Following the completion of his undergraduate studies in composition at the University of Toronto, David Litke (b. 1977) went on to undertake graduate studies at the University of British Columbia; in 2008 he received a doctoral degree in composition from the latter, under the guidance of Dr. Keith Hamel. He has had the opportunity to work with some of Canada’s finest ensembles, including the National Broadcast Orchestra, l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal (in their “Génération 2006” project), l’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne (as part of the National Arts Centre’s Young Composer’s Program), the Bozzini Quartet (Composer’s Kitchen), the Turning Point Ensemble, and the Nu:BC collective. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for his music, including second prize in the NBO’s Young Composer Competition (2010), first prize in the Pierre Mercure division of SOCAN’s Young Composer Competition for his “Piece for Flute and Voice” (2003), a performance prize in CUMS composition competition (2008), as well as awards and fellowships from U of T and UBC.
In addition to composition, he has been involved in research projects at UBC that focus on interactions between live performers and electronics. His work in a project centered on gestural control led to his development of a glove-controlled electronic instrument for the manipulation of sound spectra, which he presented (academically and in concert) at conferences in Greece (SMC) and Denmark (ICMC) in the summer of 2007. As well, he has been working with Keith Hamel on a score-following environment for interactive electronics, resulting in a co-authored paper that he presented at ICMC 2007. His piece Conduits, a collaboration with clarinetist François Houle, utilizes a score-following system to coordinate electronic elements with the live performer. His work “sewn” for soprano and 3D glove-controlled electronics was recently premiered in Vancouver, and he is currently composing a new work for piano and live electronics for the Ora ensemble.
In his thesis research, he has developed a set of tools for the extraction and manipulation of spectral information using the graphical programming language OpenMusic, which he applied in his thesis composition Elucide. Currently, he is working to expand these tools with the development of a set of genetically-inspired algorithms for the expansion of spectral harmonies, and is developing a video-tracking gestural interface for electronic instruments.
During the 2008-09 academic year, David taught a third-year introductory course in electroacoustic music at UBC, the tutorial component of a first-year theory course, and a third-year theory course in the analysis of music since 1950. He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his wife Rebecca Simpson-Litke.
David Litke can be contacted at litke_david@hotmail.com
