Austin Oting Har

Austin Oting Har is a composer, writer, performer, and new music advocate with a background in music technology and ancient philosophy. His works utilize ancient concepts, languages, and instruments, digital sound design and creative coding, bridging traditional, experimental electronic, contemporary classical, and popular music worlds. Phonaesthetics informs his creative writing and translation, where the sound of words is as important as their meaning.

With collaborations that extend globally, Austin engages with interaction designers, linguists, poets, and cultural bearers across Australia, Europe, the U.S., and Japan in his work intersecting Greek tragedy, Japanese noh theatre, and renga poetry with contemporary music.

Austin is an Assistant Professor at the School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities (RCAH) in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University. In collaboration with students, faculty, and staff, he launched Bogue Street Records a new RCAH record label that features an eclectic mix of musical genres, spoken word and poetry, and sound art.

As an Associate Artist of the Australian Music Centre—the national organization representing Australian art music and sonic art—Austin’s music has been released internationally on Neuma Records (U.S.) and Possible Futures (Germany), commissioned by Dark Mofo (Australia), Berlin Atonal and MaerzMusik (Germany), published by BabelScores (France), awarded in the Ise-Shima International Composition Competition (Japan), the Carillon Society of Australia Composition Competition (Australia), and the Create NSW Arts and Cultural Fund (Australia), and supported by Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (U.S.) and Atlantic Center for the Arts (U.S.). His research has been published in Context: Journal of Music Research (Melbourne University Press), Leonardo (MIT Press), and Organised Sound (Cambridge University Press). His poetry has been published in Modern Haiku (U.S.), Acorn (U.S.), Presence (U.K.), seashores (Ireland), hedgerow (UK), and tsuri-dōrō (U.S.).

Previously, he served as an editor for the Sydney Undergraduate Journal of Musicology, which publishes research by the top honors students at Sydney, and has supported and developed initiatives for underserved youth in the U.S. Virgin Islands and California.

He earned his DMA in Composition and Music Technology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, MMus in Music Technology Innovation (summa cum laude) at Berklee College of Music, and MSc in Ancient Philosophy (with merit) at the University of Edinburgh. He received the Sydney Moss Scholarship via the University of Sydney and the Research Training Program stipend via the Australian Government. He first played violin in orchestras for musical theatre productions, then worked as a project coordinator and music engineer for commercial and film music in Hollywood. He also has worked as a senior high school English tutor in Sydney, an audio-visual technician in San Francisco, and a sound engineer for jazz and contemporary music concerts in the US Virgin Islands.

Originally from Australia, Austin has lived in Scotland, Belgium, Spain, California, the Virgin Islands, and now resides in Michigan with his wife, Vanessa. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, films, reading, thrifting, and exploring new places.