Rate My Professor Rodney Waschka II

Rodney Waschka II serves as Professor of Arts Studies and Director of the Arts Studies Program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at North Carolina State University. In this capacity, he directs the Arts NOW Series, presenting concerts, lectures, and performing arts events that feature contemporary works for the university community and the general public. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Computer Music/Media from the University of North Texas, with additional studies at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands and Brooklyn College. His composition teachers included Larry Austin, Thomas Clark, Paul Berg, Clarence Barlow, George Lewis, Charles Dodge, Robert Ashley, and Joel Ryan. Waschka previously served as Managing Director of the Consortium to Distribute Computer Music and was elected to three terms as an officer of the International Computer Music Association, totaling six years.

An internationally recognized composer, performer, filmmaker, poet, and visual artist in arts and culture, Waschka is known for his algorithmic compositions, electronic computer music, and theatrical pieces, including three unusual one-act operas. His works, often incorporating electronic media, visuals, theater, or poetry, have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Japan, China, Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Israel, South Africa, and other locations at venues such as the International Computer Music Conference, SEAMUS festival, World Saxophone Congress in Montreal and Tempe, Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Sheremetev Palace, Glinka Hall, and Composers' Center in St. Petersburg, Russia. Recordings of his compositions have been released on labels including Phasma Music, Blue Griffin Records, Ravello Records, Ablaze Records, Capstone, Centaur, and others; recent examples include A Note for Joe Alexander for flute and tuba (Phasma Music, 2024) and Considering Jupiter for amplified piano and electronic music (Blue Griffin, 2019). Key publications feature “Minimal Fitness Functions in Genetic Algorithms for the Composition of Piano Music” in the Proceedings of the 2015 International Computer Music Conference. He has received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, Fundacion Valparaiso, Texas Composers' Forum, and others. His research interests include dynamical systems and genetic algorithms as compositional tools, and he delivered a keynote address at the 2019 Music Meta-Creation Conference.