EVENT SERIES: All Hail the New Reductionism! John Bowers, Tim Shaw, Ben Freeth et al

Over the last week, researchers from Culture Lab, Newcastle University, DMU and Tongji University (Shanghai) have devoted themselves to a program of quick and dirty thinking, making and performing guided by an aesthetic that seeks to reduce electronic music technology to the rawest elements of sound creation and manipulation. One knob to rule them all!

“We problematise the relationship between the analogue and the digital, ideas of control and expressivity, virtuosity and artlessness. We explore alternative senses of instrument and interface, the places of musical potentiality of/on/in the gendered/animal/mineral/incapacitated body, and the neglected materiality of our simplest electronic musical tools.”

The concert will consist of a series of performances based on ideas investigated in the exchange and devices made collectively, in short order, extending an improvisational principle into making and thinking. Cheap as chips and fresh as a daisy. Work by John Bowers, Tim Shaw, Ben Freeth, Will Edmondes, Lee Ray, John Richards, Jim Frize, Samantha Topley, Steve Jones, Neal Spowage, Amit Patel and Marinos Giannoukakis.

EVENTS SERIES 2015-16: Poulomi Desai & Anat Ben-David, 2 December 2015

2 DEC, 7pm
PACE Studio 1
Richmond Street
De Montfort University

Leicester
LE2 7BQ

Entry Free
http://mtirc-news.blogspot.co.uk/2015/

Poulomi Desai is best known for her large-scale sound and photography installations that interrogate the politics of identity, listening and perception. Inspired by her post-punk theatre background, her tools are image-based, textual, performative and acoustic, traversing boundaries of physical location and structures of presentation. Her current pre-occupation investigates sacrilegious sound and vision through the machinations of her prepared, modified sitar, electronics, sirens, VLF and radio soundscapes, and slide projections, performing on the noise and free improviser scenes. 

Recent performances and installations include, Fort Process, Clandestino, Colour Out Space, Supernormal festivals and appearances at Cafe Oto. Commissions and exhibitions include, The Serpentine Gallery, The Photographers Gallery, The Science Museum, INIVA, The Queens Museum (USA), The Oxford Gallery (India), Futuresonic UK and Souzouzukan 9001 Japan. Her work has been published in four books, Red Threads, Different, Terrorist Assemblages and Out of Place. She runs Usurp Art, an experimental tactical media artist-led space where she has curated over 100 exhibitions and events. "Her irreverent aim is to shatter the contours of these fixed notions of sexual, national, cultural, personal, political and diasporic identities" - Professor Stuart Hall Different Pub.Phaidon.

Poulomi Desai will be joined by Dushume.
www.poulomidesai.tumblr.com | www.usurp.org.uk | www.youtube.com/usurps

Anat Ben-David is a London based artist and composer. Her primary interest lies in the relationship between different elements occurring in an event where text, sound and digital image are mediated through improvisation and performance. She has recently completed a PhD at Kingston University researching how an artwork that includes different mediums and different systems within it can be underpinned by foundational concepts for the work to be considered a coherent whole – the OpeRaArt. Anat’s OpEraArt exists as a multiple visual and sonic expressions presented as gallery video and photographic installation, as well as a live performance comprising of songs and sound pieces assembled into a music album.

Since 2003, she has been a member of the group Chicks On Speed and has also been a member of Art Rules Crew. She has produced many solo works and albums and has had exhibitions and performances at many leading international venues and galleries including: Tate Britain, ICA, London, MoMA New York, Migros Museum, Zurich and the Pompidou Centre, Paris.

“Anat is a wonderful performer… part Laibach, a dash of Einsturzende Neubauten, add a touch of Marlene Dietrich and Doris Day, marinate it in a freezer with Busby Berkeley, Pina Bausch and Valie Export, et voila! That's what the image of her shows at that
time... it's accurate, believe me. As for me trying to squeeze my tiny ego into a portrait by
Rankin, well, the results speak for themselves. If in any doubt, please call 999 and ask
for the fire service.” Douglass Gordon 
(Destroy Rankin project for youth music 2009)

Anat will perform the piece The Unexpected Whiz for large group featuring Dirty Electronics.
www.yippieyeah.co.uk/anat

