Sam Pluta

Sam Pluta is a Baltimore-based composer, electronics performer, and sound artist whose work centers on using the laptop as a performance instrument. Pluta has written works from solo pieces to large ensemble scores for groups such as Wet Ink, the New York Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, and others. His solo electronic output spans multi-channel acousmatic works, laptop-and-video pieces, and laptop ensemble music. As an improviser, he has collaborated with Peter Evans, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Anne La Berge, and George Lewis. He is a member of ensembles including the Peter Evans Ensemble, Rocket Science, exclusiveOr, and a longstanding duo with Evans, and has performed widely in Europe and the U.S., including the Lucerne Festival, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Moers Festival, Bimhuis, and The Vortex.

Pluta is Technical Director and a member of Wet Ink, and has premiered both his own works and those by composers such as Peter Ablinger, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Lewis, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels. He holds a D.M.A. from Columbia University and master’s degrees from the University of Birmingham (U.K.) and the University of Texas at Austin. He is Associate Professor of Computer Music and Music Engineering Technology at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.