Michael Dessen

Composer/trombonist Michael Dessen creates highly interactive, improvisatory music and collaborates with leading artists, while also working as a university professor to expand institutional spaces for innovation and exchange. He has worked extensively for nearly twenty years in telematic music, composing and performing on dozens of networked concerts with international collaborators, and co-directing youth education programs that explore the intercultural potentials of musical telepresence. At UC Irvine, he co-founded a PhD program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology (ICIT) and is currently chair of the Department of Music, as well as affiliated faculty with the Connected Learning Lab and the Alec Glasser Center for the Power of Music & Social Change.