composer / performer
e-mail: mark@glyphic.com

Mark Lentczner is a composer and performer of electronic and computer music. His musical practice spans algorithmic composition, digital audio manipulation, creation of improvisatory frameworks, and live performance.

Since 2016 Mark has led the musical project electric.kitchen. The project performs both solo and with collaborators. The projects live performances are documented in both video and album releases. His prior musical work is primarily on Serge Modular synthesizer and computers, for both tape and live performance.

Mark also has an extensive software background and creates music tools for both his own work, and other musicians. Recent releases include software for Elektron instruments, SuperCollider, and Ableton Live.

2021

OCT
Earth Modular Society, Aniversary Show
SEP
Eclectic Trips Festival, Gray Area / Grand Theater, SF
AUG
Electronic Worlds, IOOF hall, Mountain View, CA
JUN
Resonant Frequencies 033
JUN
New York Modular Society
MAY
Earth Modular Society, Drone Day
MAY
Resident Electronic Music, SF
MAY
Modular World, Anniversary Show
APR
Earth Modular Society, live stream
FEB
Earth Modular Society, Valentine's Day
FEB
Modulisme, Serge Modular Celebration
JAN
Jamuary daily performances

2020

DEC
New York Modular Society
NOV
Modular Redacted, Redwood City, CA
AUG
New York Modular Society, Patchable 0017
JUL
Resonant Frequencies 029
MAY
New York Modular Society
MAY
Lines Community Live Stream
MAY
Resonant Frequencies 027
APR
Resonant Frequencies 026
FEB
KZSU's Day of Noise

2019

NOV
Vidicon, Phoenix, AZ
OCT
Metal Biped 003, Alameda, CA
OCT
Hacker Dojo, 10 year Anniversary, Santa Clara, CA
JUL
Piqued 4, San Francisco, CA
JUN
East Coast Tour:
MAGMA, Gloucester, MA
Cabaret Berlin, Montréal, QC
The Root Cellar, Greenfield, MA
HiLo, Catskill, NY
The Other Side, Utica, NY
Strange Stage, Brooklyn, NY
MAY
Resident Electronic Music, San Francisco, CA
MAY
Resonant Frequencies 019, Oakland, CA
FEB
Resident Electronic Music, San Francisco, CA
FEB
KZSU's Day of Noise
JAN
Resonant Frequencies 013, Oakland, CA

Education & Studies

1978-1979
studied at Public Access Synthesizer Studio, New York City
1980-1984
Harvard University, BA; studied with composer Ivan Tcherepnin
1983
CCRMA, Stanford University, fellowship; studied with composers John Chowning, Bill Schottstaedt, & Chris Chafe
1983
Serge Synthesizers; worked with Serge Tcherepnin
1986-1988
studied Congolese drumming with Arthur Hull
1987-1988
studied Chapman Stick with Bob Culbertson

Selected Work Experience

1985-1989
Apple Computer, founder and manager of Sound & Music Research Group; designed and produced system software for audio, music, and MIDI for Macintosh; composed and produced the start up chime for the Mac II series
1990-1991
Go Corporation, application framework software
1992-2002
Glyphic Technology, founder and CEO; programming language design, and software architecture
2005-2010
Linden Lab, software architect working on the virtual world Second Life
2010-2018
Google, security research, networking research and development

Selected Papers

1985
Sound Kit: A Sound Manipulator, M. Lentczner
11th International Computer Music Conference, Vancouver, Canada
1987
Music Workstations on a Personal Scale, M. Lentcznerv
AES 5th International Conference: Music and Digital Technology, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
1988
The Sound Manager: A Software Architecture for Device Independent Sound, M. Lentczner, J. Worthington
14th International Computer Music Conference, Cologne, Germany
1990
A Real-time Implementation of Physical Models, F. Malouf, M. Lentczner, C. Chafe
16th International Computer Music Conference, Glasgow, Scotland

For full list of papers, see: DBLP.

Live Performance

Sonata for a Global Pandemic — 2021, 16:13
This work was premiered live at the Eclectic Trips Festival, held at Gray Area / Grand Theater, San Francisco, California. The work is played with analog electronics, digital synthesizers, and samplers. It incorporates a poem by Jessica Dickinson Goodman and spoken by Actias (Carson Sestili).

The video is of a studio performance.

Live Stream Improvisation — 2021, 17:55
Performed at Resident Frequenceis 033 - live streamed during the pandemic. This piece uses the very dense analog modular synth "The Recursive Machine", along with digital and sampling synthesizers.

The live visuals were created and performed by Kit Young.

Metal Biped 001.3 — 2017, 6:33
Live performance collaboration with Josh Bailey. Josh is playing a MIDI controlled Tesla Coil, and I’m playing percussion, pitched tone, and speech samples. The performance was in an extraordinarily huge concrete warehouse (able to house three airplanes), with incredible natural reverb, used in the performance, and heard in the recording.

Other Works

Phase Transition (Disquiet 0471) — 2021, 2:04
A piece made from ice and water in a glass. Participant in the Disquiet Junto Project #0471.

The Meditations of Discarded Robots — 2018, 11:00
Ambient work based sampled sounds: clay bells and electrostatic fields. Most of the recordings were sculpted into primarily percussive sounds, but then composed into very long form rhythmic structures overlaid to create an ambient texture.

Ritual of Recycling — 2018, 2:30
A work based on percussive samples of instruments built by the composer Nathan Moody. The work is mostly in 9/8 time, with a deliberately fractured beat.

Bagatelle — 2017, 2:01
Mixture of traditional instruments (piano, oboe, bass) and field recording.