Miya Masaoka Will Be the Subject of a Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre

On Thursday, March 6, 2025, Miya Masaoka, chair of visual arts and director of sound art at School of the Arts, will be the subject of a Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre. Miller’s flagship concert series, Composer Portraits give audiences an evening-length immersion into a composer’s work, featuring on-stage talks that demystify the creative process.

Masaoka, a Guggenheim- and Rome Prize-winning composer, musician, and sound artist, showcases her exploration of the natural world and the bodily perception of vibration, movement, and time in the evening’s program. Included are a world premiere commission for longtime Miller collaborators, the International Contemporary Ensemble, along with three recent works that illuminate Masaoka’s innovative artistic practice.

Her works include pieces for orchestra, choir, video, electronics, and installation. They have been presented at the Venice Biennale, MoMA PS1, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Park Avenue Armory, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Masaoka has had pieces commissioned by, among others, EMPAC for Wave Field Synthesis, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Jack Quartet, MIVOS, Del Sol Quartet, the S.E.M. Ensemble, Alonzo King and Lines, the Library of Congress, and Maerzmusik.

Columbia News caught up with Masaoka recently to discuss her upcoming Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre, as well as what she’s teaching and working on now.

How does it feel to be the subject of a Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre?

I’m thrilled, and I love the word “portrait,” as I think of its meaning in the visual arts sense. A portrait is something formal, contextualized in a frame. In the past, one had to sit for a portrait—and do long sittings over a period of days for the painter to paint the portrait. This meant that an image was enduring, meant to last, to be archived, and be public. It is the opposite of the meme, which lasts for only a few seconds.

It's an honor for me to have this public moment about my work, and I have total and enormous gratitude that it is happening.

Is there a thread that runs through the four pieces in the evening’s program?

Hmm. It is uniquely all my work, a monograph of sorts, and different from group shows and programs, where several composers are presented. From the repertoire that will be performed, I bring various practices, including a combined sense of values, focused ethos, and open engagement with sound, materiality, and, of course, time/temporality, all of which are reflected in these pieces. For example, as a sound artist, there is an aspect of listening that brings the audience into an introspective space, which is evident in The Horizon Leans Forward.

What was your path to a career as a composer, musician, sound artist, and professor?

I taught for 14 years at Bard College and New York University before coming to Columbia. I always remember having a laser focus on music, sound, and materials, and even dance. I studied ballet for years, and even though I am not directly involved in dance—the gestures, the music, the language of movement—everything you have in your personal history can inform your current practice, both good and bad.

How do you balance the demands of your own projects, research, and teaching?

Staying connected to family, friends, and various communities is always a challenge, and social media platforms make it both easier and harder to do so. The balance is undulating to the rhythms of the needs of projects. Some people are better at this than others, and I continually try because we need a modicum of balance to maintain our lives. Time management is often about embracing a time limit, and we can see the deadline as a benefit rather than a deterrent. In other words, if we have a deadline, we can tell ourselves, “This is a good thing, because I will have this thing completed by this date, and can move on to other things.”  

And, of course, my areas of interest and work—writing a book, for example—flow into the classroom. Students benefit from having teachers who make critiques, evaluate, and create curriculum based on real-world experience as artists and theorists working in the field. 

Advice for students who want to pursue a career like yours?

Don’t take a rigid view of your work, even if others choose to do so. Be flexible in how you define yourself, and you will have a looser, but stronger connection to the materials, to the creative process. Reject dogma, and genre boundaries. Even if you work in a precise and narrow way, this is also a beautiful way to work, but you can still think largely. Curators will want to narrow your work to a theme, and the industry will want to place you in a genre box, but this can be constrictive and not conducive to growth for an artist’s psyche, whether a student or not. 

What are you teaching this semester? 

Graduate Studio Seminar in Sound, Graduate Seminar in Related Media in Sound, and I’m co-teaching a course, Thinking Treely, in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. I will also be delivering a lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris.

What are you working on now?

A micro-tonal orchestra piece in 1/6 tonality, to be performed in Prague in 2026 by the Prague Philharmonia, and a book on Sound and the Vegetal World.

What's the best thing about teaching at Columbia and School of the Arts?

It is a joy to work with students who have such passion for their work and engagement with both the established New York arts community and the younger, underground arts community. The faculty members are stellar, and we work together to make the best possible programs for the students. We are living and working in a super vibrant intellectual and artistic center, while being aware of, and working toward, being inclusive to communities that we can bring into the fold.