Zachary Seldess (b. 1976), a Chicago native now living in Saudi Arabia by way of New York City, is a media artist, composer, teacher, and programmer.

As a composer and programmer, Zachary has collaborated with artists in many mediums including theater, dance, film, and poetry. He has presented interactive installations at Gallery Aferro in Newark New Jersey, ZKM (Zentrum fur Kust und Medientechnologie) in Karlsruhe Germany, and Siggraph Asia 2009 in Yokohama Japan. His work has been published/presented in Antennae, NIME 2007 and 2011, Chamber Music America National Conference 2009, Siggraph 2011, and ICAD 2011. Together with performer-composer Jane Rigler, Zachary co-designed the Manhattan New Music Project's Music Cre8tor - an interactive educational sensor/software interface designed specifically for children with disabilities. Other projects include sound design and programming for New York-based dancer Johari Mayfield; and design of real-time multi-channel audio and video performance software for video artist Hisao Ihara. Zachary has also programmed for artists Lillian Ball, Rashaad Newsome, Cory Arcangel, Patrick Clancy, Miguel Frasconi, Mari Kimura, Rebecca Cherry, Mem1, Tobaron Waxman, Shana Moulton, and others.

Zachary currently works as Audio Systems Coordinator and Developer at the Visualization Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). His responsibilities include operational oversight and independent research on the large multi-channel networked audio systems throughout the lab, and sonification and other audio-centric collaborative work with university faculty, researchers, and students. He also periodically works at Harvestworks, teaching courses in interactive programming ranging from introductory courses in Max/MSP/Jitter and Processing to special topics such as multi-channel audio/video spatialization and live video tracking. In Chicago, Zachary worked as a performer, composer, private teacher and adjunct professor at Wilbur Wright College and Harold Washington College. In New York, Zachary worked as an adjunct music lecturer at Brooklyn College CUNY, and as a researcher at the CUNY Graduate Center’s New Media Lab, where he designed interactive pedadogical tools and artistics environments in 3D Game Space. In 2005, Zachary founded the Intermedia Arts Group, a collective committed to the support and performance of new and interactive media artwork within the CUNY artistic community. He is also co-director of the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival – featuring three days of mixed-media concert works, interactive sound installations, paper sessions, and workshops.

Zachary is currently a candidate for the PhD in music composition (dissertation-stage) at The Graduate Center CUNY where his primary teachers were Amnon Wolman and Morton Subotnick. He has received a B.Mus in composition and classical guitar and an M.Mus in classical guitar from Northwestern University. There he studied composition with Alan Stout and Michael Pisaro and guitar with Anne Waller.