Biography

John Young was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1962 to English and Italian parents. He studied at the University of Canterbury, completing a doctorate on the manipulation of environmental sound sources in electroacoustic music. In 1989, with the assistance of the QEII Arts Council, he travelled to the United Kingdom to further his studies of electroacoustic music composition. He returned to New Zealand the following year to take up a position at Victoria University of Wellington where he became a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studios.

In 2000 he became a Senior Lecturer with the Music Technology Innovation and Research Group at De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom. His main interest in composition continues to be in acousmatic music, particularly forms based on the interplay between recognisable natural sound sources and computer-based studio transformations.

He was first prize winner in the 1996 Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (for his work Inner), and has received mentions in the Prix Ars Electronica, Bourges, Noroit – Leonce Petitot and Valencia Arts XXI competitions. He has been a visiting composer at San Jose State University, Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), the Groupe de Recherches Musicales Studios (Paris), the M-PACT Center of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and, with the assistance of the Swedish Institute, at EMS Stockholm.

In March 2001, with the assistance of Creative New Zealand, he curated a concert of New Zealand electroacoustic music for the Florida International Electroacoustic Music Festival.

• Publications (7)
• Works (30)
• Awards (1)
• Related Resources (2)