Cristiana Palandri in Stockholm, June 2025

M4C-funded PhD candidate Cristiana Palandri has just returned from Stockholm where she was a composer in residence dividing her time between EMS (Elektronmusikstudion) and the KMH (Kungliga Musikhögskolan / Royal College of Music, Stockholm).  

During the residency Cristiana created a new composition, working in the EMS 8-channel Studio 4 with a rare original Buchla 200 modular synthesiser, with spatialisation developed at EMS and in the 3D sound system at the KMH. She was also able to network with other international composers working on projects in Stockholm with fruitful exchange on compositional methods and sound aesthetics. 

Cristiana Palandri with the Buchla 200  at EMS (L) and the 3D spatialisation room at KMH (R)

 

 

 

 

Two New Midlands4Cities PhD scholars for MTIRG

MTIRG is delighted that we will be welcoming two new M4C-funded PhD candidates in electroacoustic composition in October.

Samvaran Rai's research will address 'Ambiguity in the Disembodied: A Designer's approach to Sound Dramaturgy in Electroacoustic Music,' supervised by Profs. Young and Battey.
Sam completed his MA in music, technology and innovation with distinction at DMU in 2023. He also holds an MA in film art and has received several international awards for his work.

Jake Parry will research the topic 'Moving Beyond Immersion: Developing a critical approach to spatial audio composition' supervised by John Young and Dr Christopher Haworth (University of Birmingham). Jake completed an MMus with distinction at the University of Manchester in 2022 and this year has been working on spatial audio projects at the Institute of Sonology at Royal Conservatoire The Hague.

M4C is an AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership comprised of eight universities in Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Coventry/Warwick. Samvaran and Jake join a strong contingent of PhD students in the MTIRG, as well as joining our host Institute of Arts, Design and Performance.

Congratulations both!

Jake Parry

Samvaran Rai

Edward Clijsen presents at Mikrotöne: Small Is Beautiful VI in Salzburg

PhD Student Edward Clijsen delivered a paper at the sixth Mikrotöne: Small Is Beautiful Symposium at Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, 2-6 July 2025. The paper reflected on the compositional processes and outcomes leading up to and during composing his next piece Amsterdamned (2025) for Fokker Organ, Carrillo Piano and Kingma System Alto Flute, in collaboration with the Huygens-Fokker Foundation and Carla Rees.

 

Edward Clijsen presents at Innovation in Music 2025, Bath

PhD Student Edward Clijsen delivered a paper at the Innovation in Music Conference 2025 (InMusic25) at Bath Spa University, 20-22nd June, 2025. The paper reflected on the compositional process and outcomes of composing the piece Äußern (2024) for the ’19-div’ and ‘quarter-tone’ microtonal trumpets, in collaboration with Stephen Altoft of Microtonal Projects.

 

Stefano Catena in Lyon

Stefano Catena's composition Travelling Without Moving continues to have performances having been accepted for the JIM/LAC (Journées de l'Informatique Musicale/Linux Audio Conference) artistic programme in Lyon from the 23rd to 28^th of June. It will be played at the Théâtre Astrée of Lyon 1 University in 8.1 channel format.
The full programme is here: https://jimlac25.inria.fr/program/

Théâtre Astrée, Lyon

John Young's article 'The Sound Pool' / 'Le réservoir sonore' published

A short article by Prof. John Young 'The Sound Pool' / 'Le réservoir sonore' was published today in a collection of artists' statements Did You Say Sound Library / Vous avez dit sonothèque?  edited by Valentin Sismann in both French and English.

The collection includes statements from 23 composers on ways in which they gather, categorise and organise the sounds they make in the course of composing acousmatic music. It will be of interest to anyone working creatively with sound—in composition and/or sound design in many different settings.

The 50-page collection includes statements by François Bayle, Philippe Mion, Robert Normandeau, Elsa Justel, Hans Tutschku, Jonty Harrison, Elizabeth Anderson, Annette Vande Gorne, Tomonari Higaki, Ana Dall’Ara-Majek, Daniel Teruggi, Marco Marini, Armando Balice, Régis Renouard Larivière, Christine Groult, Denis Dufour, Jean-Marc Duchenne, Christian Zanési, Stéphane Roy, Lucie Prod’homme, Åke Parmerud and Young, as well as insight into the working methods of Bernard Paremgiani by Claude-Anne Parmegiani, Maxime Barthélemy and Marco Marini.

