on Music and Arts * 1981 flutist on ''Healing Music'' by Joanna Brouk, Hummingbird Productions * 1978 flutist and bowed psalter player on "Summer Music" by Jacques Bekaert, LP on

* 1977 flutist on " On the Other Ocean" by

, LP on

(re-released on CD 1996,

) * 1977 flutist on "Star Jaws" by Peter Laurence Gordon, LP on

* 1977 flutist on "Out of the Blue" by Blue Gene Tyranny, LP on Lovely Music (re-released on CD 2007, Unseen Worlds)

Print publications

* 2008 The San Francisco Tape Music Center, 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde by David Bernstein, University of California Press, contribution as interviewer * 2002 ''Music with Roots in the Aether'', Robert Ashley, article on Gordon Mumma, p. 109-124, written about 1976 * 2000 ''Desertscapes'', for two spatially separated choirs (1991), score published on Treble Clef Music

References

External links

Official website

Comprehensive presentation of Maggi Payne's artistic career
* Golden, Barbara. “Conversation with Maggi Payne.�

(April 2010). Montréal: CEC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Maggi 1945 births 21st-century American composers Living people Interlochen Center for the Arts alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Bienen School of Music alumni University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign School of Music alumni Mills College alumni Mills College faculty American women flautists American women in electronic music 21st-century American women composers American women academics 21st-century American flautists