Brian Lindgren
Brian Lindgren
Photo by John Midgley

Biography

Brian Lindgren is a composer, technologist, researcher, and violist whose work investigates how acoustic performance, digital sound, and computational systems converge to advance creative potential within digital music. Based in Charlottesville, VA, he creates instruments and compositions that foreground embodiment while engaging deeply with electronic and computer-mediated sound. His practice centers on expanding the sonic and performative possibilities available to string players and electronic musicians alike.

A central focus of his work is the EV, a digital-acoustic instrument he designed to unify the nuance of bowed performance with advanced synthesis. The EV was a semi-finalist in the 2022 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition and has been presented at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), the International Conference for Auditory Display (ICAD) at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at RPI, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), PdMaxCon25~, and the NYC Electro-Acoustic Music Festival. Integrating FFT convolution, spatialization, physical modeling, feature extraction, and machine learning, the EV provides a platform for examining how hybrid instruments reshape performer agency and blur boundaries between physical and virtual sound. This research is also reflected in Lindgren’s recent Organised Sound paper on spatial digital instrument design, which situates the EV within broader conversations about embodiment and virtuality in contemporary computer music.

Lindgren’s compositions have been performed at events including ICMC, SEAMUS, the Technosonics Festival, the Coastal Futures Festival, the Vox Electronica Festival, the Ignite the Arts Festival, the International Electroacoustic Music Festival at Brooklyn College, and the Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology. His music has been interpreted by ensembles such as LINÜ, HYPERCUBE, Popebama, and the Tokyo Gen’on Project. As a violist, he has performed with Alarm Will Sound, Wordless Music, and the Triple Helix Piano Trio, and appears on recordings released by Warp Records, New Amsterdam Records, Nature Sounds, and Bridge Records.

Alongside his experimental and concert work, Lindgren has composed for film, galleries, and commercial media for clients including Amtrak, Estée Lauder, Fresh Direct, and Nestle. At the University of Virginia, he teaches courses in digital sound synthesis, twentieth-century music, electronic music production, and musicianship, serving as a teaching assistant and lecturer.

Lindgren is currently pursuing his PhD in Music Composition and Computer Technologies at the University of Virginia, where he studies with Matthew Burtner, JoVia Armstrong, and Luke Dahl. He holds an MFA in Sonic Arts from Brooklyn College, where he studied with Morton Subotnick, Doug Geers, and Jules Gimbrone, and a BM in Viola Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Graham and with Alan Schindler at the Eastman Computer Music Center.

Interviews + Press