Battey in Exhibition Honouring Leicester Computer-Art Pioneers

Prof Bret Battey is one of six regional artists represented at Leicester's Phoenix Cinema's Leicester Computer Art Pioneers II exhibition. Curated by Interact Arts' Sean Clark, the exhibition features prints of "work of renowned computer- and digital-artists with a connection to Leicester", including Battey, Pip Greasley, Susan Tebby, David Everitt, Antonio Roberts and Ashok Mistry. The exhibition continues in the Phoenix Café through August 28, 2026. A live performance and "meet the artists" event will occur 7 pm on July 23.

John Young's Le Chant en dehors at Electroacoustic Spring, Crete

John Young's work Le Chant en dehors was programmed at the 2026 Electroacoustic Spring, an annual international music festival and conference bringing together cutting-edge academic research, sound art, and electronic performances. Hosted by the Music Technology & Acoustics Lab at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Rethymno, Greece, the 2026 edition took place on 29-30 May.

  

 

Philharmonia's Hear and Now 2026 at DMU

MTIRG again supported the Philharmonia's Leicester Hear and Now project.
Led by Tim Steiner, musicians from the Philharmonia, Leicestershire Music and Leicester Musical Memory Box/Geet Sangeet worked alongside people living with dementia to design, create and perform an hour-long show at The Venue@DMU with song, poetry and dance. The ensemble of musicians included a full complement of strings, bassoon, two harps, keyboard and mridangam and the voices of 35 young and elderly participants.

Following two weekends of preparation, the 2026 show was presented on 16 May.  It was based on the theme of food, including lively renditions of songs such as 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' and 'Khaike Paan Banaras Wala', as well as an experimental percussion accompaniment to a walk-through video featuring Leicester's 'Golden Mile' and a live musicalised demonstration of roti making.

 

Participants in the 2026 Leicester Hear and Now show

New Single by Harry Pentony

 

Harry Pentony, our Technical Instructor in Audio & Events and a graduate of DMU’s Audio Recording Technology BSc programme, has just released a new single The Darkest Night. This heartfelt pop-rock ballad is available on all streaming platforms: https://ffm.to/thedarkestnightlisten
Harry is an active independent pop rock/indie artist who has been performing live since the age of 11, progressing through original rock bands and touring across the UK before stepping out as a solo artist to develop his own sound and identity. Over the 18 months he has released four original tracks, with two selected as BBC Introducing East Midlands “Track of the Week”, alongside being named Radio Wigwam’s “Future Hits Artist of the Month” and receiving a Best Indie Act nomination.

Recent live highlights include performing at The Ned Hotel in central London in February 2026 (invited by BBC Radio 1 presenter Jodie Bryant), a halftime feature airtime at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, and supporting Tom Walker in front of a crowd of 1,200 people. You can also catch him performing on the Main Stage at this year’s Leicester Riverside Festival at 2:30pm on Sunday 7th June free entry.

 

 

Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presents work at the ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ festival in Corfu

On 8 May, MTI Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presented the latest piece in his radio series, ‘Aplican Términos y Condicciones’ (Terms and Conditions Apply) recomposing dozens of hours of Mexican radio broadcasts at the annual ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ festival at the Ionian University of Corfu where he is Visiting Professor. It includes a video translation. He is also working with a group of advanced undergraduate students making a collaborative piece ‘Κέρκυρα Ρέμιξ’ (Corfu Remix) which will be premiered at the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Days in November, also in Corfu.

Festival URL: https://avarts.ionio.gr/festival/2026/en/akoysmata 

Concert URL: https://avarts.ionio.gr/festival/2026/en/events/859

 

Sonic Arts Forum held at DMU 18 April 2026

The Sonic Arts Forum, a national/international UK workshop for electroacoustic and experiemental sonic arts was held at DMU on Saturday 18 April. 

The event, organised by Leeds-based composer Coryn Smethurst, has run for over 20 years at many different UK venues and is an opportunity for creative people working with sound and technology as a significant element in their practice to introduce their work and receive feedback from an audience in a friendly, supportive environment.
This was the first time it has been hosted by DMU, giving participants the opportunity to hear their work in the PACE Studio 1 immersive audio space, including a number of ambisonic and audiovisual works.

Participants:
Tom Williams – Clouds and Clocks
Matt Brombley – Collaborative improvisation
Salma Ahmad Caller – Counter Sonic archives
Jonty Harrison & Pete Stollery – Aides… mémoires… project
Holly Gowland – Natural vs artificial
Sibylle Pomorin – Colour sound flow
Tristan Kersten – Process based composition
Bruno Quast – Acousmatic film sound design
Andrey Chugunov – Astrophysical sonification
John Biddulph – Digital and analogue microtonality

Book chapter, published score, conference lecture and a premiere from Edward Clijsen

PhD candidate Edward Clijsen has a chapter in a new book Innovation in Music: Innovative Creative Practice, just published by Routledge. The book’s contents have been developed from selected papers given at the Innovation in Music 2024 conference in Oslo.

Clijsen’s chapter, titled “Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Preliminary Practical Explorations of Formalised Approaches to Microtonal Composition”, discusses the outcomes and implications arising out the compositional process for an early version of his piece Geïsoleerd (2024) which represented an exploration of methods for intuitive utilisation of microtonally-informed extended techniques on the Kingma System alto flute, to provide insight on the location of new affective potentials. The score for Geïsoleerd is now also available via Tetractys Publishing.

Clijsen also delivered a lecture at the recent Hyperchromatic Music Festival at Goldsmiths, entitled: “Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Reflections on Recent Practical Explorations of a Formalised Approach to Microtonal Composition”. The lecture reflected on the development of a formalised approach to microtonal composition by tracing its development through the portfolio of works encompassed within his PhD.

The festival's Saturday evening concert also premiered Clijsen’s Äußern (2024) for “19-div” and “Quarter-Tone” Microtonal Trumpets in 38-/48-divisions of the octave, written in collaboration with, and performed by, Stephen Altoft of Microtonal Projects.