About AOM

The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse

A group of composers, artists and musicians spread through three continents meet in a networked virtual world. There, together as avatars, they design and play otherworldly instruments while experimenting with identity, perception, telepathy and collectivity. The instruments control movement, sounds, and the release of particles and textures that give visual indications of sounds made independently by individual players in real time. There is no streaming involved – the performance is created completely within the networked 3-D environment Second Life.

Click here to view the AOM 2020 Curriculum Vitae

Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM), formed in March, 2007, is a globally dispersed collective of composers, musicians and media artists working in the virtual online environment Second Life. AOM investigates and exposes new possibilities for developing audiovisual works that challenge conventional practices of creating, performing and listening to music.
        
With members spread over 3 continents, AOM explores the nuances of identity and the communicative possibilities that are opened through real time telematic connection within a virtual audiovisual environment. Within AOM, a new kind of listening is unfolded; inviting subtle yet powerful mind connections made audible within a rich and wildly varying sonic world. AOM’s 'instruments' are created within the Second Life environment, making it possible for each performer in the Orchestra to trigger sounds independent from one another and to play together in real time. These instruments feature sounds, visuals, and animations. A performance of a jumping, hovering, floating and twirling Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a truly spectacular event.

AOM creates and performs with a dedicated core of 8 to 12 members located in Europe, North America and Asia., the group performs from Second Life for virtual and mixed reality events at new media, music and visual arts centres. Hosted by curators and collaborators at centres across the globe, AOM has created and performed over a range of audiovisual works screened live at music and media events, festivals and screened in cinema and on television internationally. 

Composers represented include Bjorn Eriksson (Sweden), Leif Inge (Norway), Andreas Mueller, Johannes Riedmann and Harald Muenz (Germany), Shintaro Miyazaki (Switzerland), Biagio Franca (Italy), Viv Corringham, Norman Lowrey, Pauline Oliveros and Tim Rischer (USA); and Tina Pearson, Erik Rzepka, Liz Solo and Jeremy Owen Turner (Canada). AOM also collaborates with musicians performing in mixed reality settings, such as the ensemble Tinntinnabulate (Troy, USA), Franziska Schroeder (Belfast), Christine Duncan and Anne Bourne (Toronto); Kathy Kennedy (Montreal), Catherine Fern Lewis (Victoria), Ryan Siegan Smith and Ayaka Okutsu (Berlin) among others. One of the Orchetra’s initiators, musicologist and media researcher Dr. Shintaro Miyazaki, was intrigued enough to write his thesis about it (Social Music–Second Life as a Medium for Networked Art), and subsequently, Dr. Gema Fernández-Blanco Martín’s thesis (Creative processes in immersive musical environments), based on the Orchestra, included extensive documentation of AOM members and events.

CURRENT MEMBERS updated October, 2020

Avatar Name, aka RL Name (City, Country)

Cuirec d'Erc, aka Harald Muenz (Cologne, Germany)

--Composer, sound artist, speech performer

FredMadison, aka Gema FB Martín, Madrid, Spain

--Multidisciplinary artist, psychologist (Technoethics), scientific researcher

Frieda Korda, aka Frieda Kuterna (Regensburg, Germany)

--Media and textile artist, photographer, set designer
Groucho Parx, aka Brenda Hutchinson (Brooklyn & San Francisco, USA)

--Composer, sound artist, educator

Gumnosophistai Nurmi, aka Leif Inge (Oslo, Norway)

--Old/new media artist
Humming Pera, aka Tina M. Pearson (Victoria, BC, Canada)

--Composer, sound artist, improviser, facilitator, Deep Listening® practitioner

Jori Tokyo, aka Johannes Riedmann (Regensburg, Germany)

--Visual and mixed media artist, performer

Maxxo Klaar, aka Max D. Well (Regensburg, Germany) 

--Concept and media artist, ‘pataphysician, scout, curator, founding member of AOM

Miulew Takahe, aka Björn Eriksson (Sollefteå, Sweden)

--Sound artist, improviser, composer, Deep Listening® practitioner, founding member of AOM

North Zipper, aka Norman Lowrey (New Jersey, USA)