EVENT SERIES: Maya Verlaak, Manolis Manousakis and Neal Spowage

18 Nov, 7pm, De Montfort University, Leicester
PACE Studio 1, Richmond Street, Leicester, LE2 7BQ
Entry Free

Maya Verlaak will perform two works for small group that explore the characteristics and limitations of musical instruments as a departure point for generating compositional material and structures. Because of this working method, her pieces are bound to particular performers and instruments. This necessitates rewriting the piece when it is taken up by different performers, forcing her to re-evaluate the connection between her musical concepts and their means of execution. http://www.maya.ricercata.org

Neal Spowage presents some short video art pieces including New Track of Unknown Terra I & II: an audio visual filmed performance demonstrating the Beast sculptural instrument in an industrial landscape. http://www.nealspowage.com

Manolis Manousakis will present video/dance work Soma with Sania Stribakou (dance) and Panagiotis Goubouros (video) and also short fixed media compositions from Soundscapes Landscapes: Birds, Banana Church, and Sygrou Av. http://www.medeaelectronique.com

Note: There will also be seminar presentations by Maya Verlaak, Manolis Manousakis and Neal Spowage from 1.00 in the MTIRL, Clephan Building, DMU (all welcome).

Two MTI staff members return from a busy trip to China

Professor Leigh Landy and Dr John Richards have both just returned from a fleeting and varied trip to China, where they visited historic institutions, gave performances and presentations, and continued work to strengthen international ties between China and De Montfort University. 

John Richards presented a talk at the Shanghai Electroacoustic Music Week Festival and followed that up with a combined workshop and performance at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. He also gave a presentation on design and sound objects at the Centre for Digital Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai. In Beijing the following week, he performed in the Miji Minifest curated by Yan Jun where he also worked with musicians and artist from Beijing. Finally, he joined Leigh Landy to present a talk at the China Conservatory in Beijing, the MTI’s newest partner.

Leigh Landy had a slightly lengthier schedule there including a talk at the Shanghai Conservatory’s Composition Department and meetings with their Dean of Sound Engineering regarding potential future collaboration. He also met with staff from the new Zhejiang Conservatory in Hangzhou (in Shanghai) and is expected to visit this new conservatoire in the spring.

He was featured composer at this year’s Musicacoustica Festival at the Central Conservatory in Beijing where he also presented a master class and sat on two juries (as well as visiting the China Conservatory). Further meetings were held with a staff member from the Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou where a draft proposal is being circulated including the creation of an MTI China. A further Musicacoustica concert was held in the Southeastern city of Xiamen as part of the eMac Festival there, so his new work was performed there for the second time.

Finally, he was in residence for a week at the Tianjin Conservatory where he is Visiting Lecturer. This visit included two talks, a one-composer concert and discussions with the conservatoire President concerning various forms of collaboration with DMU. Negotiations will commence in the near future to investigate which forms of collaboration will be pursued.

MTI Event Series: Concert 1, 14 October 2015 @ PACE Studio 1

Pre-concert installation (PACE 2, Doors: 6.15pm)

Paul Keene & Garry Cox – Kinectivity (a Kinect-driven interactive installation depicting an immersive forest sound environment).

Concert (PACE 1, 7pm)

Leigh Landy - Xūn (Old/New) (13’), 8-channel
Steve Green - Iridescence (8’30), stereo
Virginie Viel (Collectif Séneçon) - Path (15’)

Neal Spowage - Dis-comforting (1’16), AV stereo
Neal Spowage - New Track Of Unknown Terra II (6’21), AV stereo
Louise Rossiter - Rift (c.8’), stereo

Grace Dior - Viva Voce (4’17), stereo

John Young - Brink (13’27), 10.1

MTI Student Welcome Event

Exchange Bar, 8.30pm(ish)

All Welcome!

Recent News: Leigh Landy visits China Conservatory of Music & Tianjin Conservatory of Music

In June 2015, Leigh Landy visited several institutions in China to discuss EARS2.  Two of the most significant venues – the China Conservatory of Music (CCM), based in Beijing, and the Tianjin Conservatory of Music (TJCM) – have featured information about these visits on their websites.

Translated from Chinese by MTI doctoral student Mungo Zhangruibo, these two news pieces can be found on the CHEARS (The Chinese ElectroAcoustic Resource Survey) website.

