FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fargo, ND — October 2025 — Composer and sound artist Dr. Kyle Vanderburg will represent North Dakota State University at the Sixty-Eighth National Conference of The College Music Society (CMS), to be held October 30–November 1, 2025, in Spokane, Washington.
Vanderburg will appear in three capacities during the conference—as a composer, a presenter, and a leader within CMS.
His electroacoustic work Creatures from the Black Bassoon has been selected for inclusion on this year’s program—one of fewer than 42% of 301 submissions accepted. As the title suggests, the piece is “a virtual menagerie of beasts and environments fashioned entirely from processed and unprocessed sounds of the bassoon.” Key clicks, reed squeaks, multiphonics, and notes played through various stages of assembly and disassembly are grouped into sonic “species.” Some emerge as “cute, chirpy, fuzzy critters,” while others become “vicious predators,” all arranged into golden-ratio-length tableaus punctuated by contrasting “windows.”
In addition to his creative work, Vanderburg will co-present “Composition Pedagogy and the Creative Ecosystem of Lifelong Learning” with Dr. Zachary Daniels of Oklahoma City University. The session explores how composition instruction can cultivate sustainable artistic practices that continue long after formal study, emphasizing creativity as an interconnected and lifelong process.
Vanderburg will also serve on the Chapter Presidents’ Panel, representing the CMS Central Chapter, where he currently serves as President.
The College Music Society is an international organization dedicated to advancing music teaching, performance, creativity, and scholarship. Its annual national conference brings together hundreds of musicians, composers, educators, and researchers to explore new ideas shaping the future of music in higher education.
