Carlos Guedes
Associate Professor of Music
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BM Polytechnic of Porto, School of Music and Performing Arts; MA, PhD New York University
Research Websites: Music and Sound Cultures Research Group at NYUAD Sounds of Sir Bani Yas Island
Research Areas: analysis and preservation of music, automatic music generation, interactive music systems
Carlos Guedes has a multifaceted activity in composition and sound design counting numerous commissioned projects for dance, theatrical performance, film, and interactive installations besides conventional concert music. He counts more than 80 premieres internationally, having presented work in places such as Expo’98, Expo 2020, European Capital of Culture 2001 and 2012, ArCo, De Waag, Ars Electronica, ICMC, SMC, SIGGPRAH, Judson Church, Shangai eArts, The Kitchen, National Theater S. João, Casa da Música, Beijing Modern Music Festival, and Asia Culture Center. His music is eclectic, combining influences that range from industrial to carnatic music, from western erudite traditions to trans-cultural free improvisation, always using computational technologies as tools for further expanding musical expression.
Guedes also develops a parallel activity as a researcher, focusing on the development of generative computational technologies for music performance, composition, and improvisation. He is one of the founders of the Music and Sound Cultures (MaSC) research group at NYU Abu Dhabi, a group that develops hybrid methodologies blending computational and humanistic approaches for the understanding of the music from the Gulf, East Africa, and South India. Home to several funded projects that develop their research agenda, a central aspect to the group’s activities is the development of novel computational tools (such as VR environments and games) for promoting interaction and enculturation with music from this region.
During the year of 2022, Carlos Guedes will be a composer-in-residence with the Drumming GP, for whom he is writing Time poetries, a series of pieces exploring temporal illusions in music. He is also a visiting scholar at the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation in Ras Al Khaimah, where he is the recipient of a faculty research grant to conduct the project “Exploring the musical traditions of the Shihuh.” This latter project consists in recording the musical traditions of this tribe, aiming to better understand the musical practices in the UAE and their trans-cultural relationships.
Carlos Guedes is also Affiliated Associate Professor in Computer Engineering at NYUAD, and Affiliated Associate Professor of Music in Music Technology at NYU Steinhardt.