Bob Pritchard is a Canadian composer living in Burnaby, British Columbia. His
works includes solo, chamber, orchestral, and interactive
electroacoustic concert pieces, as well as installation art and film/video. He is a
professor at the University of British Columbia, teaching music
technology, special topics, and laptop orchestra, and he coordinates the Minor in Applied Music Technology (AMT).
Medium (130 wds)
Bob Pritchard’s works are performed and broadcast worldwide and his research includes interactive performance,
gesture tracking, and gesture-controlled speech synthesis. He has received multi-year research grants from SSHRC
and CC/NSERC, has contributed chapters to books dealing with the body in performance, and was involved with research on BC
accents. He creates video, software and music for his interactive works and in 2007 his interactive piece Strength received a
Unique Award of Merit from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. His short film Crisis
is part of Cathryn Robertson’s cancer documentary 17 Short Films About Breasts which is in international
distribution, received five Leo nominations, and has been presented at several North American Festivals.
His teaching career in the UBC School of Music included coordinating the Minor in Applied Music Technology and directing the Laptop Orchestra.
He is a member of the Insitute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS).
Long (350 wds)
Dr. Bob Pritchard is a Canadian composer who taught music technology at the University of
British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. where he also directed SUBCLASS, the UBC digital performance ensemble.
His pieces can be demanding and virtuosic, exploring the edges of performance and perception, and he
has a particular interest in interactive and gestural performance. A recipient of numerous commissions,
his works have been presented by performers such as Jane Coop, Megumi Masaki, Margaret Lancaster, Marguerite Witvoet,
Julia Nolan, David Owen, John Sampen, Barbara Pritchard, Beverly Johnston, Chenoa Anderson, Nu:BC,
the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Okanagan Symphony, and the St Lawrence Quartet.
His music and research is presented internationally in concert, in conferences, and in broadcasts in
North/South America, Europe, Russia, Hong Kong, Australia, and Japan. His works have twice been
selected by Canadian juries for submission to the International Society of Contemporary Music.
He researches interactive multi-user performance environments and gesture-controlled speech synthesis,
and develops interactive performance systems and concert works at the UBC Institute for Computing, Information
and Cognitive Systems (ICICS). He has received multi-year research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council and the Canada Council/Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and collaborates with
UBC Linguistics Prof. Molly Babel on Determining Regional Accents With Literature (DRAWL), a SSHRC-funded project
studying British Columbia accents. His Tracking And Smart Textiles Environment (TASTE) SSHRC project develops
Responsive User Body Suits (RUBS) and infra-red tracking systems for interactive performance by musicians/dancers.
Dr. Pritchard contributed a chapter to Performative Body Spaces: Corporeal Topographies in
Literature, Theatre, Dance, and the Visual Arts (pub. Rodopi) and is active as a videographer:
his interactive piece Strength (2007) for which he wrote the music and software and also directed and edited the visuals received a Unique Award of Merit from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.
His short film Crisis is part of Cathryn Robertson's cancer documentary 17 Short Films
About Breasts (Fanlight Productions, NYC), which received five Leo nominations, was
recommended to the Museum Of Modern Art by Telefilm Canada, and has been presented at several North American Festivals.
His teaching abilities have been recognized by UBC with a Killam Teaching Award, and by the University of Melbourne
VCA&MCM with a Master Teacher Award.
Image by Takumi Hayashi
M Poon, A Grayson, B Pritchard, A Aska: Image by Martin Dee
P Steenhuisen, B Pritchard, A Ristic: Image by Andre Leduc
Image by Y Fong