Edward Hamel (b. 1986, Chicago, Illinois) is a composer currently residing in the Logan Square area of Chicago. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College Chicago receiving a Bachelors of Music in Composition under the guidance of Marcos Balter and Kenn Kumpf. Prior to attending Columbia College Chicago, Edward spent two years outside of school organizing and performing with experimental/ambient group Estesombelo. The group participated in various performance tours, recording sessions, electronic music festivals, art gallery openings and collaborations with Chicago based visual artists and electroacoustic musicians. Monica Kendrick of the Chicago Reader did a write up on the group for their performance at the Fugue State Festival as well as a review of their EP Oppida von Ataraxia. Estesombelo received further online reviews for proceeding albums as well as their performance at the Speaker Project exhibition at the Hyde Park Arts Center. As these projects led Edward to grow as a musician, he wanted to apply the knowledge from his explorations in electronic/ambient music to acoustic composition leading to his admittance to Columbia College Chicago. Much of Edward's musical discourse is concerned with the notion of informational saturation, the resulting perspective(s) thereof, and the functionality/perception of procedural music in correspondence with unconventional, complex sonorities. Edward has been studying Gestalt theories from psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler; the application of Gestalt psychology to musical analysis from James Tenney; and Information Theory from Abraham Moles. These studies continue to broaden his methods of compositional contextualization and the manner of perceptual control he seeks to achieve with musical formulation. Along with these studies in cognitive sciences, Edward has been reading on the work of painters such as Frances Bacon, Barnett Newman and Ad Reinhart as a means towards a more unique realization of musical form and texture. Prior to graduation at Columbia College Chicago, Edward received commissions from Ensemble Dal Niente, Anubis Quartet, saxophonist Ryan Muncy as well as The Color Field Ensemble for their 2011-2012 seasons. He has had works premiered at Nichols Hall in Chicago, the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.