Transformation of fear

Kurt Schwitters Ursonate is a testament against war, nationalism, protectionism and establishment. In Landscapes of a voice, Roland Kuit seeks to transform his own fears into beauty by combining Schwitter’s poetry processed through Kyma with visuals by Karin Schomaker. In the face of his fears that progress has come to an end and the only thing left is degradation, Kuit seeks to create disruptive art, creating a peregrination through the human soul, finding new values in an impellent quadraphonic terrain of vocal spectra.

Roland Kuit – Kyma, voice 
Karin Schomaker – visuals

Hear it December 3-4 2016 at the Festival Internacional de Música Experimental en Vallecas, Sonikas XIV, Centro Cultural Lope de Vega, Madrid, Spain

TMIE — mediating the inner and outer sound worlds

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Carlos Alberto Augusto’s new opera “TMIE, on the threshold of the outside world” just had a successful premiere in Lisbon on Thursday September 8th, 2016, at the O’culto da Ajuda; so successful in fact, that they added two additional performances! Apparently, the sound quality of the 10-track Kyma-generated score also attracted attention and appreciation from composers in the audience.

The 51 minute work was entirely composed in Kyma and is dedicated to Portuguese soprano Marina Pacheco who performs three roles over the course of the opera — Meretseger, who loves silence; Selene, who drives her silver chariot through the skies and vibrates to the beats of the stars; and Corypheaus who listens and tries to interpret their dialog.

The TMIE gene (Transmembrane Inner Ear) is implicated in the development of the cochlea and in the synthesis of a protein that mediates between the outer acoustic environment and the inner sound world of the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex of the brain; in the opera, TMIE serves as a metaphor for the interface between the inner and outer self.

For more details and contact information on how to program this work, please see Augusto’s fascinating program notes and news site.

One man’s junk is another man’s musical instrument

Since childhood, composer/performer Franz Danksagmüller has been fascinated with the rich, interesting sound palette one can create from broken, discarded and so-called unplayable instruments. In 2013, on a visit to a local junkyard, he noticed a strange metal object that immediately captured his attention.

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Read the story of how he added contact mics and sensors and developed a bowing technique to transform this strange object (which he later discovered was part of a device for food preservation) into a new musical instrument that sends both audio and MIDI control data to Kyma.

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You can hear this mysterious and beautiful instrument performed live at KISS2016, when Danksagmüller and composer/performer/computer scientist John Mantegna perform their new piece — The Artificial Brain!
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KISS2016: Emergence

Emergence — it’s what a complex system of interconnected agents can do collectively that they could not do in isolation. Emergence goes beyond the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — emergence arises from the relationships among those parts. Emergence is that seemingly magical moment when an unanticipated novel behavior or dynamic pattern arises from a complex network of simple components and rules.

Symbolic Sound, in partnership with De Montfort University’s Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities; the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre, and the Performance Research Group, invite you to participate in the eighth annual Kyma International Sound Symposium and to explore emergence with an international gathering of Kyma practitioners ranging from experts to aspiring experts and including many who have never used Kyma before and are simply curious.

Get the inspiration, support and professional connections to motivate and energize you for the rest of the year. Join us at the Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2016) — 7-10 September 2016 in Leicester, UK — as we explore the concept of “Emergence” through 4 days and nights of words, live musical performances, open labs, and interactive discussions.

Unique features of this year’s program include an improvised conduction performance by the Emergent Ensemble; a 3-D sound immersion lecture/concert in De Montfort University’s 20+ speaker DOME; a 3-D film with a live sound track; workshops on ecosystemic composition; collaborations across international and disciplinary borders; and a celebratory club concert featuring live Kyma with acoustic instruments, vocals and analog synthesis.

Live performances featuring some of the most cutting edge music composed with Kyma this year, lectures where Kyma practitioners share their insights and reveal a few of their secrets, master classes and labs led by the creators of Kyma; and the unparalleled camaraderie and inspiration from your fellow sound and music explorers — these are some of the regular features of KISS that inspire people to return to KISS year after year.

Explore the full program here: http://kiss2016.symbolicsound.com/program/

Register now to immerse yourself in the fun, hands-on creative technology environment that will inspire you for years to come! http://kiss2016.symbolicsound.com/kiss2016-registration

Based on current registration levels, we are anticipating a record turn-out this year. So please be sure to reserve your spot by registering as soon as possible. Do it today so it doesn’t get forgotten on your to-do list. (Please be advised that there is a strict upper limit on attendance based on the venue sizes). Thanks!

Photos by Belinda B Carr.

