Maria Sappho

Dr. Maria Sappho is an artist and researcher working across experimental music, radical technology, and socio-political practices exploring hybrid ecologies, countercultural systems, and posthuman futures. She is Postdoctoral Fellow on Digital Playgrounds for Music at the University of Huddersfield, where she also completed her PhD with the ERC-funded IRiMaS project. She teaches free improvisation at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and supervises postgraduate research at the ICMP (London). Maria is currently leading an Immersive Arts UK funded project exploring XR-based ecological storytelling snd she is the current Composer-in-Residence with the Bahué Duo (USA), developing a new work on diaspora and land. She co-founded Chimere Communities, establishing grassroots AI art hubs across Lesotho, South Africa, and Switzerland. Internationally recognised as a composer and performer, she has worked with Mogwai, International Contemporary Ensemble (USA), Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and the BBC SSO. Her awards include the BBC Daphne Oram Award (UK), AiiA AI Prize (CH), and the MANE Emerging Composer Prize (AU).