Official organ of the Symbolic Sound Corporation
Kyma played a part in a recent release by Grammy Award-winning British singer/songwriter, Imogen Heap. The song, titled “Lifeline,” incorporates a granulated ukulele sample contributed by Kyma user, Robert Ponto. According to Heap, the sound inspired both the key (c-sharp minor) and opening chord sequence.
The SoundProof performance ensemble (Patricia Strange, violin; Stephen Ruppenthal, trumpet & flugelhorn; Brian Belet, bass & viola) embarks on its ‘Sasquatch Tour 2011’ with concerts, master classes, and lecture/demos in Oregon and Washington:
The concerts feature interactive computer music composed for the ensemble by Larry Austin, Brian Belet, Elainie Lillios (world premiere), Bonnie Miksch, Jeffrey Stolet, and Allen Strange. The concert performances are run entirely within Kyma.
John Paul Jones will be joining Spin Marvel at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on April 30, 2011 for a set of “textural soundscapes and colour” and “electronica jazz”. Â JPJ will be enhancing the “distinctly European sound” of Spin Marvel by processing his bass through all manner of spectral transmogrifications arranged in a Kyma Timeline controlled by a SoftStep USB MIDI foot controller.
(Additional jazz gigs to follow later this summer so stay tuned!)
Working to keep St. Louis “strange and wonderful”, the Hearding Cats Artists Collective presents another poetry and multimedia word warping event on Saturday, Apr. 16, 2011 – 8 pm at Floating Labs multimedia performance gallery in St. Louis.
Featuring word-artists Brett Underwood, Anna Lum, Treasure Williams and Stef Russell conversing musically with Zimbabwe Nkenya (psaltry) and Rich O’Donnell (Kyma/Pacarana electronics), These Cats Can Speak promises an evening of enhanced word-play and lively interaction.
Composer/performer Sarth Calhoun is directing rehearsals of  Lou Reed‘s music for Frank Wedekind‘s Lulu directed by Robert Wilson at the Berliner Ensemble theater in Berlin. The score features Kyma processing, Continuum/Kyma playing, and dual Continuum fingerboard improvisations accompanied by a live string section.  Lulu, which depicts a society “riven by the demands of lust and greed” (and which became the basis for both Alban Berg’s opera and Pabst’s silent film Pandora’s Box) opens 11 April 2011 in Berlin.
A sneak preview of choreographer Gilles Jobin’s “Spider Galaxies” is set for 3-4 March 2011. Cristian Vogel will perform the music live with Kyma.
For choreographer Gilles Jobin, dance is sentient architecture.  Employing the moving bodies of the dancers as his materials, Jobin constructs dynamic, self-aware architectural spaces that continuously flow and intersect with one another.  In his newest work, Spider Galaxies, Jobin and his dancers create an extremely precise and dynamic score of complex generators that is at times powerful and disturbing but with moments of exquisite delicacy and playfulness.
Jobin’s longtime collaborator and musical director Cristian Vogel will be performing the musical score, co-composed by Vogel and Carla Scaletti, live from a Kyma Timeline: a first for the company!
In Le Courrier – 08-09.04.2011, reviewer Dominique Hartmann wrote:
Le relief de la pièce doit beaucoup à la musique, composée par Carla Scaletti et Cristian Vogel et jouée en direct chaque soir. Ses sonorités monumentales, ses vibrations et ses stridences ceignent la scène et claquent comme un vent de l’espace, contribuant à dilater celui-ci aussi efficacement que la parole aux mains d’un Claude Régy. La création musicale a puisé dans des données récupérées du LHC. Car Spider Galaxies s’inspire aussi de l’accélérateur de particules du CERN: «Le LHC captive tout le monde! Pour ma part, c’est justement le potentiel d’abstraction que ces processus nécessitent qui me fascine.»
…
The depth of the piece owes much to the music, composed by Carla Scaletti and Cristian Vogel and played live each night. The monumental sonorities, the vibrations and the stridences surround the stage and slam into us like wind from outer space, helping to expand the dance as effectively as the word is expanded in the hands of Claude Regy. The creation of the music drew upon data retrieved from the LHC. Because Spider Galaxies was also inspired by the CERN particle accelerator: “The LHC captivates everyone! For my part, it is precisely the potential for abstraction that these processes require that fascinates me.”
The first performances are in March-June 2011, followed by a world tour later this year:
3-4 March: Sneak preview at Journées de Danse Contemporaine Suisse
15-17 March: World Premiere at Bonlieu Scène Nationale – Annecy – France
30 March – 3 April:  Théâtre Arsenic – Lausanne – Suisse
6-17 April: - Théâtre de l’ADC – Genève – Suisse
29 April -Â Beirut International Platform Of Dance – Beyrouth – Liban
20 May - Festival Evidanse – Delémont – Suisse
14 June -Â Festival Latitudes Contemporaines – Lille – France