Tom Lopez ’89

  • Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts
  • Chair, TIMARA Department

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, Oberlin College, 1989
  • MFA, California Institute of the Arts, 1993
  • DMA, University of Texas at Austin, 2000

Received honors, awards, and fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Knight Foundation, Disney Foundation, ASCAP, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, Midwest Instructional Technology Center, Bascom Little Fund, and Oberlin’s Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.

Commissions include "Espaces Pointillés" for Oberlin Conservatory flautist Kathleen Chastain premiered in Cleveland, Ohio; "Via Métro I" by saxophonist David Rice premiered in Paris, France; "Acoustmatic" for Counterstream Radio premiered online; "Auxiolio & Au Secours" for videographer Anita Pantin premiered in Barcelona, Spain; "La Joie de Vivre" by choreographer Yvette Coquoin premiered in Nice, France; "acre" and "again again" for choreographer Brian Brooks premieres in New York City; "Hollow Ground I" by choreographer Yacov Sharir premiered at The Kennedy Center, "Hollow Ground II" premiered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and "Hollow Ground III" premiered in Austin, Texas; "Dancing on the Atlantic" for choreographer Mike Barber premiered in Portland, Oregon; "Currents and Streams" for Repertory Dance Theatre premiered in Salt Lake City, Utah; "Aspect Ratio#" for choreographer Celesta Haraszti premiered in Bowling Green, Ohio; "She Measures Herself" for Oberlin College choreographer Elesa Rosasco premiered in Cleveland, Ohio; "Curvatures" and "This Body of Knowledge" for Oberlin College choreographer Nusha Martynuk premieres in Oberlin, Ohio; and "Robo City" for Austin Children’s Museum.

  • Body/Machine (Toronto, Canada)
  • American Solar Energy Society (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Symposium for Arts and Technology (New London, Connecticut)

  • Monaco International Dance and Media (Monte Carlo)
  • Imagine (Memphis, Tennessee)
  • Interactive Futures (Victoria, Canada)
  • Beyond Media (Florence, Italy)
  • 404 (Rosario, Argentina)
  • Spark (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
  • Ingenuity (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Electrospective (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
  • AKI (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Plugged In (Sydney, Australia)
  • Discoveries (Aberdeen, Scotland)
  • Future Moves (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
  • MAVerick (Chicago, Illinois)
  • New Op 8 (Montréal, Canada)
  • Matisse et le Mouvement (Biot and St. Jeannet, France)
  • LIving Arts (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
  • New Music Today (Peoria, Illinois)
  • SXSW (Austin, Texas)
  • Encontros Acarte (Lisbon, Portugal)
  • Nuova Musica Consonante (Bucharest, Romania)
  • LA Freewaves (Los Angeles, California)
     

Affiliated with the Society of Composers, Inc. (former member of executive committee), Texas Computer Musicians’ Network (former president), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (former band member), International Computer Music Association, Fulbright Alumni Association, American Composers Forum, College Music Society, and the American Music Center, Electronic Music Foundation, Cleveland Composers Guild, and Living Music Foundation (board member).

Tom Lopez’s Immaculata Erotica is one of a kind.  It is astounding and riveting throughout.  The mysterious opening had the players cloak their instruments and disguise heavily amplified, discreet physical activity (rubbing, scraping), which produced sounds that were raw, earthy and profane.  When instruments are unveiled and eventually played somewhat traditionally, a harmonic language is born, one of sparkling, almost celestial beauty.  The well balanced surround sound speakers brought power and depth to the rapturous climax.

–New York Concert Review, Spring 2008, Anthony Aibel

  • 3RRR (Melbourne, Australia)
  • CFRO (Vancouver, Canada)
  • CKLN (Toronto, Canada)
  • CKUT (Montréal, Canada)
  • KAJX (Aspen, Colorado)
  • KPBX (Spokane, Washington)
  • KUT (Austin, Texas)
  • KVRX (Austin, Texas)
  • WCLV (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • WCNY (Syracuse, New York)
  • WGDR (Plainfield, Vermont)
  • WOBC (Oberlin, Ohio)
  • WOMR (Provincetown, Massachusetts)
  • Acoustic Frontiers (Ontario, Canada)
  • Fronteras del Silencio (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
  • Inner Space (Zagreb, Croatia)
  • Resonance (London, England)
  • Sonar Map (Everett, Washington)

  • Diapason Gallery (New York City)
  • Pigman Gallery (San Francisco, California)
  • Movements Gallery (Austin, Texas)
  • Here Here Gallery (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Rx Gallery (San Francisco, California)
  • Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (Nice, France)
  • Victoria Arts Center (Melbourne, Australia)
  • Artspace (New Haven, Connecticut)
  • Performance Art Warehouse (Austin, Texas)
  • Synergy Studios (Austin, Texas)
  • Electric Lounge (Austin, Texas)
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, Ohio)
  • Miller Theatre (New York City)
  • Zocalo Theater (Houston, Texas)
  • Hyde Park Theater (Austin, Texas)
  • Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.)
  • Symphony Space (New York City)
  • Aronoff Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)
  • Duke Theater (New York City)
  • The Egg (New York City)
  • The Laban Centre (London, England)

Fall 2024

Principal Private Study - TIMARA — PVST 043
Secondary Private Study - TIMARA — PVST 093
Electroacoustic Studio Tech — TECH 201
TIMARA First-Year Studio — TECH 271
TIMARA Second-Year Lessons — TECH 281
TIMARA Apprenticeship - Full — TECH 303F
TIMARA Apprenticeship - Half — TECH 303H
Workshop in Music and Media Technologies — TECH 350
Contemporary Chamber Music — APST 805

Spring 2025

Principal Private Study - TIMARA — PVST 043
Secondary Private Study - TIMARA — PVST 093
TIMARA First-Year Studio — TECH 271
TIMARA Second-Year Lessons — TECH 281
TIMARA Apprenticeship - Full — TECH 303F
TIMARA Apprenticeship - Half — TECH 303H
Workshop in Music and Media Technologies — TECH 350
Contemporary Chamber Music — APST 805

Notes

Thomas Handman Lopez Composes

January 18, 2017

Associate Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts Thomas Handman Lopez '89, composed the music for Inflatable Trio, performed at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in February 2017. The program also features Oberlin alumnus and choreographer Lionel Popkin, along with Oberlin alumna and dancer Carolyn Hall.

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