Is een computermuzikant een artistiek uitvoerder?

As I’ve been investigating the use of specialized performance controllers in a classical context for the past year, my perception of a control interface changed from it merely being an extension of the computer’s software to being a full-fledged instrument. This paradigm shift implies the need for a (re)definition of certain musical aspects as they exist in other instrumental performance practices. An exemplary topic worth investigating is virtuosity. What does it mean in this electronic context? Is it the ability to adjust many parameters in a short amount of time on a control interface, or is it a huge amount of knowledge on soft- and hardware, enabling the electronics musician to create ‘solutions’ on the fly? What about gestural behavior during performance? How do different tactile approaches to a control interface influence the performance and its output? Even more topics like interpretation, agogics, control, practice, education, etc. are to a certain degree susceptible for a redefinition. Surely, this ‘rethinking’ will bring along some interesting results, which, in their turn, can be translated back to its original habitat, leaving me as a pianist with lots of useful information.