< speaks > | Charmaine Lee

Charmaine Lee will open her lecture with a live performance, situating sound as both method and inquiry. Through voice, electronics and real-time processing, she explores listening as an embodied practice. The performance will be followed by a moderated discussion unpacking her tools, compositional process and conceptual framework, addressing questions of presence, improvisation and the relationship between technology and the human voice.

Biography
Charmaine Lee is a New York-based experimental vocalist and electronic musician whose work explores the voice as an instrument of texture, rupture and embodied listening. Her practice spans live performance, composition and improvisation, often integrating electronics and real-time processing. She has received commissions from leading institutions including Jack Quartet, Wet Ink Ensemble and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and maintains long running collaborations with Ikue Mori and Conrad Tao. Together with producer/engineer Randall Dunn, Lee runs Kou Records, an artist-run label dedicated to process-driven music making and artist-led production.