Dr. Juan Carlos Vasquez (www.jcvasquez.com) boasts a remarkable trajectory as an award-winning composer, video game researcher, and educator. With two decades of dedicated engagement in intermedia projects, his innovative journey has illuminated the global stage. His creations, ranging from spatial audio works to immersive interactive experiences and game art, have resonated across continents, being featured in over 30 countries spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Vasquez has received grants, commissions, and/or prizes from numerous esteemed institutions, including the ZKM, the Nokia Research Center, Colombia’s Ministry of Culture, the Sibelius Academy Foundation, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Arts Promotion Centre in Finland, the Finnish National Gallery, and CW+ in partnership with the Royal College of Music in London, UK. Events and venues featuring Vasquez’s works include Ars Electronica (AU), the Ateneum Art Museum (FI), The Lincoln Center (NY, USA), Hanshan Art Museum (CN), Matera Intermedia Festival (IT), Sonorities Festival Belfast (UK), along with numerous academic events at universities worldwide. Juan Carlos is also sponsored by Genelec, the world leader in studio monitors, and is a member of the Society of Finnish Composers. He is currently an Assistant Professor and the Programme Director at the School of Cultural Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
As a researcher, Vasquez’s writings can be found in the Computer Music Journal (MIT Press), Leonardo Music Journal (MIT Press), and the proceedings of all the standard conferences of the field (ICMC, CHI, SMC, and NIME). Vasquez received his education at the Sibelius Academy (FI), Aalto University (FI), and the University of Virginia (US). He has taken workshops with Barry Truax, Robert Normandeau, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Miller Puckette, Marco Stroppa, Steven Stucky, William Mival, Jonty Harrison and the Eighth Blackbird Ensemble, among others. Vasquez’s scores are published by Babel Scores, and his music is distributed by Naxos, MIT Press (US), Important Records (US) and Phasma Music (Poland).
In 2014, The Sibelius Birth Town Foundation, Sibhack, and the Ateneum Museum (Finnish National Gallery) commissioned Vasquez to compose an electroacoustic rendition to Jean Sibelius’ Romance Op. 24 No.9, as part of the official 150th anniversary of the Finnish composer’s birth. In 2016, Vasquez was awarded the “Contemporary Music Composition Grant” by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, and an Award in “Excellence in Art, Design and the Production of Sound” by the Audio Engineering Society’s (AES) president and the AES Student section in Hamburg during the Klingt Gut! Symposium on Sound in Germany. Also in 2016, Vasquez’ received the Dean’s Grant in Aalto University, the award for exceptional achievements reserved for only one person per graduation of a Masters’ Degree. In 2017, Vasquez received a music composition grant by the Finnish government (Taike), and in 2018, Vasquez was granted a fully-funded 5-year award to pursue doctoral studies at the McIntire Department of Music of the University of Virginia.
Later, in 2019, Vasquez was invited to Finland to be awarded as Primus Master at the Conferment Ceremony of the Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture. In 2020, Vasquez received a distinction as an exceptional peer reviewer by the Leonardo Journal (MIT Press), and in 2021, based on the merit of his dissertation, Vasquez was the recipient of the Jefferson Fellowship, the premier graduate fellowship offered at the University of Virginia. In 2022 his piece “Channel Zero” was ‘highly commended’ at the Sound of the Year Awards 2021 in the category “Composed with Sound”, and in 2023 Vasquez was recognized as the winner of the “Best Computer Music” award at the Latin American Showcase of the International Computer Music Association for his piece, “Maquina M.” Later in, 2024, his collaborative interdisciplinary project “Interwoven Existence” collectively received third place in curation and exhibition awards at the prestigious Zijing Award, in Nanjing, China. Additionally, as part of the XJTLU event in collaboration with the design school, the piece won the Best Organization Award. Also in 2024, Vasquez led, curated, and participated as an artist in an intermedia piece that secured a coveted spot at Ars Electronica 2024, one of the most renowned festivals for art, technology, and society worldwide.
Other spaces supporting the diffusion of his work include the University of Oxford (Ashmolean LiveFriday 2017), Aalborg University (NIME 2017), Queensland Conservatorium (NIME 2016), HKU University of the Arts Utrecht (ICMC 2016), University of North Texas (ICMC 2015), New York University (SID 2015 and ICMC 2019), University of Kent (Symposium of Acoustic Ecology), Wesleyan University (Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States 2014 National Conference), Leeds College of Music (International Festival for Artistic Innovation), Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2012, Helsinki Music Center / Sibelius Academy, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Deep Listening Institute, and the Electronic Language International Festival (FILE – Brazil).