Leigh's lecture at CCM discussed the work of the Music Technology & Innovation Research Centre, within De Montfort University, alongside a broader discussion of music technology within the UK.
(Read more: Chinese/English).

At the Tianjin Conservatory, Leigh met first with Prof. Xu Changjun, the president of TJCM and Mrs. Wang Jianying, the secretary of the Composition Department. The subsequent lecture then saw Leigh talking about the the music technology subject area in the UK, followed more specifically by a discussion about the research areas of the MTI.  Key projects of the MTI were introduced, including the EARS projects.
(Read more: Chinese/English)

In both lectures, Compose with Sounds (CwS) was demonstrated in relation to the EARS2 project. CwS is available as a free download.

For more information about these lectures (in English) please visit the links below, via CHEARS:
The China Conservatory of Music: Link
Tianjin Conservatory of Music: Link

Pierre Couprie wins Max Mathews Quartz award for iAnalyse and EAnalysis

Pierre Couprie, software designer behind iAnalyse and EAnalysis, last night won the Max Mathews Prize at at the tenth 'Max Mathews Qwartz Music Awards' ceremony.

The development of EAnalysis initially took place as part of a research project entitled ‘New multimedia tools for electroacoustic music analysis’ at the MTI Research Centre of De Montfort University (Leicester, UK). This initial project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) between 2010 and 2013.

EAnalysis is a sound-based music analysis tool, allowing users to visualise sonograms, work with multiple audio tracks and video and realise works visually with the software's analytical tools.

At the same event, Pierre Henry won a Qwartz award dedicated to his career as a composer and researcher.

A full programme for the event can be found by visiting the Qwartz website. An article (in French) can found by visiting http://qwartz.fr/category/qwartz-10/

MAKE||SOUND Symposium 'Making Sound in Public Space' tomorrow at Curve Theatre, Leicester

Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre & Faculty of Technology, Research Seminar Series

De Montfort University, Leicester

Venue: RR2, Curve Theatre
Date and time: 12.00-c.6.00pm, Friday 12 June

Symposium: Making Sound in Public Space
Make||Sound presents an afternoon of talks on the topic of sonic art and public engagement hosted in partnership with the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre - De Montfort University.

MTI members John Richards and Steve Jones are joined by guest speakers/keynotes Nye Parry, Nicola Dibben, Franz Rosati and Simonne Jones. Topics discussed include public engagement and accessibility in relation to sound art, commercial/experimental music crossovers, mobile media and portability, and community music-making with dirty electronics.

12.00: Peter Batchelor, Welcome
12.15: Nye Parry, Public Engagement, Private Divorce: Contexts and motivations in a Sonic Arts Practice13.00: Lunch
14.00: Nicola Dibben, Music-making for Mobile Devices: Björk's "Biophilia" App Album
14.40: Steve Jones, Roaming: mobility, media and the capture of (public) place
15.10: John Richards, Blood, Sweat and Music15.50: Break
16.00: Louise Rossiter & Jack Richardson, Networking the Arts: Introduction of the Art & Sound Symposium
16.20: Simonne Jones, The Secrets of the Universe
17.00: Franz Rosati, Contact; Shock: minimal and maximal approaches to electronic live music
17.45: Performance: Franz Rosati, Ruinsc.18.15: End

Full information, including abstracts, available here: http://makefestival.uk/talk

Tickets Free; Space Limited. Please book here: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/makesound-tickets-16923438460

Neal Spowage Fashion Film Prize + Recent Presentation at Haptic Narratives, Greenwich University

A radiophonic composition by postgraduate student Neal Spowage titled Dis-comforting has been used as a soundtrack for a fashion video short of the same name by Ania Sadkowska.

This video has just won the first prize POLIMODA & ASVOFF Video Contest For IFFTI2015 (International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institute) annual conference in Florence, Italy which is organised by the international fashion institute, Polimoda: MOMENTING THE MEMENTO.

The film explores older men's experience of fashion and clothing. The result to-date includes a set of themes capturing the richness of the male ageing phenomenon in relation to fashion and clothing, their writer interpretation and corresponding fashion artefacts and films.

Additionally, Neal recently presented his video New Track of Unknown Terra II to Haptic Narratives - Textural Exploration in Film at Greenwich University, UK, on 21st May 2015. This series of events focused on exploring and engaging with haptic sensations through tactile cues on film and the environments associated with moving images. It is organised by TiMaDi (Time, Materiality and the Digital Research Group).