--Composer, mask maker, performance / video artist, Professor Emeritus of Music at Drew University, Deep Listening® practitioner
Paco Mariani, aka Chris Wittkowsky (Regensburg, Germany)

--Designer, concept and media artist, performer, sculptor, founding member of AOM

Zonzo Spyker, aka Viv Corringham (Minneapolis, MN, USA / London, UK)

--Vocalist and sound artist, Deep Listening® practitioner

INSTRUMENT / RECEIVER / ANIMATION / SET BUILDERS

Bingo Onomatopoeia, aka Andreas Müller (Regensburg, Germany) [HUD, Receiver, Animation builder 2007 - 2013]
Flivelwitz Alsop, aka Tim Risher, (Durham, North Carolina, USA) [HUD, Animation builder]
North Zipper, aka Norman Lowrey (New Jersey, USA) [HUD, Receiver, Set, Animation builder]
Goowind Seiling, aka Sachiko Hayashi (Stockholm, Sweden) [Set & Receiver, PwRHm]
Frieda Korda, aka Frieda Kuterna (Regensburg, Germany) [Set Designer and Builder]
DeThomas Dibou, aka Detlef Thomas (Regensburg, Germany) [Set Design & Construction]

VIDEOGRAPHERS / MACHINIMA MAKERS / AUDIO RECORDISTS / PHOTOGRAPHERS

Arahan Claveau, aka Steve Millar (London, UK) [Videographer]  
Loop Luo, aka Loopland (Regensburg, Germany) [Audio Recording, Streaming]
Lizsolo Mathilde, aka Liz Solo (St. John's, Nfld., Canada) [Machinima, Photography]
Evo Szuyuan, aka Brigit Lichtenegger (Rotterdam, Netherlands) [Videographer] 
Fau Ferdinand, aka Yael Glicks (London, England) [Photographer, Consultant]

PAST / PERIODIC COMPOSERS, PERFORMERS, MEMBERS  

Bingo Onomatopoeia, aka Andreas Müller (Regensburg, Germany)

BlaiseDeLaFrance Voom, aka Biagio Francia (Agropoli, Italy) 

Bluewave Ogee, aka Leslie Jarmon (Austin, USA)

Cajska Carlsson, aka Simon Jones (Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Carolhyn Wijaya, aka Carolyn Oakley (Boulder, Colorado, USA) 
DeThomas Dibou, aka Detlef Thomas (Regensburg, Germany) [Set Design & Construction]

Fernsing Llewellyn, aka Catherine Fern Lewis (Victoria, BC, Canada)

Flivelwitz Alsop, aka Tim Risher, (Durham, North Carolina, USA) 
Frans Peterman, aka Peter Mertens (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Free Noyes, aka Pauline Oliveros (Kingston, NY, USA)

Gargamel Frequency, aka Peter Wong (San Francisco/Oakland, USA 
Goodwind Seiling, aka Sachiko Hayashi (Stockholm, Sweden)
Hars Hefferman, aka Harold Schellinx (Paris, France)

Janne Janus (Sweden)

Juniverse Stockholm, (Sweden) 

Ida Aabye, aka Nathalie Fougeras (Brussel, France / Solleftea, Sweden)

Lizsolo Mathilde, aka Liz Solo (St. John's, Nfld., Canada)

Loop Luo, aka Loopland (Regensburg, Germany) [Audio Recording, Streaming]

Maximillian Nakamura, aka Shintaro Miyazaki (Berlin, Germany)

Nnoiz Papp, aka Tobias Becker (Haan)
Pow Zero, aka Ryan Ross Smith (Berkeley, USA) 
Saara Edring, aka Seidi Palonen (Helsinki, Finland)

StuArtnoise Sass aka Stuart Dempster (USA)

Sum Noyes, aka Monique Buzzarté (USA)

Toyoji Tomita, aka Toyoji McDonnell (USA)

Trombonejen Wigglesworth, aka Jen Baker (California, USA)

Vit Latynina, aka Max D. Well (Regensburg, Germany)

Weave Noyes, aka Sarah Weaver (New York, USA)

Wirxli Flimflam, aka Jeremy Owen Turner (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Xisuthra Lomu, aka Erik Rzepka (Vancouver, BC, Canada)