Education
M.Mus., D.M.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.M., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Professor Miles is active as a composer, performer, and scholar. In all his work, Professor Miles probes the dynamic relationship between musical and social structures, drawing on social theory and experimental techniques of composition and performance. Professor Miles regularly presents papers at the International Conference on Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, and at the New Music Gathering, and is a member of the American Composers Forum board of directors. From 2011 to 2017, Professor Miles was NCF’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Until 2020, Professor Miles was also Director of our New Music New College series (www.newmusicnewcollege.org), which features New College students, faculty, and staff, often in the performance of original compositions, as well leading performers from around the country. Recent guest artists include composer-vocalist Pamela Z, pianist Kathleen Supové, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and ensembles such as JACK Quartet, Ekmeles, Wet Ink, and Third Coast Percussion. Visit the New Music New College website (www.newmusicnewcollege.org) for more information on this cutting-edge series, which was founded in 1998.
Professor Miles also coordinates New College’s on-going collaboration with the Sarasota Orchestra for student composers. Each year, a select group of New College students is paired with one of the orchestra’s resident chamber ensembles, who coach the students throughout the year, and perform their original compositions in the spring.
Recent Courses
Music, Language, Voice: Contemporary Issues and Problems
Experimental Music in Theory and Practice
Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Modernism
Music Theory II
Selected Compositions
- Musical Citations #5: Moving through Space with Sound (2017) vocal performance and recorded improvisations, performed in collaboration with dancer Leymis Bolaños-Wilmott, produced by architect Selma Göker, Walker Guest House Replica, Ringling Museum, April 4, 2017
- AS/IS (2011), for violin, tuba, electric guitar, and bass. First performance: March 4, 2011, Sarasota, FL, New Music New College.
- Living and Dead (2009), theatre piece for seven performers. Composed with Margaret Eginton. First performance: November 13, 2009, Sarasota, FL, New Music New College
- Social Studies (2002), a collection of experimental compositions for voices. First performance: March16, 2003, Sarasota, Florida, New Music New College.
Selected Publications
- “Composing Reflexivity: The Social Studies Project,” in Audiences and the Arts: Communication Perspectives, Brenda Dervin and Lois Foreman-Wernet, eds. (Cresskill, NJ, Hampton Press, 2010): 123-150.
- “Seeing Cage, Hearing Beuys,” TDR: The Drama Review, Vol. 54, No. 2, T206, Summer 2010: 126-154.
- “Agency and Domination in Communicative Performance,” Music and Arts in Action, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009): 30-42
- “Objectivity and Intersubjectivity in Pauline Oliveros’s Sonic Meditations,” Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 46, No. 1 (2008): 4-38.