Mac Waters (they/he) is a dynamic multimedia composer and improviser working and performing across a spectrum of interdisciplinary contexts. Mac’s research investigates the interplay between collective memory and sonic nostalgia, particularly in relation to virtual/extended realities, internet (sub)cultures, queerness, and digital medievalism. His diverse creative practice spans composing chamber music for leading contemporary ensembles, composing electroacoustic music for film and dance, performing as a vocalist and violist in interdisciplinary and multimedia performances, designing interactive Virtual & Extended Reality experiences, and recording and producing original song. Their works have been performed by Fonema Consort (Chicago), Wet Ink (NYC), Conrad Tao (NYC), Mivos Quartet (NYC), Ostravska Banda (Ostrava, CZ), and Ars Futura (Cleveland). Mac’s extensive capacity as a violist-improviser has been featured internationally in ensembles such as Tomeka Reid’s Stringtet (Chicago, IL), the Cherry-Ah-Cole Ensemble (Hanover, NH), the Venice Exploratory Ensemble (Venice, IT), the International Contemporary Ensemble’s Ensemble Evolution (NYC), Anthony Braxton’s Creative Orchestra (Darmstadt, DE), and as the principal violist for the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra (Hanover, NH). As a XR for the Humanities Fellow with the Dartmouth College DREAM Studio, he is developing a 3D-audiovisual studio for interdisciplinary research and performance. Among numerous awards and prizes, Mac is the recipient of the Columbia University Charles S. Miller Composition Prize (2022) and the Hopkins Center for the Arts Arts Integration Grant (2023). Mac is currently in pursuit of a MFA in Sonic Practice at Dartmouth College studying with Ash Fure, César Alvarez, Bethany Younge and Taylor Ho Bynum. He also holds a BA in Music from Columbia University where he studied with Seth Cluett, George Lewis, Georg Haas, and Zosha diCastri. This June, Mac will begin a position as the Digital Technician Specialist for the Studio Art and Film & Media Studies departments at Dartmouth College, where they will provide technical guidance for time-based media courses in video, audio, and installation.