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(What follows is a general bio, deceptively written by me in the third person, in case anyone has use for such a thing.)
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Ben Houge (rhymes with "vogue")
is a composer and audio designer whose attention is focused on finding connections.
His areas of activity range from computer game soundtracks to sacred choral music,
and he is energized by the way in which these disparate trajectories inform and invigorate each other.
Much of his work employs computers to make decisions and generate sound,
and he has incorporated ideas from his experience in digital media into compositions for live performance.
Since 2004 Ben has lived in Shanghai, where he works as a senior audio designer for the French videogame company Ubisoft. Here he has transplanted the Sound Currents concert series from Seattle to present visiting artists from the US; and he's performed his music at the Zendai Museum of Modern Art, the 2pi Festival, and Noishanghai |
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with local musicians including
Torturing Nurse and
Wang Changcun.
His work has been profiled in local
publications
and he's been a contributing music editor to
That's Shanghai
magazine since January 2007.
Ben's eight years in Seattle from 1996 to 2004 yielded many fruitful collaborations. His compositions have been performed by a range of ensembles, including odeonquartet, the Ensemble Sorelle, the Northwest Girlchoir, and the Esoterics. Ben founded the Sound Currents concert series as a forum for new works by Northwest composers, and he was a core contributor to the Seattle School collective from its first performance. He also served the Seattle Composers Alliance as vice president. His work has been featured on radio stations KING, KUOW, and KEXP, and in the newspapers The Seattle Times, The Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger. Melinda Bargreen of the Seattle Times wrote that Ben's soundtrack for the computer role-playing game Arcanum was "sophisticated enough to pass muster on its own as an extended string quartet." Ben received two Meet the Composer grants for his work in Seattle. Ben has been composing music and designing sound for digital games since 1996. Prior to his current gig at Ubisoft, he spent seven years at Sierra Entertainment, where he contributed to such titles as King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Leisure Suit Larry 7, and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Ben has also worked as a freelance audio contractor, whose clients include ArenaNet and Microsoft Game Studios. He has created audio for numerous games and promotional projects, composed scores for acoustic ensembles as well as electronic instruments, engineered field recordings in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, and conducted voice-recording sessions in Seattle, Hollywood, Milan, and Madrid. Ben is also active as a composer of ecclesiastical music. Twice he has been commissioned to compose music for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, completing settings of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and several Psalms in 1998, followed by a set of congregational responses for the Renewing Worship project in 2003. Augsburg Fortress has published Ben's music in the Worship & Praise hymnal (1999) and in several Renewing Worship publications (2004). From 1997 to 2003, Ben composed choral works, acclamations, and antiphons as composer-in-residence with the Cantorei Choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Mercer Island, WA, under the direction of Erik Floan. Ben has been writing music in some form since about 1986, completing his first pop song in sixth grade, around the time he began studying classical piano regularly. In May 1996, he graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a degree in music theory and composition, where he studied with Peter Hamlin. During his years at St. Olaf, Ben worked as an audio engineer and music recordist for WCAL 89.3 FM, a founding National Public Radio station, and provided live sound reinforcement at the campus nightclub. Ben also holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Washington, where he studied composition with Juan Pampin and Richard Karpen and digital art with Bret Battey. Ben was born in 1974 in York, Nebraska, and grew up around the Midwest, in southern California, and in the West African countries of Liberia and Ivory Coast, while his parents served as missionaries with Lutheran Bible Translators. In Africa, he attended the International Christian Academy in Bouaké, Ivory Coast. His admittedly few non-musical interests include wine and cooking, French language and culture, Chinese calligraphy, amateur photography, and, of course, video games. Ben's younger brother Nate is a folk star; for more information, please visit www.natehouge.com. |