Austin Oting Har is a US-based composer, writer, and performer with a background in music technology and ancient philosophy. His works utilize ancient concepts, languages, and instruments, digital sound design and creative coding, bridging traditional, experimental electronic, and contemporary classical music worlds. Phonaesthetics informs his creative writing and translation, where the sound of words is as important as their meaning. His collaborations extend globally, engaging with interaction designers, linguists, poets, and cultural bearers in his work intersecting Greek tragedy, Japanese noh theatre, and renga poetry with contemporary music.
An Associate Artist of the Australian Music Centre, Austin’s music has been released internationally on Neuma Records (US) and Possible Futures (Germany), commissioned by Dark
Mofo (Australia), Berlin Atonal and MaerzMusik (Germany), published by BabelScores (France), and broadcast on modern classical programs in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. Awards
include a Special Prize in the Ise-Shima International Composition Competition (Japan), the Carillon Society of Australia Composition Competition (Australia), and the Create NSW Arts and
Cultural Fund (NSW Government, Australia). His research has been published in Context: Journal of Music Research (Melbourne University), Leonardo (MIT Press), and Organised Sound
(Cambridge University Press). Upcoming conference presentations include the 25th International Conference on Principles of Music Composing (Vilnius), TENOR International Conference on
Technologies for Music Notation and Representation (Beijing), IAFOR International Conference on Arts & Humanities (Honolulu), and MACCM New Music Festival (Ohio). His poetry has been
published in the journals Modern Haiku, Acorn, Presence, seashores, hedgerow, and tsuri-dōrō.
He holds a DMA in Composition and Music Technology from Sydney University, MMus in Music Technology Innovation (summa cum laude) from Berklee College of Music, and MSc in Ancient
Philosophy (with Merit) from Edinburgh University. He was a Visiting Scholar-Composer at University of California, Berkeley and is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University.