The Seven Waves composer looks back on five decades of innovation.

Suzanne Ciani was at Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal this week to play a show and deliver a lecture to this year’s participants. As hardcore Ciani fans, we’re very pleased to be sharing the video of the lecture, which was hosted by Hanna Bächer.

During the talk Ciani talks about her “life changing” relationship with Don Buchla, the synth inventor whose machines became her trademark and who died on September 14 – coincidentally the same day Ciani’s new Buchla-based album with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith was released on RVNG Intl.

Ciani also details her experiences getting to grips with early synths and how she was able to direct her experimental impulse into composing for commercials.

Watch the video and find out more about Sunergy, her nature-inspired project with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, in their FACT interview.

Read next: The genius of Don Buchla, by the generations of synth disciples he inspired