Bio

Eli Philip Hocking (b. 2005) is a composer, linguist, and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, Illinois—currently based in Bloomington, Indiana. Eli approaches art as both artifact and biofact, and his creations reflect a deep curiosity about the condition of life—an attempt to understand, document, and give shape to the diverse experiences of living. He works with uncommon rhythms and meters, non-standard tuning systems, and inventive soundscapes as key aspects of his music. Drawn to the unvarnished sincerity of folk tradition, Eli has transcribed songs from places such as northern Japan and Central Africa. Drawing from his background in linguistics, Eli incorporates the rhythmic and melodic contours of world languages into his compositions, shaping a voice that is diverse and deeply alive.

Eli co-wrote a choral work with Courage Barda which was premiered in 2025 by NOTUS, Indiana University’s contemporary vocal ensemble. He has also had pieces premiered by trumpeter Stephen Stavnicky, violist Addison Hightower, and gayageum player Lee Yurim 이유림. Using his knowledge of the French language, Eli has set poems of Apollinaire and Lamartine for choir, and has given presentations of those works to the French and Italian department at IU.

Eli’s organ repertoire includes Messiaen’s Apparition de L’Église éternelle, Vierne’s Berceuse, and Sark’s Toccata Primi Toni. He has written numerous organ works, and has studied organ with Lois Leong, Hayden Glasgow-Ives, and Robert Nicholls.

Eli is currently pursuing a BM degree in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with minors in French and Linguistics. He has studied composition with Don Freund, PQ Phan, and Younje Cho, and is currently studying with Gabriel Jenks.

Artistic Statement

As a composer also interested in linguistics and folklore, I am often looking at relations and partitions between culture, art, oral tradition, and historical context. I create based on notions that are concrete, but to build spaces that are abstract—that is to say, I am trying to form spaces where the listener is prompted to question the beliefs that have been presented to them as facts, and, consequently, to decide for themselves how they would like to be alive. My art operates on the fact that everything during and after is entirely arbitrary and up to the decision of the individual perceiver. I am just the canvas-builder.

To achieve this, I am often observing the dance between intellect and intuition, and I am always looking for new ways in which these processes interact. I believe that these processes are influenced by one another, and in turn influence one another. This is a key aspect of my creative process: I am constantly exploring how I can harness each side of human beings through the lens of the other.

Recently, I have been working on a piece for electronic audio, flutes, saxophones, and live radio static called True Bugs which uses characteristics of sound installation in a compositional setting in order to create a soundspace sympathizing the substrate-borne vibrations of treehoppers and other similar non-sentient insects. I am currently working on some field recordings of these sounds. The goal is to create an ‘exposure therapy’ of sorts of these otherworldly sounds that feel emotionally communicative in some way in order to envelop the audience in a rather foreign and strange stream of events.