English version: https://valentinsismann.com/Vous-avez-dit-sonotheque-ENG

French version: https://valentinsismann.com/Vous-avez-dit-sonotheque

 

Valentin Sismann

 

 

Prof Battey Concert 'Poetry of Code' at Ankara Music and Fine Arts University

On May 29, 2025, Prof Bret Battey presented a concert of his audiovisual works to students and staff at the Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, Türkiye. Entitled 'The Poetry of Code', the concert included his Clonal Colonies (two movements), Estuaries 1-4, and a screening version of the installation time, bruised, selves (a co-creation with his partner Deniz Ertan). The concert was followed by questions and answers from the audience, covering wide ranging issues in aesthetics and technique.

Edward Clijsen to present at the Biennial International Society of Metal Music Studies Conference, Seville

PhD student Edward Clijsen will be delivering a paper at the 7th BiennialResearch Conference for the International Society of Metal Music Studies (ISMMS), Seville, 3-6th June, 2025. The presentation will discuss the position of microtonality in the extreme, experimental and progressive metal musical landscape and reflect on how this has/will inform his compositional style and approach.

 

 

New album from Simon Emmerson

MTIRG's Professor Emeritus Simon Emmerson's new solo album (available in in CD and high resolution download formats) is out now, and will be officially launched on 4 June, 6.30pm till 8.00pm, the Bathway Theatre, Woolwich, London SE18 6QX. 

The album is released on the well-known NMC label and features recent acousmatic pieces and works for instruments and electroacoustics, featuring Philip Mead and Zubin Kanga (piano), Carla Rees (flutes), Heather Roche (clarinets) and Simon Emmerson (electronics).

To secure a place at the launch please RSVP to development@nmcrec.co.uk by Friday 30 May. The Bathway Theatre is located a six-minute walk from Woolwich Arsenal DLR & mainline and TFL buses run frequent services nearby. For detailed information about travel, please click here

For a preview of the album visit: 
https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/discover/simon-emmerson-sound-around-both-near-and-far-once

 

 

Gavin Bryars Concert

Former DMU Professor of Music Gavin Bryars was at DMU on Saturday 3 May to take part in the opening of the Leicester Gallery's contribution to The Art Schools of the Midlands project. Bryars was interviewed by John Beck and Matthew Cornford prior to giving a concert at St Mary de Castro church later that evening with his ensemble—Dave Smith (piano), James Woodrow (guitar), Morgan Goff (viola), Yuri Bryars (organ, bass, guitar), Audrey Riley (cello) and Bryars himself (keyboard, bass, guitar). Bryars founded the first music department at Leicester Polytechnic (now DMU), and a capacity audience witnessed this emotionally charged first performance by him at DMU since1994.

The concert included six works by Bryars from the 1960s and 70s: 1,2,1-2-3-4 (1972), The Squirrel and the Ricketty Racketty Bridge (1972), Catalogue (1965), 16 Continuous Fragments for solo guitar (1965), Mr Sunshine (1968) and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971). The latter work is based around a recording of an unidentified homeless man, and was composed when Bryars was working in the Fine Art Department at DMU. It has attracted world wide acclaim and exists in several versions, including one with the added voice of Tom Waits and a choreographed version by William Forsythe. The concert was recorded by students of DMU's Music Production programme, to be released on vinyl by London-based Shrike records.

The Art Schools of the Midlands exhibition focuses on the impressive number of art schools located in the Midlands and features original photographic images of all 48 sites from across the region, from Hereford to Boston, Chesterfield to Northampton. Celebrating a key aspect of the civic, industrial and architectural history of the region since the mid-nineteenth century, the photographs are also an investigation of the present, recording the sites of former art schools and their current circumstances.
https://www.instagram.com/theartschoolproject/

Gavin Bryars photographed with DMU Music Production students after the concert at St Mary de Castro.

Hear and Now Leicester Project

MTIRG supoorted and hosted the Philharmonia Orchestra's Hear and Now project in Leicester this year.
Hear and Now is a community music project run in Leicester by the Philharmonia in collaboration with Leicester Musical Memory Box/Geet Sangeet, Leicestershire Music and Drum and Brass Leicester. The project brings together older people living with dementia and their carers, young singers and instrumentalists from grassroots community organisations, with players of the Philharmonia to devise and present a varied programme of music, poetry and movement.  Over four weekends the participants, led by composer and animateur Tim Steiner, developed the performance, which was presented in the Sue Townsend Theatre on 27 April 2025. DMU Arts and Festivals Management students gained work experience assisting the show's producer, Philharmonia Community and Engagement Manager Stephanie Waldron.

Hear and Now in rehearsal, PACE Studio 1

 

 

 

Hear and Now performance, Sue Townsend Theatre 27 April 2025

 

MTIRG Symposium 9 April 2025

MTIRG members met on 9 April in the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Lab for a day-long symposium to share research.

Presentations were given by:

Robert Chafer—Mixed Reality Spatial Audio Composition: a distribution platform for multichannel electroacoustic works
Matt Rogerson—Dromos/Autos: The Autistic Ontology as Performance
Edward Clijsen—Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Reflections on Recent Practical Explorations of Formalised Approaches to Microtonal Composition
Matthew London—The Integrated Soundtrack: An Analytical Exploration of the Auditory Elements of Music, Sound Design, and Dialogue Within Horror Cinema
Cristiana Palandri—Materialising sound-based composition: exploring multisensory perception and audience engagement between tactile and sonic spheres
Stefano Catena—Analysis and findings of Intention/Reception questionnaires on spatialisation in acousmatic music
Conor Snape—From Concept to Gameplay: Practical Approaches to IDM Derived Sound Effect & Adaptive Audio Design in Modern Video Game Development)
Joe Stillwell—A Study in Movers and Musicians: A Multidisciplinary Lens of Improvisation)
John Young—The Long and Short of Acousmatic Music).

Presenters at the MTIRG Symposium, clockwise, L-R: Edward Clijsen, Conor Snape, Robert Chafer, Joe Stillwell, Matt Rogerson, John Young, Matthew London. Centre: Stefano Catena, Cristiana Palandri

 

Battey serving as jury member for Gilgamesh Music Festival 2025

Prof Bret Battey is serving as a jury member for the Gilgamesh Music Festival 2025, being run by the Gilgamesh Arts and Culture Foundation in California. The prizes will be announced in Summer 2025.

Battey's 'Clonal Colonies I: Fresh Runners' at Cineteca Madrid event June 20

Spain's Punto y Raya Festival will be screening Bret Battey's audiovisual composition Clonal Colonies I: Fresh Runners as part a 'visual music' series celebrating World Music Day. The screening will be a Cineteca Madrid, June 20, 2025. 

Battey's Estuaries 4 Screening at Carnegie Melon University

Prof Bret Battey's audiovisual composition 'Estuaries 4' was screened 27 Mar 2025 at Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh as part of a international selection of works presented by AV@CMU.

Edward Clijsen to present at the Hyperchromatic Music Festival, Goldsmiths

PhD Student Edward Clijsen will be delivering a presentation reflecting on his recent work and processes in composing for the Kingma System Alto Flute; ‘19-div’ and ‘Quarter-tone’ Microtonal trumpets; and his upcoming project composing for 31-EDO Fokker Organ and 96-EDO Carrillo Piano. 

The festivals evening concerts will also premiere Clijsen’s ‘Geïsoleerd’ (2024) for Solo Kingma System Alto Flute – written in collaboration with, and performed by, Carla Rees.

 

This will be the first microtonal festival in London since UKMicroFest in 2012, and the first microtonal festival in the UK since ‘Beyond the Semitone’ in Aberdeen in 2013.

The Hyperchromatic Music Festival will bring together composers, performers, and lecturers from around the world to explore systems of music which use a much wider pallet of notes than those found in 12-note chromatic music. Lecturers and students from Goldsmiths University, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Middlesex University, Microtonal Projects, Yehudi Menuhin School, and De Montfort University will present their unique approaches to hyperchromatic music.

 

Attendees will have the opportunity to attend two days of lectures designed to provide them with practical and theoretical tools for approaching these new tonal horizons. Following each lecture, all are invited to attend evening concerts in which these tools are put to use. All events are free to attend and are held at Goldsmiths University. Lectures will run from 12-2pm at Room LG01 in the Professor Stuart Hall Building and concerts will run from 5-6:30 at the Deptford Town Hall on April 14th and 15th.

 

Eventbrite bookings:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hyperchromatic-music-festival-tickets-1283827164609?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

Leicester Cathedral Commissioned Student Projects for Richard III Reinterment Anniversary

Leicester Cathedral commissioned four final-year undergraduate BA music technology students to make works for the 10th anniversary of the reinterment of King Richard III. The project, an installation entitled The Last Plantagenet: Stories in Sound, premiered as part of the city-wide Light Up Leicester festival, 12-15 March, 2025. The students crafted immersive sound pieces that were played through eight speakers positioned around Richard III’s tomb. This multi-directional audio experience enveloped listeners with deeply evocative explorations of different aspects of the King’s legacy and his final resting place within the Cathedral.
 

The students had privileged access to recordings of people involved in the reinterment events, coordinated by oral historian Rebecca Hale. They also made contemporary recordings of other sounds such as church bells, various instruments and voices, and music played on the cathedral’s organ, and they captured others such as the timeless sound of water from the stream that runs close to the Bosworth battlefield where Richard III died on 22 August 1485. 

The project was featured in an article in the Leicester Mercury.

Battey and Catena chapters in Noisefloor volume from Routledge

Prof. Bret Battey and PhD candidate Stefano Catena have chapters in a new book Collaboration, Engagement, and Tradition in Contemporary and Electronic Music: NoiseFloor Perspectives, just published by Routledge.  The book’s contents have been developed from selected papers given at Staffordshire University’s NoiseFloor conference.

Stefano Catena at 'Immersive Festival' 2025 - Lisbon

Stefano Catena's piece Travelling Without Moving was selected for the listening room during the ‘Immersive Festival' , which will take place at Lisboa Incomum (Lisboa, Portugal), from March 20th to 23rd alongside composers such as Annette Vande Gorne and Joao Pedro Oliveira. All the works will be performed in a specialised 16-channel partial dome. 

 https://www.lisboaincomum.pt/2025/02/festival-imersivo-2025.html
https://www.projecto-dme.org/2025/02/festival-imersivo-2025_11.html

Eddie Clijsen introduces Omar and Cedric : If This Ever Gets Weird at CINE MISFITS

PhD student Eddie Clijsen gave an introductory talk before the screening of Omar and Cedric : If This Ever Gets Weird at the Phoenix/DMU Festival of CINE MISFITS to a full theatre on 28 January 2025. Featuring Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez the film traces the lives and careers of the two musicians, especially in relation to their band The Mars Volta.

Clijsen's talk outlined the idea of the 'alternative' in music before going on to evaluate Bixler-Zavala's and Rodriguez-Lopez's remarkable contributions to a range of musical genres. 

Eddie Clijsen at CINE MISFITS

Prof. Leigh Landy Performance in Kuala Lumpur

As part of the Spectra concert series, Leigh Landy’s 8-channel composition, ‘E Pluribus Plures’, was performed on 11 November 2024 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Malaysia. This work, which recomposes traditional music around the globe, is a celebration of cultural diversity and a warning about several non-commercial folk traditions that are under threat of extinction. He was the only non-Asian composer on the programme.

 

Prof. Leigh Landy appointed as Visiting Professor at the Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

 

As of December 2024, Prof. Leigh Landy has been appointed Visiting Professor at the ERHMEE research centre at the Ionian University in Corfu. ERHMEE has been a partner of the MTI Research Centre for ca. 15 years and this appointment is a celebration of our excellent relationship.