Brian O’Reilly
Brian O'Reilly works within the fields of electro-acoustic composition, sound installations, moving images and noise music. Also he is a contrabassist focusing on uncovering the inaudible textures and hidden acoustic microsounds of his instrument through the integration of electronic treatments and extended playing techniques.
He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a scholarship for sculpture during which time he focused on sonic art, kinetic sculpture and analog video synthesis utilizing the Sandin Image Processor. He also at this time was engaged in independent studies in music improvisation and composition with various members of Chicago's AACM. He relocated to Paris to research the composition methods of the composer and architect Iannis Xenakis. During this time he worked extensively with Xenakis' electronic music system utilizing graphic sonic synthesis the UPIC. After a time of research at Les Ateliers UPIC, he received an appointment as the studio's Musical Assistant, during which he also worked as music assistant for Luc Ferrari on his audio & video installation "Cycle Des Souvenirs" and Eliane Radigue on her electroacoustic work "L'Ile Re-sonante".
He pursued graduate studies in Electronic Music Composition at the University of California Santa Barbara's Media Arts and Technology program, where his collaborations with Curtis Roads began with the project "Point Line Cloud" which won an Award of Distinction at Ars Electronica in 2002.
As Operations Manager of Recombinant Media Labs in San Francisco He worked on many project for the Asphodel record label & recording studio, and has received several international residencies/commissions including invitations to work as a guest artist at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Germany, the SH Festival in Shanghai and All Tomorrow Parties festival curated by Autechre in the UK.
He has worked on projects with Eliane Radigue, Luc Ferrari, Curtis Roads, Zbigniew Karkowski, Otomo Yoshihide, Matmos, Maryanne Amacher, Zeitkratzer, Christian Marclay, Toshimaru Nakamura, William Basinski, Fe-Mail, Yasunao Tone, Darren Moore,Yong Yandsen, Francisco López, Garth Knox, Steina and Woody Vasulka, amongst others.
He is currently performing solo audio, moving images and modular analog synthesizer with Black Zenith and contrabass & electronics with Game of Patience. He also is a lecturer at LASALLE’s College of the Arts School of Contemporary Music, focusing on electronic music composition, creative music making techniques through the use of improvisation and visual music.