Anthony Caulkins - Chamber Music: Live Recordings (2023)

Anthony Caulkins is a composer, musician, and music technologist based in the Austin area. Through his guitar and banjo performance, Anthony explores the his own musical limits, employing classic technique with open improvisation to create a unique soundworld of fast grooves and dark themes. In his composition, Anthony explores questions relating to gesture, modularity, and metaphorical representation. Along with his own self-titled band, Anthony is also co-member of the folk-punk duo Sap & Claw Elixir.

Outside with composing his own music, Anthony is a frequent performer in a number bands around the Austin area (Myk & The Mics, Candace Bellamy, Rubi Groove, Joyce Taus, and more). He is a versatile guitarist who has years of experience in solo, chamber, and orchestral contexts. In the last few years, he has spent time exploring chamber, free improvised, and jazz contexts. Anthony studied classical guitar with Professor Javier Calderon and jazz performance with Professor Kei Akagi.

As a technologist, Anthony explores various modes of expression through the use of interactive computer systems for improvisation. Recently, Anthony has begun working on an algorithm for an autonomous computer improviser whose basic method of understanding music is gestural. This computer performer has had multiple performances, most notably in Anthony’s MFA thesis recital, E-Motions (what about gesture?).

Anthony is also the creator and host of the podcast Music In Mind – a podcast designed to develop interesting free-form conversations with other musicians about anything and everything relevant to the life of a musician.