Wayne Siegel

Wayne Siegel joined RAMA as Honorary Professor in 2018

Wayne Siegel is internationally recognized as a leading composer of electronic and electroacoustic music with a wide range of works and performances at home and abroad. Based on American minimalism, folk music and avant-garde rock, Siegel has created his very own music, which constantly incorporates the latest technological achievements. For example, he has developed a system so you can create electronic music on a laptop only by moving your hands in front of its camera.

Many of Siegel’s works combine different cultures and compositional techniques and interact with performers, dancers and even the weather! His works have been performed by, amongst others, the Kronos Quartet, Evelyn Glennie, Harry Sparnaay and Safri Duo, and are recorded on a variety of CDs, including CDs published by Dacapo Records. In addition, Siegel has written orchestral music, chamber music and an opera. Since 2013, he is a recipient of the Art Foundation’s lifetime grant.

The Danish Composers Association writes on its website about Siegel: “Wayne Siegel’s role as a composer is in many ways a single wide-open window, where air comes from the outside and into a small room, and in this case the fresh air consists of equal parts of America and electronics.”

Wayne Sigel came to Aarhus from California in 1974 to study by Per Nørgård. In 1986 Siegel became director of the newly established Danish Institute for Electronic Music, DIEM, which should support the production and performance of electronic and electroacoustic music in Denmark. In 2002 DIEM became part of the Royal Academy of Music. Wayne Siegel was appointed professor and he build a completely new education in electronic music, which quickly gained wide search and broad recognition and included the new laptop-based electronica music.
Wayne Siegel retired as a professor of electronic music at the Academy on 1 September 2018 to retire. As a pensioner, Siegel hopes to have more time to compose. In connection with his resignation, Siegel was appointed honorary professor.