School of Music welcomes new faculty member: Sarah Belle Reid

October 24, 2025 | Faculty, News

The School of Music is delighted to welcome Dr. Sarah Belle Reid, performer-composer and pioneering artist in the field of electronic and electroacoustic music. Reid joins the School of Music as Assistant Professor in Technology in January 2026, bringing her expertise in experimental performance, creative technology, and innovative instrument design to the program.

Exploring sound, technology, and creative agency

“I’m really looking forward to joining the School of Music,” says Reid. “It’s an incredible opportunity to share my passion for electronic and electroacoustic music, explore new technologies for creative expression, and contribute to a space where we can all deepen our listening and sound-making practices together.”

With a background spanning technology, composition, and education, Reid brings a rare blend of artistry and technical insight to her teaching. Her approach to music-making emphasizes curiosity, experimentation, and empowerment through creative tools.

“One of the reasons I’m passionate about integrating technology into creative practice is that it gives artists a powerful sense of agency,” she explains. “So much becomes possible when you can build and shape your own tools, systems, and processes. I want students to experience that sense of freedom and curiosity, and to create work that feels personal, alive, and adventurous—whether they’re designing a new instrument or controller for performance, building interactive installations, programming custom software tools, or creating dynamic modular synth patches.”

Expanding the Boundaries of Sound and Performance

Reid’s current creative work reflects her deep curiosity about the relationship between humans and technology in music-making. She recently completed a 98-minute electroacoustic opera, Times Undoing and Progress, set for release in 2026 and a live premiere in 2027.

She continues to explore human–machine interaction and the design of responsive instruments, developing new interfaces that blur the line between performer and technology. Among these is the latest version of her electronically augmented trumpet interface, MIGSI, which uses sensors to capture gestural data and translate it into sound and live processing.

In collaboration with instrument designer Ryan Gaston, Reid is also co-designing a Eurorack module that converts a classic fractal algorithm into control voltage for modular synthesis. Together, they are working toward new devices for audio feature extraction and live sound processing, creating more dynamic connections between acoustic and electronic instruments.

A performer-composer at the frontiers of sound

Sarah Belle Reid is a performer-composer who plays trumpet, modular synthesizer, and an ever-growing collection of handcrafted electronic instruments. Her music inhabits the intersections of contemporary classical music, experimental electronics, noise, and improvisation, offering audiences deeply immersive sonic experiences.

Often praised for her ability to transport listeners through vivid sonic adventures, Reid’s work has been described as ranging from “graceful” and “danceable” to “silk-falling-through-space” and “pit-full-of-centipedes” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Reid holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the California Institute of the Arts, where she focused on the development of new electronic instruments and musical notation systems as tools for exploring temporal perception and co-creation. She has previously held faculty positions at CalArts, Chapman University, and Temple University, teaching courses in music technology, physical computing, and electronic instrument design.

Welcome, Sarah Belle Reid — we look forward to the exciting sounds and ideas you’ll bring to the UVic School of Music community!