Carl Faia

Who is Carl Faia?

Carl Faia is an American composer and live electronics designer and performer.

Faia studied composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Florida State University and the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark on a Fulbright grant. Some of his past teachers include Edward Applebaum, Peter Racine Fricker, Per Nørgård and Karl Aage Rasmussen. Later, he participated in masterclasses with Tristan Murail, Philippe Manoury and Harrison Birtwistle.

Since 1995 he has been active as a live electronics designer working at IRCAM in Paris, at the CIRM in Nice where he has also been studio manager and a freelancer. He has collaborated with numerous composers including James Dillon, Jonathan Harvey, Harrison Birtwistle, Fausto Romitelli, Luca Francesconi, Alejandro Viñao, Philippe Leroux, as well as the National Jazz Orchestra of France. He has collaborated with artists to present new works with computer electronics in various festivals throughout Europe including Ars Musica, Holland Festival, Musica, Agora, Gaida, MaerzMusik, Lille 2004 as well as the Casa da Musica et Lille 2004 and Queen Elizabeth Hall. With he ported several pieces from the analog world to the digital, including Luigi Nono's Pour Pierre and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Solo. He has also performed with computers, Theremin, various sensors and guitar with Art Zoyd and Thomas Köner.