PhD Student Matthew London — Talk at University College Dublin, June 2026

PhD student Matthew London has been accepted to present a 20-minute paper titled “The Non-Composer Influence: Speculating on the Poietic Processes Shaping Film Music and Sound” at the Music and Media: Directions and Aesthetics of the Digital Era conference at University College Dublin, 11 - 12 June 2026.

The paper explores how non-composer figures - such as directors, producers, sound designers, music supervisors, and re-recording mixers - contribute to shaping a film’s sonic identity. Adopting a speculative, poietic perspective, it examines how distributed creative decision-making challenges traditional models of authorship in film music and points toward multiple forms of integrated-soundtrack practices.

John Young's 'Three Spaces in Mid-Air' in Lugano

John Young's acousmatic work Three Spaces in Mid-Air will feature at the Teatrostudio, Lugano Arte e Cultura in Lugano, Switzerland, on 12 January 2025 in a concert organised by the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana's Spazio 21 series.
The theme of the concert is 'silence'. https://electropresence.com/en/even/47910-ear-2025-26-ear-1  

Three Spaces in Mid-Air was published on Young's solo CD Espaces lointains by empreintes DIGITALes in 2024, and was first prize winner of the 6th KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Montpellier, France, 2019).

Landy invited talk and international jury member in Macau

In mid November, Prof. Landy headed to the Academy of Music at the Macau University of Science and Technology where was asked to offer an invited extended lecture entitled ‘Innovative Music Making: Interesting or engaging? Why not both?’. He also served as international jury member at their Macao International Digital Intelligence Music Competition. 

Landy Peformance and Talk, EMS 2025 Paris

Prof. Landy presented a composition, Qing + Cha  磬 + 镲     Old / New 舊 / 新 (2023) and a talk at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (EMS) 2025 conference in Paris. The talk returns to a much-cited composition access tool he launched in a 1994 publication, suggesting its expansion based on the further developments, experiences and feedback from the interim thirty years. That talk is entitled ‘The Something to Hold on to Factor 2’. Both reflect the conference interest in cultural and intercultural approaches within the field.

The event took place Nov 19-21 at multiple venues in and near Paris. Landy is also Founding Co-director of EMS, the global subject research association in the field.

Landy Keynote at Bowed Electrons 25 Conference/Festival in Cape Town

Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presented a keynote talk (not for the first time at this event) at the Bowed Electrons conference/festival hosted by The South African College of Music/University of Cape Town, SAE Creative Media Institute, part of the international School of Audio Engineering and the Media Art unit at the University of the Arts, Karlsruhe (Germany). It took place at the SAE Institute in Cape Town.

Landy presented a work ‘Musical Bow Old/New’ commissioned by the festival last year in the final concert and offer a keynote, alas online, on the same day entitled ‘Making Sonic Creativity Relevant’. The event took place on 28-29 November 2025.

 

Best UK universities for music – DMU 19th in Guardian League Table

The Guardian's League Table for the best universities to study music in the UK has placed DMU 19th out of 80 UK institutions.

With an overall score of 83.7/100 Music, Technology and Innovation at DMU is rated above institutions such as the University of Manchester, Queen's University, Royal Holloway, Trinity Laban, Leeds, Huddersfield, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle.

Have you seen my Gods? score by Samvaran Rai

PhD student Samvaran Rai has recently completed a film score for a feature documentary Have you seen my Gods? by Amitabh Joshi, with the Vacant Light Production Company https://www.vacant-light.com/about  

The film, in English and Nepali, had its world premiere in May at the Kathmandu Mountain International Film Festival, followed by a US premiere at the New Orleans Society of Visual Anthropology Film Festival 20 November 2025.