Two MTI Students in Engine Room Installation until June 12

MTI doctoral students Francesc Martí and Virginie Viel have had work exhibited as part of the The Engine Room International Sound Art Competition. The event, which has been at the Morley Gallery in London, started on 12 May and runs through to 12 June 2015. 

At the same event, noted sound artist Janek Schaefer will be presenting a newly commissioned installation Aerial Aria in the aviary.

Francesc and Virginie are two of the twenty-two selected works, ranging from  Singapore, Russia, Germany, Colombia, Italy, Canada, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

More information on the event can be found by visiting Engine Room London.

Further information about the two selected works can be found below:

Virginie Viel 

Liberté chérie (2014) 

https://soundcloud.com/virginieviel/liberte-cherie 

- Who are you?

- You appeared to me in a place that doesn't exist, 

- Were you real? 

- You've never seen me and I've never seen you 

- How did I manage to talk to you? 

- I don't know... 

- Give me a clue! 

- I only remember... 

- Open the door! Open the door! I want to smell, to touch, to feel, to caress her... 

- Why? You might regret it! Many others were like you, burning with desire... But ultimately all of them gave up and turned away from her. 

- No, I won't… 

- It's too late anyway. Long gone are the days of lightness, love and happiness. Today no one knows, no one wants to remember... where she is gone 

- Why? 

- Hope disappeared a long time ago. Since that time, looking for Freedom, looking for that lady is meaningless. Without hope, be free has no sense anymore. 

Francesc Martí 

Speech 2 (2015) 

https://vimeo.com/119713106 

Speech 2 is an experimental audiovisual piece created from a series of old clips from the public affairs interview program The Open Mind. This piece would be a reflection on the action of communicating, highlighting his limitations, and can be labelled as “text-sound-art”, or “text-sound-composition” in an audio-visual framework. Technically, in this piece, the author has been experimenting how granular sound synthesis techniques, in particular synchronous granular synthesis, can be used for audiovisual creative works. All the piece sounds and images come from that series of clip, in other words, no other sound samples or images have been used to create the final result.

Chris Cree Brown: Seminar & Concert, 29 April 2015

Chris Cree Brown (University of Canterbury, NZ), will be visiting MTI on Wednesday the 29 April 2015 to deliver a seminar and concert of his work Pilgrimage to Gallipoli.

Chris Cree Brown's visit will have two parts:

13.00-14.30 – Gateway House Room GH3.54 : A talk on the origins and ideas behind the work

16.00-17.30 – PACE Building, Studio 1, Richmond Street : A performance of Pilgrimage to Gallipoli

Abstract

ANZAC (‘Australia and New Zealand Army Corps’) day is celebrated on the 25th April each year, the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 1915 during the First World War. This year is thus the centenary. In 2008 the New Zealand composer Chris Cree Brown completed a dramatic radiophonic work which bears witness to these events – it can be performed over a loudspeaker system in a concert hall as will be the case when the composer visits DMU on Wednesday 29th April. Pilgrimage to Gallipoli is an extensive radiophonic work of 85 minutes in two parts. It is the result of more than 14 years of research, audio recordings, and compilation. The work includes recordings Chris made during visits to ANZAC day commemorations at ANZAC cove in 1994 and 2000, along with interviews, site-specific recordings and historic sonic material. His sabbatical leave in 2008 allowed him sufficient space and time essential to compiling this creative response to one of this country’s defining events.
 
Bio-sketch 

Chris Cree Brown is an Associate Professor at the School of Music, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His main interests include conventional instrumental composition, electroacoustic and computer music, and inter-media art. He has twice been awarded the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago, has twice been appointed Composer-in-Schools and has written a number of film scores. Along with Icescape, for orchestra, is an electro-acoustic work, Under Erebus that were a result of his trip to Antarctica under the Artists to Antarctica programme run under the auspices of Antarctic New Zealand and with the assistance of Creative New Zealand. He has a strong interest in musical sculptures, and his Aeolian harps were exhibited in 2002 in the Christchurch Botanical gardens as part of the Art and Industry Scape Biennale. Chris was awarded the KBB/CANZ citation for services to New Zealand Music in 2010. His work has been performed in many countries, including Australia, UK, Finland, Hungary, France, Germany, Canada, Portugal, Russia, USA.

Visible Bits, Audible Bytes set to return to Phoenix Square this April!

See and hear artworks that redefine the potential of sound and image in the 21st century, as well as groundbreaking explorations from the not-so-distant past. Presented by DMU’s Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre.

This year’s lineup:
- Aristedes García (Germany) Hexagrama
- Clive Walley (UK) Divertimenti
- Henry Chomette (France) & Todor Todoroff (Belgium) Jeux des Reflets et de la Vitesse
- Jaroslaw Kapuscinski (USA) United
- Raven Kwok (China) 1194D
- Bonnie Mitchell & Elainie Lillios (USA) Sweeping Memories
- Mark Cheung (Singapore) i!
- Max Hattler (Hong Kong) & Eduardo Noya Schreus (Canada) X
- Francesc Marti (Spain) Speech 2
- Linda Antas (USA) All That Glitters and Goes Bump in the Nigh

All welcome! Entry Free!

Location:
Wednesday April 22nd, 2015
6.30pm
Phoenix
4 Midland Street
Leicester
LE1 1TG
Screen 2, FREE

Watch this space for our continuing MTI events series: http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/must/

Leigh Landy featured in new book 'Im Hörraum vor der Schaubuühne'

MTI Professor and Head of Research Leigh Landy has recently published two chapters in a new book on theatre sound.

The book focuses on Hans Peter Kuhn and Landy in their explorations of incidental music and sound design.

Both composers describe their approaches to theatre sound and its electroacoustic possibilities. 

The other theatre and musicological contributions are based on the works of Kuhn and Landy.

'In a listening space in front of the stage' ('Im Hörraum vor der Schaubühne') is edited by Julia H. Schröder.

For more information see Transcript Verlag.

Virginie Viel 'Nuage Noir' selected for SIME 2015

On 22 April, Virginie Viel will be perform one of her last piece “Nuage Noir” at the University of Lille III, France.

This piece is one of the 6 pieces selected by the international committee of the SIME (International Week of Electroacoustic Music).

More information can be found by visiting the event's Facebook page.

The committee was composed of:

- Elsa Justel (Argentina) Destellos Foundation

- Bernard Clarke (Irland) Radio Nova Broadcaster
- José Manuel Berenguer (Spain) Director of Orquesta del Caos
- Daniel Judkovsky (Argentina) Professor UNTREF University
- Dante Tanzi (Italy) Acousmonium AUDIOR
- Ricardo Mandolini (Argentina/Italy) University of Lille III
- María Cristina Kasem (Argentina)

John Young's 'Red Sky' Premieres 12 April 2015

John Young, composer and professor within the Department of Music, Technology & Innovation, will be premiering 'Red Sky' – a new work on a World War One theme – at 7pm on 12 April 2015. The event will take place at Leicester's New Walk Museum.

Red Sky is for alto flute, clarinets, piano and electroacoustic sounds. It was written for Carla Rees, Heather Roche and Xenia Pestova, musicians well known for their support for contemporary music generally and widely admired in the EA community.

The piece incorporates oral history recordings of 20 WWI veterans, men and women, most recorded in the '70s and '80s within a mixed EA/instrumental 'cinema for the ear', offering something of a journey through aspects of their wartime experience. Their stories are both disturbing and uplifting.

The performance marks the closing of the first of Leicester City Council's series of World War One exhibitions and is supported by the Arts Council England, Leicester City Council, The Imperial War Museum and De Montfort University.

De Montfort University have posted a news piece containing a brief interview with John, which can be found by visiting:  http://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2015/march/world-premiere-of-dmu-composers-tribute-to-war-dead-will-be-cinema-for-the-ears.aspx

Two MTI Students to present at European Association of Music in School (EAS) 2015

Doctoral students Jack Richardson and David Holland will be presenting at the upcoming European Association of Music in Schools Conference 2015 being held in Rostock, Germany between 25-28 March.

Titled Open Ears – Open Minds, this will be the 23rd EAS Annual Conference.

The conference is organised by the Rostock University of Music and Drama (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock). The main conference also coincides with the EAS Student Forum 2015 and the EAS Doctoral Student Forum 2015, both taking place between 24-26 March.

