Suzanne Ciani, 80, to play first Scotland show and desert festival
Suzanne Ciani is 80 and still booking firsts.
The composer will play her first-ever concert in Scotland at Glasgow's Sonica Festival, an art and experimental music festival, and will play Atomika in early November in the desert outside Roswell, New Mexico, a new science and music festival, she told Billboard in an interview published on 2 October 2026 Billboard. She spoke to Billboard over Zoom from her home in Northern California ahead of the performances.
The Glasgow performance is listed as 'Improvisation on Four Sequences' on 4 Oct 2026 from 3:15pm to 4:15pm Tramway. A London date is also listed for 12 Oct from 19:00 to 23:00 at EartH in London, with Robot Koch, Ruthlss and others as part of The Future Is Sound 2026 EartH.
Ciani was born in Ohio and earned a master's degree in composition at UC Berkeley. It was there that she met synthesiser designer Don Buchla. She became one of the first people to master the Buchla modular analogue synthesiser, a large early electronic instrument built from separate modules linked by cables to shape pitch, rhythm and tone.
In 1974 she founded Ciani/Musica, her own company for commercial sound work. Through that company she developed sounds for brands including AT&T, General Electric and Coca-Cola. Her credits include Coca-Cola's "pop & pour" sound logo and the Columbia Pictures intro score.
As a recording artist she has released more than 25 studio and live albums. She has received five Grammy nominations, all in the new age category.
For listeners who have never knowingly heard her records, they have probably heard her work anyway. A drinks ad, a film opening and a telephone sound all carried her programming before many people owned a synthesiser. Her live sets return that commercial craft to its starting point: one player, one system, working in the moment.
