biography
Originally from Greece, Theocharis Papatrechas is a composer and sound researcher.
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Praised for crafting "an intimate narrative" and achieving "beautiful instrumental intensity" (il giornale della musica), Theocharis integrates acoustic instruments, objects, electronics, and spatial audio to create immersive auditory experiences. Drawing inspiration from the acoustic profiles of underwater and terrestrial soundscapes, his works employs delicate and fragile sonic material, unfolding in ever-slowing narratives that manipulate the perception of time akin to traversing an alternate dimension.
His artistic portfolio consists of instrumental, electroacoustic, acousmatic, sound art, and sound installation works that involve acoustic components, pre-recorded media, and generative and interactive
processes, employing Dante networking systems and ambisonics in multichannel venues.
Renowned groups that have commissioned and premiered his works include the ensemble Intercontemporain, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Mivos Quartet, Vertixe Sonora, Ensemble Schallfeld, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ECCE), Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Multilatérale. Notable venues, at which works of his have been presented, include IRCAM, CCRMA at Stanford, SEAMUS at Berklee College, Anchorage Museum, SPLICE Institute, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), Vienna Konzerthaus, SpazioMusica, University of Montreal, and Shanghai Music Conservatory.
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Theocharis has held postdoctoral appointments at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Postdoctoral Scholar), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Research Associate), and Center for New Music & Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at UC Berkeley (Visiting Composers and Researcher). His work integrates environmental data science and acoustics, focusing on the development and implementation of innovative, multi-modal data rendering techniques to sonify ecosystems and extreme environmental events. The research aims to develop a deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change through the lens of acoustics.
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In 2022, in collaboration with colleague and flutist Sasha Ishov, Theocharis has co-founded PrismaSonus, a research and artistic initiative dedicated to two main areas: experimenting with innovative recording techniques -such as inserting acoustic sensors inside flutes to analyze their interior acoustics- and creating immersive auditory experiences that materialize the findings of the research.
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Theocharis holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from University of California San Diego (UCSD) where he worked with Rand Steiger, Lei Liang, and Miller Puckette. Other leading institutions he studied at include the Eastman School of Music, IRCAM, and Sibelius Academy.
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His music has been released by ArsPublica. His scores are published by Babel Scores.
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Since 2015, Theocharis serves as the Artistic Director of the ilSUONO Contemporary Music Week. The program's core mission is to diversify the practice by bringing together emerging music creators of diverse socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, gender orientations, and aesthetics to learn, share, and collaborate. ilSUONO is delighted to have invited exceptional senior composers, among others, Chaya Czernowin, Pierluigi Billone, Franck Bedrossian, Ann Cleare, Rand Steiger, Edmund Campion, Clara Iannotta, and performers such as the ensembles Schallfeld and Lemniscate. The 21', 22', and 23' editions were funded by the esteemed Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation.
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Currently based in Brisbane, Australia, Theocharis is a Sessional Academic at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University teaching Music Theory & Aural Studies and at The University of Queensland teaching Music Technology.
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