Ursula Kwong-Brown is a composer, sound designer and arts technologist based in Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in Music Composition & New Media from the University of California, Berkeley (2018) and her B.A. in Music & Biology from Columbia University (2010).
In her practice, Ursula explores the “off-label” use of medical biosensors such as heart rate monitors, breath sensors and electroencephalogram (EEG) headbands to control music generation using both hardware (modular synths) and software (taking advantage of CNMAT’s Max/MSP objects!). Her creative work using these sensors has been presented at the Columbia University Institute for Ideas & Imagination in Paris, and she has a June 2023 planned at the Columbia Zuckerman Institute in New York City.
Described as “atmospheric and accomplished” by The New York Times, her work has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia in diverse venues including Carnegie Hall, le Poisson Rouge, Miller Theatre, the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Sound designs include Head Over Heels at Pasadena Playhouse, Holiday at Arena Stage, The Wickhams at Arizona State Theatre, Native Gardens at Merrimack and the world premiere of Stonewall with NYC Opera. Honors include ASCAP and NACUSA awards, a Berkeley Symphony Composer Fellowship and grants from Chamber Music America and the New York State Council for the Arts.
