Binary Canary

Binary Canary
Kyle Hutchins, saxophone & Ted Moore, laptop

Binary Canary is a collaborative improvisation ensemble featuring laptopist Ted Moore and saxophonist Kyle Hutchins. Their work together since 2013 has included solo and chamber music, free and structured improvisations, and interactive multimedia. Their 2015 album ‘click/blow’ was reviewed as “a full on noise-jazz symphony” (Raised by Gypsies) and a “display [of] individual virtuosity and group musicianship… well worth the listen” (Signals for Images). They have been featured at conferences, festivals, and on series such as the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), New York City Electronic Music Festival (NYCEMF), Electroacoustic Barndance (EABD), North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), Music Now at the University of North Texas, New Horizons Music Festival (NHMF), Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI), Ars Electroacoustica, The New Ruckus, Patrick’s Cabaret, Punk-Ass Classical, Skewed Visions, and as guest artists at universities across the country.

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Ted Moore is a composer, improviser, intermedia artist, and educator based in Chicago. His work focuses on fusing the sonic, visual, physical, and acoustic aspects of performance and sound, often through the integration of technology. Ted’s work has been reviewed as “an impressive achievement both artistically and technically” (Jay Gabler, VitaMN), “wonderfully creepy” (Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet), and “epic” (Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press). Ted’s work has been premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, The Dream Songs Project, Yarn/Wire, Splinter Reeds, Quince Vocal Ensemble, AVIDduo, and others, and has been performed across the country including at The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Spectrum (NYC), Root Signals Electronic Music Festival (Statesboro, GA), and the Electroacoustic Barn Dance (Fredericksburg, VA), among others.

Ted also frequently performs solo on electronics using his laptop, modular synthesizer systems, resonant physical objects, lighting equipment, and video projection. He has been featured as an installation artist by the Northern Spark Festival (Minneapolis), Studio 300 Festival of Digital Art and Music (Lexington, KY), St. Paul Public Library, TC Make (Minneapolis). As an improviser, Ted is one half of Binary Canary, a woodwinds-laptop improvisation duo alongside saxophonist Kyle Hutchins. In collaboration with Scott Miller, he curated and performed in the free improvisation series Ars Electroacoustica in Minneapolis. As a theater artist, Ted has worked with many independent companies, notably with Skewed Visions and Savage Umbrella. He has taught in a variety of capacities, including at The Walden School’s Young Musicians Program and Creative Musicians Retreat (Dublin, NH), MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis), Slam Academy (Minneapolis), and McNally Smith College of Music (St. Paul).

Currently Ted is pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Chicago.

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Praised for his “formidable technique” and “enviable uniformity of tone” (The Saxophone Symposium) and described as a “skilled improviser, no doubt about it” (I Care If You Listen), Jeffery Kyle Hutchins is a concert saxophonist, chamber musician, improviser, pedagogue, and performance artist who focuses on the creation and promotion of contemporary music and interdisciplinary media. His work emphasizes close collaboration with composers and artists to create adventurous programming, often incorporating the body, the voice, the instrument, technology, and space. He has performed concerts in Asia, Europe, and North America, and has participated in the creation of more than 100 new works.

His performances have been broadcast on Fresh Ink hosted by Neva Pilgrim on WCNY-FM (New York) and Nova hosted by Bernard Clarke on Raidió Teilifís Éireann lyric fm (Ireland). He performs regularly on festivals, conferences, and series for contemporary, experimental, and electroacoustic music, including Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD), the New York City Electronic Music Festival (NYCEMF), the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the New Music Gathering, the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference (NASA), the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the International Workshop for Musical Metacreation (MuMe) at the International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC), the Electroacoustic Barndance (EABD), the New Horizons Music Festival (NHMF), MNmade, the New Ruckus, Old Wood New Sounds, Punk-Ass Classical, and Zeitgeist New Music Cabaret. Hutchins has recorded for numerous record labels including Avid Sound Records, Emeritus Records, GIA Publications, Farpoint Recordings, and Klavier Records, and has won competition prizes and grants from DOWNBEAT, New Music USA, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC), Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), and the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, among others.

In 2015, Hutchins received the Doctor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with renowned saxophonist Eugene Rousseau. There he was a recipient of the prestigious Berneking Fellowship and served as Instructor of Saxophone. He received degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Eric Nestler.

Jeffery Kyle Hutchins is a Yamaha Performing Artist, E. Rousseau Mouthpiece Artist, and Légère Artist. ​