Lectures & Concerts at BYU

Composer/performer, Steven Ricks invited Carla Scaletti to Brigham Young University for the week of March 7 to work with his students, present lectures, and participate in two concerts. Here’s the full schedule:

Tuesday, March 8
Barlow Lecture: “Data-driven”
3PM at BYU (E400 Harris Fine Arts Center, 50-minute lecture)

Wednesday, March 9
“Computer Music” Looking back/looking forward
11AM E400 HFAC, 50-minute lecture

Thursday, March 10
Overview of Kyma 7
11AM at BYU Electronic Music Studio

Thursday, March 10
Group for New Music, featuring works by Scaletti, Adler, Cage, Pärt
7:30PM BYU Madsen Recital Hall

Friday, March 11
Concert
7:30 PM Art 270 Gallery
Salt Lake City

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The ear as an organ of knowledge

Unerhört! 3000(0) Jahre Neue Musik

So-called new music employs the aesthetic of resistance, of irritation, of reflection. But why, in comparison to the visual arts, is the abstract and contextual musical work still so difficult? Schoenberg’s prediction that his work would be understood in 50 years is today still an illusion…

The ear develops over time from mere alarm organ via the detour of seduction toward the organ of knowledge, a harrowing perspective on the inner and outer world.

Liberda is a composer, promoter and performer. His Lecture Performance is a tour de force through the history of sound systems, instrument development and notation systems towards a new theory of hearing.

Text and Performance: Bruno Liberda
Idea, development and scenic design: Fanny Brunner
Dramaturgical assistance: Hans-Jürgen Captain
Graphics: Klemens Wihlidal
Duration: 80 minutes

Premiere: March 12, 20:00 // Ateliertheater, Burggasse 72, 1070 Wien // 12 Euro
Box office at 19:00 // Reservations at 0681 819 630 or 62 office@ateliertheater.eu
A co-production of january thirteenth Vienna and Wiener Klangwerkstatt.

Music for robots and other people

Scott Miller has a jam-packed schedule of upcoming collaborations with robots, humans and Kyma electronics. Here are a few highlights:

23 February, ALL DAY: SCSU Performing Arts Center 158, FREE!

On February 23, as a part of the MNMade Festival at SCSU, composer Scott L. Miller and musical roboticist Troy Rogers are holding a free open workshop and rehearsal on composing for robots. Everyone is invited to observe, assist, and ask questions as Scott incorporates theatrical lighting control into his Kyma ecosystemic environment for his new piece Détente.

27 February, 7:30 pm: SCSU Ruth Gant Recital Hall, FREE!

On February 27, you’re invited to the MNMade Festival concert, featuring works by Per Bloland, Troy Rogers, student participants, and Scott Miller’s updated ecosystemic robot piece, Détente.

15 March, 9:00 pm: The Nicollet, $5

In Minneapolis on March 15, Ars Electroacoustica celebrates the Ides of March with visiting saxophonist/electronics artist Jorrit Dijkstra, saxophonist Nathan Hanson, Scott Miller on Kyma and Ted Moore on laptop.

16 March, 7:30 pm: SCSU Ruth Gant Recital Hall, FREE!

On March 16th, Jorrit Dijkstra will be at St Cloud State University where he and Scott Miller will present a concert of improvised music for saxophone, electronics, and Kyma.

20 March, 5:30 pm: honeympls, $5

On March 20th, Ars Electroacoustica welcomes Adam Zahller to Min­neapo­lis for a session with recorder & electronics (Scott Miller on Kyma).

Interested in collaborating with Scott Miller on future Ars Electroacoustica concerts? Let him know!

Tonsalon: Lecture/performances by Bruno Liberda & friends

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Wiener Klangwerkstatt’s Tonsalon, the Viennese sound workshop founded in 2007, is now open to the public! You are invited to attend three Tonsalon events at Elektro Gönner in Vienna on the 2nd Tuesday of each month:

8 March 2016
12 April 2016
10 May 2016

In June, they yield to the soccer season and will resume again in the fall.

The program for the first Tonsalon on 8 March 2016 will be:

20:00: “No random random notes”, a lecture by Bruno Liberda

21:00: “Taming of the fact”, a live perfomance by Marina Poleukhina & Alexander Chernyshkov & Bruno Liberda

For updates and information on future performances, follow Tonsalon on Facebook.

Here’s a previous performance by Marina and Alexander:

NeverEngine on the Holodeck

Cristian Vogel is currently engaged in a four week artist residency dedicated to exploring the possibilities of Kyma and the 4DSOUND system at the ZKM Institute in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The residency will culminate in a concert on 5 March 2016 featuring new work from Cristian along with Alyssa Moxley, an Athens-based artist specializing in experimental microphone techniques for field recordings. There will also be a presentation of Iannis Xenakis’ Orient-Occident, presented in 4DSOUND by system founder Paul Oomen.