Caroline Louise Miller (they/them) is a US composer based in Portland, Oregon. Common themes addressed in their work include affect, ecology, labor politics, tactility, materiality of media, dreams, and hidden dimensions of reality or history, often within dreamlike musical spaces that thread field recordings, shimmering textures, and romantic melodic lines through harsh noise and clattering dissonances. They are interested in navigating perceived difference in materials, and have crafted a practice that locates and amplifies resonances among diverse sounds and concepts. They have enjoyed wide-ranging collaborations, including works for musical theater, short film, contemporary chamber ensemble, installation, acousmatic fixed media, field recording, improvisation, and jazz big band. Grants, fellowships, and commissions have supported their work. These have most recently included funding through Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Sonic Matter Festival, Alarm Will Sound, SPLICE Ensemble, Chamber Music America, Guerilla Opera, Transient Canvas, Ensemble Adapter, and others. Their music is performed nationally and internationally.
Caroline is currently Assistant Professor of Sonic Arts at Portland State University, where they teach courses including electronic music composition, songwriting, studio production, and music for visual media. Their songwriting class is designed as an inclusive, student-led workshop culminating in an annual showcase featuring genres of song that have ranged from musical theater to hip-hop, punk rock, hyperpop, folk, jazz, and more. They a hold a Ph.D in Music from UC San Diego. In their spare time, they enjoy learning about zoology and sonic behaviors of animals and ecosystems.
NEWS
Here There: (Re)collecting Labor on the American Railway, is open from May 28th-August 29th, 2024 at the Cultural Arts Building Gallery at University of North Carolina Wilmington. Visuals by Stefani Byrd, and original installation score commissioned by and recorded with Alarm Will Sound through the Matt Marks Impact Fund.
Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble will perform The Front Line again in July. The Front Line was written about and in consultation with the Oregon Nurses Association. RSVP Here More details about the piece HERE. An ONA nurse who was at the first show gave me this awesome pin for my bag.
Fixed Media Soundscape on "red sprite lightning"--elusive electrical discharges called "sprites" that appear in the earth's mesosphere. While making the soundscape I imagined an interdimensional storm in which strange things might appear and disappear.
EVENTS
August 22, 2024
Artist Talk
Here There: (Re)Collecting Labor on the American Railway
Cultural Arts Building Gallery
University of North Carolina Wilmington
July 11, 2024
The Front Line
Portland Jobs with Justice
Annual Summer Fundraiser with PJCE
Norse Hall
Portland, Or
May 23-August 29, 2024
Here There: (Re)Collecting Labor on the American Railway
Cultural Arts Building Gallery
University of North Carolina Wilmington
May 26-June 1, 2024
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Alba Music Festival
Alba, Italy
April 17, 2024, 7pm
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Hartt University
Hartford, CT
March 14, 2024, 12pm
Fortifying Echoes
With Li Kuang, Trombone
Portland State University
Noon Concerts
February 23, 2024, 7:30pm
Roseville
SEAMUS Conference
"Cinema SEAMUS", UVA
Charlottesville, Virginia
February 19, 2024, 7:30pm
The Front Line
"The Union Makes us Strong:
Amplifying Workers' voices with New Jazz"
Portland Jazz Composer's Ensemble
The Hallowed Halls
Portland, Oregon
Feb. 15, 2024, 7:30pm
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Miami University
Oxford, OH
Feb. 2, 2024, 7:30pm
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
Jan. 27, 2024, 7pm
Jungles III
113 Composers Collective
Studio Z
Minneapolis, MN
Jan. 19, 2024, 7:30pm
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
First Parish in Brookline
Brookline, MA
Dec. 29, 2023
Lucky Skies
Sunny Chou, Euphonium
Dreamphony Hall
Xinbei City, Taiwan
Dec. 23, 2023
Lucky Skies
Sunny Chou, Euphonium
He Sen Music Hall
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Dec. 22, 2023
Lucky Skies
Sunny Chou, Euphonium
Multi Music
Taichung City, Taiwan
Dec. 7, 2023-Jan 20, 2024
Donner Tunnels
3 channel video w stereo sound, segment of Here There
Stove Works
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Nov. 9, 2023, 7:30pm
Vessel
T.J. Borden, Cello
ASM Presents Ghost Ensemble
The Invisible Dog Art Center
Brooklyn, NY
Nov. 4, 2023, 11am
Divum Ficta
Liveset at SPLICE Festival V
Berklee College of Music
Boston, MA
Nov. 3, 2023, 2pm
"Designing 'Songwriting' as an inclusive, student-led course"
Talk @ SPLICE Festival V
Berklee College of Music
Boston, MA
Oct. 26, 2023, 3pm
Antiphony
Keith Kirchoff, piano
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT
Oct. 13-15, 2023
Red Sprite Lightning
live electronics with George Colligan, piano
EDME New Music Festival
Eugene, Oregon
Oct. 3, 2023
Red Sprite Lightning (fixed media)
MUSLAB International Electroacoustic Music Festival
Museo Antropológico y de Arte Contemporáneo
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Sept. 19, 2023
Vessel
T.J. Borden, cello
Wheaton College Conservatory of Music
Wheaton, Illinois
June 23rd, 2023, 11:15am
"Designing 'Songwriting' as an inclusive, student-led course"
Talk @ New Music Gathering
Portland State University
Portland, OR,
April 23rd, 2023, 4:00
[new piece]
Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble
Composers Cookoff | A Fundraiser for PJCE
The 1905
Portland, OR
April 11th, 2023, 7:30pm
territories, refrains
for flutes, clarinet, harp, percussion, and light
Ossia New Music, Hatch Hall
Eastman School of Music
Rochester, NY
April 1st, 2023, 4:00pm
Subsong
UNK New Music Festival
Kearney, Nebraska
March 6, 2023, 8:00pm
Impressions of the sky from underwater
Transient Canvas
University of North Texas
Denton, TX
February 21, 2023, 7:00pm
Ansible
SPLICE Ensemble
Outpost Concert Series
UC Riverside
Riverside, California
January 12, 2023, 12:00pm
Superlunary
With George Colligan, Piano and Melodica
Portland State University
Portland, OR
November 12, 2022, 7:30pm
Impressions of the sky from underwater
Transient Canvas
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA
October 14, 2022, 6pm
Impressions of the sky from underwater
Transient Canvas
The Dancz center for New Music @ University of Georgia
Athens, GA
September 25th, 2022
Impressions of the sky from underwater
Transient Canvas
Boston Conservatory@Berklee
Boston, MA
June 19th, 2022
Hydra Nightingale with Kyle Motl
Infrequent Seams Streamfest
May 27th, 2022
Lucky Skies premiere
by Jesse Orth, Tuba
Denton, TX
May 14th, 2022
Impressions of the Sky from Underwater
Transient Canvas@Boston Conservatory
April 23, 2022
Jungles:Remix
College Music Society NW conference
Portland, OR
December 4th, 2021
The Witness and Roseville
With collaborators Lee Dunn and Stefani Byrd
part of _OpenLab
Sonic Matter Festival
Zurich Switzerland
December 1st, 2021
The Witness
with filmmaker Lee Dunn
SAMP Laptop Ensemble Concert
Portland State University
November 20th, 2021
Witnessing the West Coast
Sonic Matter Radio Feature
with Fabiano Kueva
October 16th, 2021
Ansible
SPLICE Ensemble @ Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah
October 14th, 2021
Divum Ficta
Live-set @ Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
October 1st, 2021
Jungles: Remix
EEMS: Blackout Series @ UT Austin
Austin, Texas
