Dafna Naphtali is a sound-artist/improviser/composer/singer/guitarist/electronic-musician. An active and versatile performer, she has been performing and composing since the mid-90’s using her custom Max/MSP programming for sound processing of voice and other instruments. She co-leads the digital chamber punk ensemble, What is it Like to be a Bat with Kitty Brazelton (http://www.whatbat.org) and has collaborated / performed with many experimental musicians and video artists, such as Lukas Ligeti, David First, Chuck Bettis, Joshua Fried, Ras Moshe, Alexander Waterman, Kathleen Supové and Hans Tammen, Benton-C Bainbridge and Angie Eng among others, and is a member of Magic Names vocal ensemble championing the vocal work of Stockhausen.
She's received numerous commissions and awards, and residency opportunities. She has performed and traveled widely and under usual circumstances for her music, including to India February to for the CeC Carnival of e-Creativity 2010 festival in Uttarkhand for collaboration with renowned Hindustani singer, Vidya Shah (with funding from American Music Center). She is currently working on a new piece for Magic Names vocal ensemble and electronics, with a commission (from American Composers Forum) – the premiere of “panda half-life” will be at Issue Project Room June 17.
Teaching: Dafna Naphtali teaches and gives workshops at universities in the US and Europe, and is part-time faculty at NYU's Music Technologyprogram. She has been teaching, programming and consulting about computer music since 1995 at Harvestworks (New York), at Engine 27 ('01-'03) and as a freelancer, and has done sound design and/or programming work for the projects of many artists at the
forefront of digital and interactive music and art.
Commissions and Awards: NY Foundation for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, Experimental TV Center, American Composers Forum (for pianist Kathleen Supové, and a 2010 commission for Magic Names vocal ensemble), Brecht Forum, Franklin Furnace, Harvestworks, and residencies at STEIM (Holland), Music OMI and iEAR at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute.
