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Funded through The University of Birmingham Public Engagement Fund for Research

Sara Caneva (1991) is a composer, conductor, sound artist and researcher. She is currently a Teaching Fellow in Composition at the University of Birmingham, where she is also a PhD candidate investigating intersections between experimental music, theatre and visual cues.In 2023, she received a new multimedia opera commission about the cities of Gorizia-Nova Gorica, sponsored by the European Capitals of Culture, Piccolo Opera Festival, GO! Borderless 2025, Biennale Zagreb and Imago Sloveniae. The project also won the European Funds for Emerging Artists and the Italian Ministry of Culture special music funds.Sara’s music has been hosted internationally by institutions such as Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Salzburg Mozarteum, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Moscow Philharmonic, MusiikkItalo Camerata, BEAST Festival, and broadcast on the Italian (RAI Radio3), Austrian (ORF Ö1) and French (France Musique) national radios.She was granted artistic residencies at several International institutions, such as Bogliasco Foundation (US/IT), Kone Saari Foundation (FI), Residencia de Estudiantes (ES), Styria Artist In Residence (AU), Schleswig Holstein Künstlerhaus Otte1 (DE), developing mixed-media compositions, land-art installations and cross-disciplinary projects.In her researcher capacity, she presented her music and gave lectures in academic contexts such as the Music Since 1900 Conference, the Orpheus Institute, and the University of Greenwich, among others.Sara was nominated for the Classical:NEXT! Innovation Award 2020 and invited to the first edition of the LaMaestra Conducting Competition at the Philharmonie de Paris. As a new music specialised interpreter, she conducted several world premieres across the UK and Europe. She conducted professional orchestras and ensembles in highly renowned contexts, such as the Ensemble Modern, the BCMG, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Ensemble '900 from Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Danubia Orchestra Obuda, the Schallfeld Ensemble, and many others. She graduated in Composition, Orchestral Conducting and Piano at the Conservatoires of Rome, Milan and Stuttgart.https://www.saracaneva.info/

Dr Milad Mardakheh (b.1991) is an Iranian composer, sound-artist, programmer and researcher. He has an undergraduate background in computer engineering, and has been an eclectic musician and composer of various styles and genres for over 15 years, namely Rock/Metal, Film/Theatre, Contemporary Classical, Acousmatic, Experimental Electronic and Computer music. He acquired an MMus degree in Composition from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2017, and later a PhD in Composition from the University of Birmingham in 2021.His doctoral thesis featured a comprehensive portfolio of electroacoustic and computer music works reflecting cancer as a disease, written using the sonification of biomolecular data derived from research conducted at Barts Cancer Institute in London, UK. His current practice and research interests focus on the sonification of data, machine-learning / artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and the composition / live improvisation of computer/data music using bespoke tools in Max/MSP and SuperCollider.Mardakheh’s work has been featured and published in various academic journals, International conferences/symposiums as well as music festivals, radio programs and concerts, including Leonardo Journal, NIME (International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression), ICMC (International Computer Music Conference), klingt gut! KLG (International Symposium on Sonic Art and Spatial Audio), annual International BEAST (Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre) Music Festivals, Sound/Image Research, Reform Radio and Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungl. Musikhögskolan).His most recent work, ‘Random Walks’ is an album of semi-improvised experimental computer music, published on the Zabte Sote label, which explores a juxtaposition of Persian Classical Music and Algorithmic Computer music. He is also one of the organisers and member of the Spectral Karaoke improvisers’ collective.Mardakheh is currently Lecturing in Electronic Music Composition and Creative Music Technology at Goldsmiths, University of London & Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.https://mardakhehmusic.com/