Sam Pluta is a composer, electronics performer, and sound artist. Though his work has a wide breadth, his central focus is on using the computer as a performance instrument capable of sharing the stage with groups ranging from new music ensembles to world-class improvisers. By creating musical systems of shared agency, Pluta’s vibrant sonic universe focuses on the visceral interaction of instrumental performers with reactive computerized sound worlds.

Pluta is the Technical Director for New York’s Wet Ink Ensemble, a group for whom he is a member composer as well as principal electronics performer. As an improviser, performing on his custom-built software instrument, Sam has collaborated with some of the finest creative musicians in the world, including Peter Evans, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Ben Lamar Gay, and Anne La Berge. His compositions and performances are found on over 40 albums of new music and jazz.

Sam studied composition and electronic music at Columbia University, where he received his doctorate in 2012. Previous to joining the Computer Music faculty at Peabody Institute, where he directs the Computer Music program, he taught composition and computer music at the University of Chicago, Bennington College, Manhattan School of Music, and The Walden School.