Summer Virtual Concert Series: Heather Spence

Streamed Live on May 28, 2021

Heather Spence is a marine biologist and musician who explores ocean soundscapes by recording, analyzing, and composing music from underwater sounds. Currently she advises on science and acoustics for the US Department of Energy, co-leads the Ocean Memory Project – winner of the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Challenge grant, and directs coral reef research in Mexico.

Based in the Washington, D.C. area, she has performed locally at the Kennedy Center, Lisner Auditorium, the National Academy of Sciences, Capitol Hill, the National Aquarium, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and internationally. Her work has been featured in film, radio and print such as on National Geographic Wild, the award winning micro-documentary ‘World of Sound’, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, Science Friday, and lately in virtual performances at Stanford and Cornell Universities.

She holds an MS in Marine Biology and a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience specializing in marine bioacoustics. Heather was the 2017 NAKFI fellow at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and a 2017-2019 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow.

Heather will be premiering new music compositions that explore the nightlife of coral reefs and incorporate underwater recordings and sonified data collected for her scientific research. Can listening to nocturnal mystery fish and crackling shrimp reveal any insights for ocean conservation? She will also be speaking and answering questions about her work.

Find out more about Heather Spence: www.heatherspence.net/eng