Jose T. Henriques, Ph.D.

Ph.D. Music Composition, SUNY Buffalo

Diploma, Music Composition, Lisbon Conservatory of Music

Tomás Henriques is a composer, inventor, and educator. He joined the Music Department at Buffalo State in 2009, where he teaches music theory, music composition, electronic and computer music, and coordinates the program in Digital Music Production, a multi-disciplinary program he designed. Dr. Henriques’ academic work continuously engages in inter-departmental and inter-institutional collaborations centered on student learning, which have led him to earn significant SUNY awards for innovative instruction (SUNY IITG, Tier 3) and for creative research (SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund).

As a composer Dr. Henriques’ output includes works for acoustic instruments from full orchestral pieces to solo works, and compositions for electronic and mixed media. His music has been performed in Europe and the USA by groups such as the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Psaphha Ensemble, the Switch~ Ensemble, Champs d’Action, Ensemble Antipodes, and more; in Music Festivals including the Música Viva Festival, the June in Buffalo Music Festival, the Deutsche Oper of Berlin Kammermusik series, the Logos Festival, the 3rd Practice Electronic Music Festival, the Gulbenkian Contemporary Music Festival, the Festival Synthèse, and the Art Series Now Festival.

Dr. Henriques' research encompasses the fields of music theory, digital music instrument creation, spatial audio design, game-interfaces, and computer-aided vision. This research has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed publications and is internationally recognized by his First Place win at the 2010 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, with the invention of the “Double Slide Controller,” an electronic instrument inspired by the slide trombone. Also relevant are the multi-patented "Sonik Spring" technology, featuring a hand-held interface that translates force and 3D hand-wrist motion information into sound and visual data; the “See-Through-Sound” international research project on computer-aided vision to help the blind, of which he was the Principal Investigator; and most recently, his work with Yamaha engineers to develop a 52.1 surround mixing system, installed at Ciminelli Hall, for which he created the software for creative diffusion of multi-channel sound.

He is also engaged in entrepreneurial activities based on his research with game-interfaces, and works closely with local hardware electronic design, game and software companies, as well as startup business incubators in the region and nationally.

Prior to coming to Buffalo State, Dr. Henriques taught music theory and electronic music for twelve years at the New University of Lisbon in Portugal, where he was the coordinator of the research group in Contemporary Music, and the founder and director of the Laboratory of Music Informatics; and was a research fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, working in the area of real-time interactive music composition.

For further information, visit his personal website: tomas-henriques.com.