Elizabeth Anderson’s (b. 1960) artistic production comprises of acousmatic, mixed, and radiophonic works as well as works for multimedia and sound installations, and it has been performed in international venues for over twenty years. It is a fascination with space, whether on the scale of the universe (macrocosm) or cellular life (microcosm), and the expression of this realm through sound, that is among her primary motivations for choosing to compose with electroacoustic techniques. She sees in this medium a rich and powerful way not only to convey to the listener these opposite realms and their strong complementarities, but also to share with the audience the imaginary world that she translates and develops through her music. Underlying her creative and pedagogical approach is her research on the perception of electroacoustic music from a poietic and esthesic perspective, to which end she conceived models to explore the meaning of electroacoustic music as constructed by the composer and the listener.
Elizabeth Anderson developed a complete curriculum for electroacoustic composition at the Académie de Soignies (Academy of Soignies, Belgium) from 1994 to 2002, which was a pilot programme subsidized by the Ministry of the French Community of Belgium. In 2003, she joined the department of electroacoustic composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons. Radiating across her compositional output and her pedagogical and organizational activities is a heightened commitment to the communicational power of electroacoustic music to the wider world.
Elizabeth Anderson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music (1982) from Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA) and a Master of Music in Composition (1987) from the Peabody Institute (Baltimore, Maryland, USA). She travelled to Brussels (Belgium) in 1987 to pursue a diploma in instrumental composition at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and, while exploring instrumental techniques, discovered electronic music. In 1993, she completed a Final Diploma in electronic music composition at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium, followed by a First Prize and a Superior Diploma in electroacoustic composition at the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium with Annette Vande Gorne in 1994 and 1998 respectively. She earned a Doctorate in Electroacoustic Composition with Denis Smalley at City University London (England, UK) in 2011.