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 and Matthew London awarded M4C PhD Scholarships

We are delighted that today two MTI PhD students start PhD funding with the AHRC-funded Midlands Four Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, a consortium of eight institutions in Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham and Coventry/Warwick. 

Matthew London will be embarking on his PhD in the area of film music and sound design in a project entitled The Integrated Soundtrack: An analytical exploration of the auditory elements of music, sound design and dialogue within horror cinema, supervised by Simon Atkinson, Leigh Landy and Laraine Porter.

Edward Clijsen is completing a practice-led PhD on microtonality in music: Practical Explorations of Formalised Approaches to Microtonal Composition, supervised by John Young, Bret Battey and Duncan MacLeod (University of Nottingham).

They join a strong contingent of M4C-funded PhD students in music at DMU with Cristiana Palandri, Stefano Catena, Rob Chafer, Sam Topley and Ross Davidson all current M4C PhD candidates.

Edward Clijsen (L) and Matthew London (R)

John Young and Cristiana Palandri at Noisefloor Lisbon

Prof. John Young and M4C PhD candidate Cristiana Palandri will be at the Noisefloor 2024 conference at  the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.

Palandri will present her ambisonic composition Gemelli siamesi making use of the Escola's 15.1 channel dome audio system.

Young will perform two works, Arioso and Le Chant en dehors, and present a paper 'The Long and Short of Acousmatic Forms'.

Cristiana Palandri