Dr. Silvia Pengilly 1935 – 2025
It is with regret that I must announce the passing of our beloved friend and colleague, Dr. Sylvia Pengilly. Over the past several years, Sylvia experienced numerous strokes, each of which diminished her mentally and physically. Because they left her unable to compose, and function in general, she was anxious for the end. On December the 11th, at 9:10 am she peacefully received her desire. Sylvia is survived By her daughter, Laura Pengilly, her son-in-law Gordon Ashlee, granddaughter Christina, and great granddaughter Livia.
I met Sylvia at the SEAMUS 2003 conference held at Arizona State University in Tempe. I was sitting outside the conference hotel reading and she approached me asking about what I was reading… it was a book by Dr. Otto Laske. (Little did we know that a mutual friendship between the three of us would soon ensue.) We began chatting about it and in those few moments we, miraculously, became the best of friends. It was an unlikely friendship. We came from such diverse backgrounds. But it was one of those fortuitous deep connections that are rare and cherished gifts. This shared friendship was an honor.
Over the next 20 years we exchanged innumerable emails and long phone conversations conversing deeply about a broad range of topics from chaos theory, string theory, astrophysics, cosmology, creativity, music, visual art, academia, and many others, but most importantly, we discussed each other’s work. We critiqued each other’s creative output in an honest and constructive manner. I knew that if a new composition passed the Pengilly test, it was of value. I truly miss her council and unwavering friendship. We also collaborated on several of her visual music pieces… she composed the video and I the music.
Sylvia was an extremely intelligent and creative composer, visual artist, dancer, and pedagogue. She was an early pioneer in creating and performing interactive media. Although there are many notable examples, two projects in particular come to mind. One was the real time and on stage sonification of data derived from a head-mounted brain scanner, the Interactive Brain Wave Analyzer. Though this is a known approach today, she was one of the first to conceive of and enact it. Another project involved mounting finely ground mirrors on each of the cones of two loudspeakers that were facing each other and pointing a laser beam at each mirror. Then she sent various audio waveforms to the loudspeakers, which would bend the laser beams into lissajouc curves that appeared in the air between the loudspeakers… laser-based cymatics… if you will.
Farewell on your journeys throughout the multiverse my friend… you are missed.
Links
Music Academy Bio
Wikipedia Bio
Early Work
Collaborations
 
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Comments from Friends
“Sylvia was an amazing, creative composer/visual artist and a wonderful friend who I enjoyed seeing at conferences and festivals. She received her DMA from CCM a while back, where I am teaching, although I didn’t meet her until perhaps a couple of decades ago. I visited her beautiful place in Monterey some years ago, and she showed me some of her visual work I hadn’t seen yet. We will miss her so much!”
Mara Helmuth
“RIP Sylvia. Thank you for your works, your support, and most of all, for being you. You will be missed.”
Judy Klein
“I knew Sylvia at Nycemf on 2013 and It was a nice meeting. We know each other by our music and we feel as a curious friendship.
I’am very sorry for the News but I Will remember her with afección.”
Elsa justel
“I am sorry to hear of Sylvia’s passing—she was such a wonderful person. She will be missed!”
With deepest sympathy,”
Jon C. Nelson
“She was such a joy to spend time with at conferences. Her multi media work was intensely subjective and captivating. She was such a generous and authentic soul.”
Elizabeth Hoffman
“I’m so very sorry to hear of Sylvia’s passing. I met her when I was a doctoral student in about 1988. Chuck Mason was at Birmingham Southern College at that time. He invited me to present on a concert series at the BSC Planetarium. Sylvia was on the program doing one of her works with laser projections. It was so very cool. I enjoyed seeing her at many conferences over the year. She even presented a work for dance using her own EEGs at the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival. We’ve lost an amazing, innovative composer, and awesome human being.”
James Paul Sain
“I just wanted to thank you about the email you sent today via ICMA about Silvia’s death. She was a very good friend of mine, and I was not sure what happened to her in the past years, as she stopped answering my emails, one of her emails was not more valid and no one I asked (e,g. Tuck Howe) was in a position to tell me anything about her. I did suppose something bad happened to her, but could not know for sure.
She will be surely missed, she was a great lady, and I for sure will miss her.”
Javier Garavaglia
“I found Sylvia to be a remarkable woman – a real gem! I enjoyed my conversations with her, and sharing thoughts on specific projects with her. She was a brave artist, full of life, energy, drive, and pursued new avenues of art on a regular basis. I know you had a special connection with her, and I know she valued it tremendously. We will both miss her (I can hear her laugh in my mind which at the moment I can’t get out of my head!).”
Scott Wyatt
“I met her in the 70s, at a SEAMUS Conference and while i never knew her well, her lively spirit and musicality always inspired me.”
Anna Rubin
“My age-addled memory cannot recall conversations I had with Sylvia except to say she seemed a very kind person with a rather wry sense of humor. I had no idea she had all those strokes and was suffering. Hopefully she has now found peace.”
David Taddie
“I’m so sorry to hear about Sylvia’s passing. I enjoyed the few times our paths crossed.”
Mike McFerron
“Sorry to hear about Sylvia. I had some great meet ups/ conversations with her at various conferences. Such a positive, open, curious person. I missed her presence in these last years.”
Cort Lippe
“Thank you for letting us know. I have been missing her.”
Margaret (Meg) Schedel
“I first met Sylvia at the SEAMUS conference hosted at the University of Illinois which I believe happened in 1988 just a few years after the organization was founded. I was a student of Scott Wyatt’s and he had us all involved and especially wanted me to pal around with the women that were coming – we were a very small group at the time – I remember Carla and Mara and Anna Rubin and Judy Klein and Daria Semegen as well as Sylvia – these were the first women ea composers that I was close to and all have had and continue to have an impact for me. Sylvia was always ready for a bit of fun and always had advice for me (whether I wanted it or not – I remember that she was always so concerned about my health and well-being!). She was so generous with her research and was one of the first composers with whom I discussed my video work and who helped me with this. She invited me to see her studio at Loyola in New Orleans as well and I remember that trip. I also recall learning about her “brainwave” work with the Interactive Brainwave Visual Analyzer (Wikipedia says she did that in 1983 but that does not fit with my remembered timeline at all…it was much later when she did a performance with the device at a SEAMUS conference) and having her show me all about this.
Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner