Eliot Britton
Associate Professor, Music Research (Composition)
Co-Director: 黑料网爆吃瓜 Digital Composition Studios
Doctor of Philosophy听(Music Composition) at 黑料网爆吃瓜听(2009 - 2015)
Master of Music in Composition at 黑料网爆吃瓜 (2007-2008)
Bachelor of Music in Composition at University of Manitoba (2001-2005)
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Industry Training Certificates
- Advanced Digital Studio Production -听Precursor Productions听(2006)听
- Surround Mixing and Mastering - Precursor Productions (2005)
- Digital Music Production听 - Precursor Productions 2002-2003
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- Composition (Instrumental, Electroacoustic, and Mixed Audiovisual Creation)
- Hybrid & Post-Digital Musical Practices
- Studio Production and Sound Design
- Rhythmic Syntax of Electronic Music
- Audiovisual and Theatrical Music Creation
- Live Electronics Composition and Performance Systems
- Orchestral鈥揈lectronic Integration
- New Music Curation, Mentorship, and Artistic Leadership
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- Canadian Music Culture and听Pedagogy
- Emerging Compositional听Aesthetics
- Collaboration with Indigenous Artists
- Research-Creation Methodologies
- Generative AI and Synthesis Systems听
- Next Generation Audiovisual Rendering Engines
- Interactive Audiovisual Systems Design / Generative Audio / Game Audio
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- Hybrid orchestral, chamber and electronics composition.
- Rhythmic syntax and production technique in experimental and emerging electronic music.
- Interactive and immersive media for stage and exhibition
- Notation and systems for mixed ensembles. Studio to stage reproducibility
- Curriculum and facility development for digital composition and research creation
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Eliot Britton is a composer-researcher whose hybrid practice links studio production, instrumental composition, and interactive media across formats that include audiovisual performance, theatre, and touring orchestral and dance productions. His work draws on post-digital aesthetics and instrumental practices to bridge communities and to develop new approaches for score, screen, stage, console, and classroom.
Since 2024, he has been an Associate Professor at 黑料网爆吃瓜鈥檚 Schulich School of Music and co-director of the Digital Composition Studios. His current projects include a joint Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra commission, a fifty-minute work for live electronics, orchestra, and life-size puppets, and Quigital, an immersive and interactive theatrical percussion opera that blends corporate satire with advanced media design. His works are performed and toured internationally, reflecting a practice that moves fluidly between concert hall, festival stage, and digital platform.
After completing his doctorate in composition in 2015, Britton directed the University of Toronto Electronic Music Studios from 2016 to 2023, leading major renovations of UTEMS and contributing to the Music Technology and Digital Media program. As co-PI, he secured the CFI award that established the Centre for Brain Performance and Music Creation. In 2023鈥�24 he also held a Distinguished Visiting Scholar appointment in music composition.
Britton is deeply committed to supporting emerging artists and strengthening new music communities. He has served on the board of New Music Concerts Toronto, acted as Executive Director of GroundSwell Inc., and co-founded the Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival. His mentorship includes work as a composer at the Banff Centre鈥檚 Indigenous Classical Music Gathering, and he continues to champion emerging Indigenous voices through long-standing programming and leadership roles at Cluster and New Music Concerts. He is also an active member of CIRMMT, contributing to research-creation environments that connect technology, performance, and innovation. His research and creative work have received multiple awards and distinctions throughout his career.
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Interview. 鈥淚n Conversation with Eliot Britton.鈥� 黑料网爆吃瓜 Music Blog.
Read the interview
Interview. Toronto Guardian.听
Composition at 黑料网爆吃瓜 emphasizes the development of individual artistic voices through rigorous engagement with instrumental writing, contemporary practices, and emerging technologies. Students are encouraged to work fluidly across acoustic, electronic, and hybrid media, with opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration, research-creation, and performance-driven experimentation. The program supports a wide range of compositional approaches while fostering critical reflection, technical fluency, and professional artistic practice.
Selected Awards and Funding
- 2025 Fonds De Recherche Qu茅bec - Soutien aux 茅quipes de recherche / Universitaire - renouvellement. 鈥淟鈥檃nalyse et la perception de l鈥檕rchestration鈥� co-application/investigator.
- 2024 Canada Council For the Arts / Conseil des arts et des lettres du Qu茅bec: Quigital: Corporate Retreat (Immersive / Interactive Theatre).
- 2023 Distinguished Visiting Scholar (Composition) Schulich School of Music
- 2022 BMO Lab for Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies and AI. The Resistible Rise of Arturo UI: (Interactive Audio). Collaboration with University of Toronto Electronic Music Studios (UTEMS).
- 2021 Digital Commissioning Grant for Quigital: Home Comfort Advisor Project
- 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Sound Design and Composition
- 2019 CFI / JELF Centre for Brain Performance and Music Creation (BPMC) Co-PI.
