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

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

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.

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

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: 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.

John Young at Espace du Son, Brussels

Prof. John Young will give two concerts at the Espace du Son Festival in Brussels in November, on the 54-channel acousmonium in the Théâtre Marni. One performance is devoted entirely to his own work and in second show he will present a recent work by Pete Batchelor alongside pieces he has selected by Brazilian and US composers. Other composers performing in the Festival are Åke Parmerud (Sweden), Flo Menezes (Brazil) and Yves Daoust (Québec).

Xenakis & Co with Amelides and Tzedaki

The audiorama in Stockholm is presenting a two-day tribute to Xenakis on May 4 & 5, 2012. One concert is dedicated to young Greek electroacoustic composers, including pieces by DMU postgrads Panos Amelides (Ritual Attacks and Agoras I) and Katerina Tzedaki (Reverberations).

John Young / Musica Nova Competition

John Young's piece X (2010) for piano and electroacoustic sounds has been awarded an Honorary Mention in the 2011 Musica Nova Competition in Prague.  The piece was composed for Welsh-based Xenia Pestova, and premiered by her in Bangor in September this year.

X will be included in a concert at DMU on 2 March 2012 as part of the University's Cultural Exchanges Festival.

Leigh Landy Premieres New ZKM Commission

In November, Leigh Landy presented two works in the main Kubus concert at the ARD Hörspiel Tage (Radio Play Festival) at the ZKM – this included his new ZKM commissioned work, Radio-aktiv, composed in 24-channels for the Sound Dome and his work, To BBC or Not. Both works contain samples taken from national radio recording which are recomposed. All three of his radio pieces, along with other works, will be presented during De Montfort University's Cultural Exchanges Festival in late February 2012.

He will also present a keynote talk and a composition at the Symposium for Performance of Electronic and Experimental Music (SPEEC) at Oxford University 6-7 January 2012.

Bret Battey - "Clonal Colonies" premieres in Delaware and NYC

Bret Battey's new audiovisual composition Clonal Colonies, a commission from New York's Avian Orchestra, was premiered by the ensemble in September in Delaware and at the The Cell, New York. The work is in two movements, for Pierrot ensemble, computer-realised sound, and video. A "clonal colony" is a group of genetically identical plants. Child plants are propagated by "runners" that emerge from a parent plant. This serves as an analogy to the "Variable-Coupled Map Networks" algorithm approach that Battey applied in composing the piece.