Theme：The Composer as Curator: Capabilities and Limitations of AI in Music Composition

Language: English

Speaker: Colton Francis

Host: Prof. Zhuosheng Jin

Date&Time: Nov.10, 2023 (Fri.) 19:00

Venue: Lecture Classroom 102, Teaching Building(MUS)

Abstract

Since the 2022 release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT model, AI has become a hot topic on the internet and in courtrooms as the world watches with wonder and fright at its capabilities and implications. This lecture delves into the current trends and capabilities of current models with respect to potential applications and subsequent shortcomings in the pop and classical composition process, while relating and connecting these future concepts to their historical precedent.

About the Speaker

Mr. Francis is a bi-lingual (English and Mandarin) music educator and composer with a passion for creating easy-to-understand, personalized, and entertaining lessons that engage students of all musical backgrounds and ages via game-based and composition-based learning modules. His composition students have been accepted into such prestigious schools as The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Bienen School of Music, Peabody Institute, Mannes School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Berklee College of Music, and Manhattan School of Music, to name a few. 

Since 2020 he has been composer in residence for the Trout Piano Quartet, responsible for composing original works for the chamber group as well as making chamber arrangements from other popular and Classical works with performances in several top concert halls throughout China and Europe. His other works have also premiered in China, Europe, and America, most notably the premiere of Unity (2023) for the Wet Ink Ensemble in Baltimore.

Mr. Francis holds an associate degree in Music Composition from Collin College, a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the University of Texas at Tyler, and is currently completing a Master of Music in Music Composition at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins.