Long bio:

Zach Layton is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, curator, and educator based in New York whose work investigates the material, spatial, and temporal dimensions of sound. Working across electroacoustic improvisation, orchestral composition, analog and digital audio processing tools, and site-responsive installation, Layton explores how sound functions as a sculptural force: an invisible architecture that shapes perception, memory, and collective experience.

Central to his recent work is a custom-built 17-string electric bass, designed to access alternate tuning systems, subharmonic frequencies, and complex, microtonal overtones. This instrument serves not only as an amplification of the Ancient Greek Lyre or the Baroque Theorbo/Arch-Lute, but also acts as a speculative interface: an experimental electroacoustic musical object that blurs the boundaries between composition and improvisation, scientific observation, and sound installation.

Layton's compositions and performances often reframe acoustic space as both a psychoid topographical field and as a system of deep-time inscription. Whether translating brainwave data into audio-visual environments, composing for multichannel wavefield synthesis arrays, or exploring sonic photogrammetry using laser-controlled optics, he approaches sound as a hybrid material: simultaneously physical, psychological, and metaphysical.

He has composed works for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and has presented performances and installations at venues including the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA/PS1, EMPAC, Roulette, the Kitchen, ISSUE Project Room, Transmediale Berlin, Audio Art Festival Krakow, IMD Darmstadt, and many others. His work has been supported by fellowships and residencies from the Fulbright Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (Music/Sound award), MacDowell (Norton Stevens Fellowship), Wave Farm, Art Omi, Signal Culture, and the Experimental Television Center.

Layton is the founder of Darmstadt: Classics of the Avant Garde, a long-running platform for experimental music and sound art (co-curated with Nick Hallett), and has served as a curator for ISSUE Project Room, MoMA/PS1's Warm Up series, and the Guggenheim Museum, where his programs have included sound-based interpretations of the Zero Group and Moholy-Nagy. His curatorial work often extends his compositional interests, treating public space and collaborative encounter as extensions of the score.

As a performer and collaborator, Layton has worked with artists including Pauline Oliveros, Tony Conrad, Vito Acconci, Jonas Mekas, Claire Chase, Bobby Previte, R.Luke Dubois, Tristan Perich, Elliott Sharp, Frances-Marie Uitti, Alex Waterman, Nick Hallett, Jonathan Kane, David Grubbs, Ben Vida, Ryan Sawyer, Bradford Reed, Peggy Ahwesh, Henry Fraser, Greg Fox, Raf Vertessen, Phyllis Chen, Hamir Atwal, and many more.

Layton holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BMus), NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (MPS), Bard College (MFA), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (PhD). He is currently Associate Professor and Director of the MFA in Creative Music Technology at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Short bio:

Zach Layton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, curator, and educator working collaboratively across genres and disciplines. He is a practitioner of a rare and unusual instrument, the 17-string bass. He has performed at the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, Roulette, and many other venues in New York and internationally. Curator of ISSUE Project Room 2007-2012, PS1/MoMa WarmUp 2007-2009. A recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts music/sound award, Jerome Foundation, and a MacDowell Fellowship, and a PhD from Rennselear Polytechnic Institute. Zach is currently Associate Professor of music production at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Contact: zachlayton@gmail.com