David Holland will present a poster regarding his work on 'Heightened Listening', whilst Jack Richardson will explore 'Experience and Perception in Music Education'.

Additionally, David will be presenting his paper 'Listening to the inner soundscape: A constructivist model for opening minds to soundbased music'.

More information about EAS and the EAS Annual Conference 2015 can be found by visiting the association's website.

Follow the conference on Twitter: @EAS_Music
Follow Jack Richardson on Twitter: @jackwillrich

Leigh Landy, Louise Rossiter, Virginie Viel: Martini Elettrico Concerts, Bologna Conservatoire, 24-28 March

During an Erasmus+ trip to the Bologna Conservatoire, Leigh Landy will be giving 3 public talks and leading an MTI concert that includes student works by Louise Rossiter and Virginie Viel alongside a piece of his own.

The trip has been made possible by support from #DMUGlobal.

Such events are taking place as part of the 'Martini Elettrico' concert and lecture series, which will be running between the 24th and 28th of March 2015.

The Royal College of Music Stockholm (KMH), another of MTI's Erasmus+ partners, is also giving a concert during the last week in March.

More information about Martini Elettrico can be found by clicking here.

Recent News: Neal Spowage – Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space Shortlist & Crafting Anatomies Exhibition

Postgraduate student Neal Spowage has had two of his recent collaborations with Danai Pappa shortlisted for the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in June 2015. The works are Cold Papaya for speaker bra and wireless shovel, and Frozen Venus for six plunger phones. 

They are being considered for the DISK performances in the Spacelab section of the performing arts festival that explores the themes of shared space, interpreting music, weather and politics.

Additionally, Neal has recently collaborated with Ania Sadkowska, a postgraduate researcher from Nottingham Trent University, to produce a soundtrack for her fashion work that is constructed from her research interviews. It was on a continuous loop, accompanying Ania's garments, at the Crafting Anatomies exhibition in the Bonnington Gallery at NTU between 7th January to 14th February 2015.

Crafting Anatomies placed the human body at the centre of a multi-disciplinary dialogue; exploring how this entity has been interpreted, crafted and re-imagined in historical, contemporary and future contexts.

For more information about Neal, please visit his website: http://www.nealspowage.com

Concert PACE 1 Wednesday 18th March 7pm - MTI Mix 4

Continuing our 15^th birthday celebration – more works from our amazing team. The UK premiere of Simon Atkinson’s GRM (Paris) Commission and works by masters and doctoral students - David Holland’s piece was a finalist for the Bangor Dylan Thomas Prize 2014, Sam Topley performs her invented instruments - audio-visual, performance, acousmatics, story telling, soundscape and more -

Simon Atkinson                  Nocturne aquatique

David Holland                       The Force

Francesc Marti                    Speech 1

Panos Amelides                 The Pain(t)

Sam Topley                          untitled

Sam Warren                                    Shift

Robin Parmar                      Caged Bird

All welcome! Entry Free!

Simon Emmerson composer's portrait Bangor March 8th

19.30, Powis Hall, Bangor University
PORTRAIT OF PIERRE ALEXANDRE TREMBLAY & SIMON EMMERSON
CARLA REES (flutes), HEATHER ROCHE (clarinets) & XENIA PESTOVA (piano)
Electroacoustic WALES
Daira Kwiatkowska: In the Dark Basket of my Belly (af/pno)
Coreen Morsink: Andromache (afl)
Emmerson: Resonances (8-track tape)
Tremblay: La rupture inéluctable (bcl/processing/tape)
School pupils piece (cl/tape)
---
WMCP winning piece
Ed Bennett: Magnetic (bcl and pno)
Tremblay: asinglewordisnotenough 1 (5.1 tape)
Emmerson: Piano Piece IV (pno/fixed media)
Sungji Hong: Bisbiglio (fl/cl/pno)

LLEAPP Symposium, March 4-6th 2015

PACE, Phoenix Café Bar & Leicester Hackspace 

LLEAPP (Laboratory for Laptop and Electronic Audio Performance Practice) is a collective of musician-researchers based in Edinburgh. It is run on the basis of a 3-day practice-led symposium, discussing tactics and strategies for collaborative play, a series of open rehearsals, and finishes with a performance each day.

LLEAPP started in 2009 at the University of Edinburgh, has since been held at different universities across the UK, and is being hosted this year by De Montfort University, Leicester.

Among featured guests will be Hong Kong-based Takuro Lippit (aka DJ Sniff), a turntablist working in the field of improvised and experimental music; cellist and string arranger Audrey Riley whose work ranges from The Smiths to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; Swedish noise artist Max Wainwright; mobile artist Steranko; and John Richards with members of the Dirty Electronics Ensemble.

Francesc Martí's 'Speech 1' Screenings at Slingshot Festival, Play Festival & N_SEME

'Speech 1', an audio-visual piece by MTI PhD Francesc Martí, will be screened at three events in the United States throughout February and March.

The piece will be presented as part of the World Electroacoustic Listening Room (WEALR) project on 28 February, one of many concerts taking place at the New Music Festival held at California State University Fullerton.

In March, the piece will be screened in three other music events: N_SEME (March 6-7) at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Play Festival (March 13-14) at Oberlin College, Ohio and Slingshot Festival (March 26-28) in Georgia.

Watch 'Speech 1' Here

Find out more about Francesc here

Recent News: Luca Forcucci – Exhibition at Berlin's Scotty Enterprises + recent concerts

Electraoacoustic composer Luca Forcucci is currently hosting at exhibition at the Scotty Entreprise in Berlin until the 21st of February 2015. In a concert tonight (18/02/2015), Luca will perform 'In a Silent Way' – Audrey Chen (China/USA), Satch Hoyt (UK/USA) will also perform.

Source: http://willychyr.com/tag/luca-forcucci/

Find more information about the event on Facebook.

Throughout 2014 Luca participated in a wide variety of events. These include hosting a concert and workshop at RAME, receiving a grant from Pro Helvetia for research into EEG technology and also undertaking residencies at Berlin's ZK/U and the Swiss institute in Rome. Luca's compositions have been included in concert series across Italy, Switzerland and China.

Luca is a PhD student within the Music, Technology & Innovation Research Centre at De Montfort University. For more information click here.

Recent News: Leigh Landy 'Compose Your Words', US Tour & EuroMAC 2014 Keynote

Leigh Landy's has recently released “Compose Your Words. Commissioned by Intelligent Arts, it is an ePublication available on Amazon and many other such providers. 

You can purchase the eBook here.

He also made a tour through the US in November. This included four concerts in three states, including a concert at Stony Brook University repeated at a Manhattan Gallery, a one-composer concert in Oregon and an MTI concert at the South West Electronic Music Festival in Arizona, and six talks. He visited Stony Brook University in New York State, Arizona State University where he discussed exchange potential between their Arts, Media and Engineering Group and the MTI, the Leicester Media School and the Dance programmes and the University of Oregon. 

Lastly, Leigh also gave a keynote talk and chaired a round table discussion at the European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC 2014) at the University of Leuven, Belgium on 20 September 2014 as part of a two-day session “Listening to Electroacoustic Music through Analysis”. His paper was titled: “How Listening-based Analysis Can Aid the Understanding and Appreciation of Electroacoustic Music”.

More information about the conference can be found by visiting http://www.euromac2014.eu.

Two MTI concerts for Cultural Exchanges Festival - Philip Mead - PACE 1 Thursday 26th February 7.30pm

De Montfort University Cultural Exchanges Festival 2015

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival/index.aspx

Thursday February 26th, 2015 7.30pm

PACE Building Studio 1, Richmond St., Leicester

Philip Mead – piano with electronics and visuals

Philip Mead is one of Britain’s foremost interpreters of contemporary piano music, and has commissioned and premiered a vast number of works in the last thirty five years. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire. He is founder and artistic director of the British Contemporary Piano Competition, held every three years since 1988. He completed an MA at MTI, De Montfort, in performing with live electronics in 2007.

Hugi Gudmundsson (music) with Bret Battey (live visuals) Triptych Unfolding (piano, electronics, live visuals) (2014)

Neal Farwell Songs and Shards (piano, electronics) (2012)

Simon Emmerson Microvariations II (piano, electronics) (2015)

Richard Hoadley (music) with Katharine Norman (text) How to Play the Piano in 88 notes (piano, projection) (2014)

All welcome! Tickets should be booked – Free to MTI students!

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival/2015/cultural-exchanges-festival-2015.aspx

Box Office: 0116 2506229

Two MTI concerts for Cultural Exchanges Festival - Annette Vande Gorne - PACE 1 Wednesday 25th February

De Montfort University Cultural Exchanges Festival 2015

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival/index.aspx

Wednesday February 25th, 2015

Seminar: 1pm – Concerts 7pm and 8.30pm

PACE Building Studio 1, Richmond St., Leicester

Annette Vande Gorne - ‘Text, Voice, Gesture, Space’

The programme features two concerts of work by this leading Belgian composer - one performed by Annette Vande Gorne herself, followed by a programme of performances by UK based colleagues and former students. Annette Vande Gorne, one of Belgium’s leading composers, has been Professor of electroacoustic composition at the Royal Conservatories in Liège, Brussels and Mons. She founded the Musiques & Recherches and the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studios (Ohain). She also founded the festival and performance competition L’Espace du son (Brussels) and the composition competition Métamorphoses.

1-2pm: Annette Vande Gorne will talk about her work with examples.

7-8.10pm: Concert Annette Vande Gorne – ‘Text, Voice, Gesture, Space’

Vox Alia (1995-2000)

Yawar Fiesta acte II (opéra acousmatique) (2012/2007)

Au-delà du réel (2013-2014)

8.30-9.30pm: Concert friends –

John Young  An Angel at Mons (2014)

Louise Rossiter Tout Autour de la Montagne (2014)

Virginie Viel   I belong to the sea (2015)

All welcome! Tickets should be booked – Free to MTI students!

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/cultural-exchanges-festival/2015/cultural-exchanges-festival-2015.aspx

Concert PACE 1 Wednesday 11th February 7pm

The Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research (BEER) was founded in 2011 as a research project to explore aspects of realtime electroacoustic music making. Particular interests include networked music performance over ad hoc wi-fi systems, and live coding (programming music in real time using algorithms that can be altered while they are running). In keeping with post-free jazz developments in improvisation (e.g. John Zorn, Anthony Braxton), we create structures in software that impose limitations and formal articulations on the musical flow (with networked software systems serving as intervention mechanism / arbiter / structural provocateur par excellence). Musical influences run the gamut from Iannis Xenakis to Journey.
Members include Norah Lorway, Konstantinos Vasilakos, Luca Danieli, Tsun Yeung, and Scott Wilson. For this performance BEER presents a selection of pieces from the ensemble’s repertoire, including the premiere of a new work by Norah Lorway.
All welcome! Entry Free! 

At 1pm that day (MTI Research Lab, Clephan 0.19) Nick Collins and Scott Wilson present their ideas in a Research Seminar -

Dr Nick Collins (Durham) - 'Large-scale corpus analysis of electronic music'
In which researchers on an AHRC funded mini-project attempt to build a larger scale (circa 2000 piece) audio corpus of electronic music from 1948-2000, and run automatic machine analysis experiments.
Dr Scott Wilson (Birmingham) - ‘Free as in BEER’
The Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research (BEER) was founded in 2011 as a research project to explore aspects of realtime electroacoustic music making. Particular interests include networked music performance over ad hoc wi-fi systems, and live coding (programming music in real time using algorithms that can be altered while they are running).

All Welcome!

Concert PACE 1 Wednesday 14th January 7pm

Magnus Bugge and Jøran Rudi present works from NOTAM (Oslo)

NOTAM is Norway’s national electronic music studio. The centre operates on several levels within the Norwegian music and arts scene, and in the international music technology environment. We provide support to musicians and artists, and develop our own music technology. Notam's users are students, musicians, artists, composers, dancers, sound technicians, film workers, and others who find the combination of music, art and technology interesting.

Magnus Bugge            Matrise (2014)

Andrew Hill                        Stille Lyd: Part I – NOTAM (2014)

Jøran Rudi                        Concrete Net (1997)

Gyrid Nordal Kaldestad            Losing Control: Part I and Part II (2011)

Andrew Hill                        Stille Lyd: Part II – Høvringen (2014)

Arne Nordheim            Solitaire (1968)

All welcome! Entry Free!

At 1pm that day (MTI Research Lab, Clephan 0.19) Magnus Bugge and Jøran Rudi present their ideas in a Research Seminar.