We’re proud to share the news that Assistant Professor Sam Pluta has received a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship! Pluta is one of five University of Chicago scholars who earned the award. Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.
Pluta is a composer and performer whose unique scholarly approach explores both electronic and acoustic music. Pluta performs on electronics and coded the software that he has used in performance for over a decade: the Live Modular Instrument. Using his laptop, Pluta’s performances can be either carefully rehearsed or completely improvised—or something in between.
He has toured internationally with multiple groups, and is the technical director for Wet Ink, a collective that The New York Times named the best classical music ensemble of 2018.
“During my fellowship year, I plan to work on multiple projects,” said Pluta, “including a long form composition for Wet Ink Ensemble; a sound art installation that will be up on campus; an album of compositions; and machine listening and machine-learning algorithms for live performance.”
Read more about the fellowship and the list of 2019 recipients here.