“When looking to other artists for influence, nature is the most reliable.”
Jon D. Nelson is a visionary composer, pianist, and AI systems engineer, based in Madison, Wisconsin. With a career that strives to bridge the worlds of music, technology, and education, Jon is dedicated to innovating at the intersection of human creativity and artificial intelligence.
A graduate with distinction from the Royal College of Music in London (2022), Jon has composed works performed internationally, collaborating with esteemed organizations such as the Royal College of Music orchestras, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, English National Ballet School, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, London’s Explore Ensemble, and various collegiate ensembles. His compositions, rooted in contemporary classical music with post-impressionistic influences, span a wide array of mediums including orchestral works, piano performance, screen composition, jazz, and pop songwriting.
As an experienced keyboardist, Jon has participated in multiple international tours and played in over 200 studio recording sessions, many linked to his five years as a founding member of the rock band Trackless. His passion for music extends into education; over the past seven years, he has taught private piano lessons and led group music performance classes, nurturing the next generation of musicians with his expertise and enthusiasm.
In 2016, Jon co-founded Resonance, a program dedicated to mentoring music students passionate about creating new music and guiding the premieres of original student works. Through four years of programming, Resonance facilitated dozens of world premiere performances, received support from local organizations like the Sun Prairie Education Foundation and The Sun Prairie Arts Alliance, and gained recognition from central Wisconsin’s prominent newspaper, the Wisconsin State Journal.
Jon's multifaceted career also encompasses significant technological contributions. Serving as a systems analyst, media designer, and A/V engineer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission for 18 months, he trained clerks and election officials across the state in the use of election-related technology. He managed A/V technology for live broadcasts, designed intricate Excel spreadsheets to automate tasks and improve efficiency, and performed extensive video editing on a freelance basis. Additionally, he has mastered hundreds of recordings, showcasing his technical prowess in audio production.
Embracing his identity as a Generative AI Music Engineer, Jon is skilled in the creative use of advanced NLP systems like ChatGPT and open-source models such as Llama 3.2, Mistral, and Solar-Pro. He is passionate about ethically and admirably exploring the possibilities for high-level artistic work at the intersection of music and artificial intelligence. Jon strives to envision that AI presents unprecedented opportunities to support the lives of creative people and artists worldwide, and he aspires to be a part of shaping a positive future where technology enhances artistic expression.
Jon holds steadfast to principles that honor the profound value of human creativity. He believes that respected art captures meaningful ideas through hours of dedication, resulting in works that are intensely expressive and uniquely human. His website opens with the line: "When looking to other artists for influence, nature is the most reliable." - While originally embracing this sentiment with an anti-digital tone several years ago, there is a more recent feeling that generative AI may present qualifications of being more a natural phenomenon, offering new dimensions for artistic exploration.
As a composer, Jon is particularly intrigued by the opportunities that gen-AI presents in delving deeper into microtonal harmony. His most recent musical endeavors, his Tone Sculptures, are efforts to visualize microtonal harmony structures, treating collections of notes as "statues" or "sculptures." These projects involve complex retunings of acoustic pianos, advanced pitch notation in contemporary chamber music, and innovative electronic music production techniques, including retuning and multitracking electric guitars, modern electronic percussion, and musique concrète.
Despite the challenges and the potential for microtonal music to feel alien to some listeners, Jon is committed to pursuing this path as an ideal avenue for progress as a contemporary composer. He suspects a beautiful relationship can be forged between the computational prowess of AI agents and the emotional connections humans have with musical harmony, and individuality.
Beyond his personal projects, Jon has served on the board of the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, where he contributed his skills in complex audio-video recording, editing, and production. As a bass in the chorus for several years, he deeply values the sense of community and camaraderie found within the ensemble, treasuring such connections throughout the music world.
Looking ahead, Jon intends to continue his career with an entrepreneurial spirit, focusing on innovation, creativity, and human self-expression, all while emphasizing privacy and the well-being of artists. In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, he remains adaptable yet grounded in his commitment to ethical practices and the profound value of human artistry. Jon aspires to contribute to a future where AI and technology serve as positive forces for artists, enhancing rather than overshadowing the human touch in creative endeavors.
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