- 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Sound Design and Composition
- 2018 Connaught New Researcher Award
- 2017-18 Canada 150 Signature Project Commissioning Grant
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SELECTED OPERATIONS AND PROJECT FUNDING:
- 2021 Canada Council Explore and Create, Cluster Festival (co. director.)
- 2017 Canada Council New Project Grant: Cluster Festival (co. director.)
- 2017 Manitoba Arts Council Funding Cluster Festival
- 2016 Canada Council New Project Grant: Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival
- 2016 Manitoba Arts Council Project Grant.. Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival
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MUCO 631 - Seminar in Composition - Identity and Practice in the 21st Century
MUCO 341 - Digital Studio Composition 1
MUCO 342 - Digital Studio Composition 2
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Papers
Britton, Eliot. 鈥淕enre and Capital in Avant garde Electronica.鈥� Organised Sound 21, no. 1, 2016.
Britton, Eliot, David Arbez, Patrick Hart & Kevin McPhillips. 鈥淧erforming Corporate Culture: Analysing Meta-Narratives and Online Interactivity Through Quigital.鈥� Contemporary Music Review, vol. 42, no. 1 (2023).
Britton, Eliot. 鈥淏orn under a Bad Star: Analysis of abstract loop based composition through Aaron Funk鈥檚 Szerencs茅tlen.鈥� CEC eContact!
PAN M 360. 鈥淨uigital Corporate Retreat featuring Architek Percussion, Sarah Albu, and Eliot Britton at Sala Rossa, Montr茅al.鈥� Concert Review, 2023.
Selected Works
Orchestra
- dis(re)pair (2023) 鈥� orchestra
- Hyperscale Landscape (2021) 鈥� chamber orchestra; video
- Hyperscale Landscape, percussion edition (2021) 鈥� chamber orchestra; video
- Adizokan (2017) and Adizokan Suite (2018) 鈥� orchestra; video; dance; electronics
- Backyard Blocks, Organic Engagement (2018) 鈥� string orchestra; percussion
- Heirloom Bison Culture (2016) 鈥� orchestra; live electronics
- Freight (2009) 鈥� wind orchestra
- Scars of Thunder (2005) 鈥� orhestra
Stage and Multimedia. Chamber with Electronics
- Quigital Corporate Retreat (2025) 鈥� percussion ensemble; vocalist; live electronics; interactive game engine / video. (Co. Creation)
- This River鈥� (2019) 鈥� percussion ensemble; vocalist; narrator
- Not Your Biggest Fan (2019) 鈥� percussion; oboe; live electronics
- Old Time Fiddle Hits (2018) 鈥� solo violin; amplified fiddle; electronics
- Heart Emoji (2017) 鈥� saxophone quartet
- Metatron (2015) 鈥� percussion sextet
- Gatsbytron for Three (2012) 鈥� percussion; live electronics
- Television Sky (2011) 鈥� cello; V Drums; digital turntable
- Ferrofluid (2009) 鈥� cello; V Drums; digital turntables
- Mote Potential (2009) 鈥� small ensemble; live electronics
- Codecs (2008) 鈥� large ensemble; live electronics
Chamber, Acoustic
- BitCannon (2013) 鈥� percussion quartet, two marimbas
- Steam Punk (2009) 鈥� percussion ensemble
- Evolution 5脳8 (2006) 鈥� chamber ensemble
Solo with Electronics
- Septentrion (2021) 鈥� flute; electronics
- Oxblood Diamine 2.0 (2019) 鈥� amplified pen; live electronics; video
- Cuneiform and Glide (2011) 鈥� piano; live electronics
- K533 Loops (2010) 鈥� piano; live electronics
- Steam Punk Light (2009) 鈥� percussion; fixed media
- Break Zero Hue (2007) 鈥� trumpet; six channel live electronics
- Train Set (2006) 鈥� percussion; multichannel electronics
- Ziggurat Vertigo (2003) 鈥� saxophone; electronics
Choral and Vocal
- Quigital: Home Comfort Advisor (2021) 鈥� choir; electronics; video; web installation
- Run Freddy Run (2018) 鈥� choir; violin; electronics
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Architek Percussion. Metatron. Recorded February 14, 2014. Eliot Britton, 2017, CD.
Ben Reimer. "TrainSet." Recorded July 18, 2017. In Katana of Choice. Eliot Britton, 2017, Vinyl recording.
- Instrumental Composition听
- Creative Applications of Music Technology听
- Studio Production and Composition
- Analytical Methods, Analysis and Research Creation
- Aesthetics in听Composition
- Live Electronics
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Britton, Eliot. 鈥淯VIC TALK.鈥� Keynote Presentation at : Exploring Sound as Foundational Practice, University of Victoria, May 28, 2023.
Britton, Eliot. 鈥淨uigital: Hypersignification.鈥� Online Presentation presented at the Composition Seminar, University of Victoria, November 25, 2020.
Britton, Eliot. 鈥淚ntegrated Multi-Scale Analysis: Technology and Formal Function.鈥� Audiovisual presented at the Composition Seminar, Columbia University, November 1, 2020.
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