MANTIS In Motion event @ The Greenroom, Manchester, UK

The next Mantis In Motion event (our long-standing improv night featuring PG students + chums) is tomorrow night at the Greenroom (around the corner from er Cornerhouse).

Admission is free, the first act are on at 8.30, it would be lovely to see some of you down there :)
Sam

NOVARS, NYU, CEMI and SARC launch Tornado-project.org website

The Tornado Project is a set of works for flute, clarinet and computer-generated sound, especially composed for virtuosi American performers Esther Lamneck (clarinet) and Elizabeth McNutt (flute).

After more than two years of combined efforts by four Universities (two in Europe and two in North America), long preparation, concerts, workshops and recording of the repertorie, the Tornado project finally got its website!.

http://www.tornado-project.org

Background
Inspired by the image of winds and wood flying through the air, Ricardo Climent and Paul Wilson conceived The Tornado Project: a set of commissioned works for flute, clarinet and computer-generated sound, to be performed by American wind virtuosi Esther Lamneck (clarinet) and Elizabeth McNutt (flute). Four works were composed for this ensemble and premiered at the opening ceremony of the NOVARS Research Centre at Manchester University in 2007. Subsequently, a fifth composition was created by New York-based composer Robert Rowe, and the complete set of works was performed at New York University in 2008. Each of the five works presents a different take on the possibilities of the ensemble: primary harmonic and melodic materials, recombinant live sampling, extended instrumental timbres, 1970’s rock, and computer- mediated formal structures.

Mini-tour
In November 2007, the Tornado Project was premiered at the Launch of the NOVARS Research Centre (Manchester, UK) and presented in New York in 2008 (NYU-EMF Foundation). Shortly after, it returned to Europe at SARC (Belfast), followed by an invitation by UNT (North Texas, USA), just before going to SEAMUS at Sweetwater, Indiana, USA. Recording sessions for a new CD/DVD work took place at SARC and CEMI, Texas and the first released of the five trio works is expected next fall 2009.
The mini tour included not only a full concert programme but also educational workshops by performers and composers, in areas of chamber music combined with electronics and new compositional techniques for these two instruments and computer technologies.

Participant Universities:
Europe:
- University of Manchester, UK - NOVARS Research Centre
- Queens University of Belfast, Northern Ireland - SARC
USA:
- New York University (NYU) - Steinhardt School
- University of North Texas (UNT)- CEMI - Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia.

i spy Installation at the CUNY Graduate Centre in Manhattan, New York

Postgradaute composer Sam Salem at the NOVARS Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK returns from New York, where he performed i spy .
The American premiere of i spy took place at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, held at the CUNY Graduate Centre in Manhattan, thanks to Zachary Seldess, Paul Riker and the rest of the NYCEMF team,

i spy is an audiovisual installation work intended to be projected into a neutral social space. A blank wall, building or shop front would be ideal.i spy is a window onto an abstract digital landscape populated by autonomous audiovisual entities: birds flock and sing, stars twinkle, trees sway, cityscapes appear and disappear, planes fly overhead.

The work is generative and designed to run indefinitely, constantly shifting and changing.

i spy excerpts here

David Butler and Camilo Salazar: To An Independent Listener, Delia Derbyshire Installation.

Bloc Gallery, Sheffield, UK.
April 25-30.
Sensoria Festival of Film and Music.
by David Butler (Centre for Screen Studies) and Camilo Salazar (artist in Residence 08-09 at the NOVARS Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK)

To An Independent Listener takes the audience on a journey through the diverse works contained in the Delia Derbyshire Archive. In all, there are 267 tapes – master tapes of complete works, makeup reels of component parts and raw sound elements, and off-air recordings made by Delia of music ranging from Bach and Mozart to Stockhausen, Penderecki and Ray Davies.

The archive contains music, atmospheres and treated speech for radio, theatre, television and film productions as well as special events such as the Brighton Festival and an ICI-sponsored fashion show.

The mix of tracks start out with Delia’s voice then goes into a sequence that includes Brian Hodgson introducing a Kaleidophon advertising demo tape, Delia’s music for Lowell – a short 1970 film directed by Caroline McCullough about the American poet and conscientious objector Robert Lowell, atmospheres for Tony Richardson’s Roundhouse production of Hamlet (featuring Nicol Williamson’s treated voice as Hamlet’s father’s ghost), speech and sound for Medea, soundscapes for Amor Dei (one of the ‘inventions for radio’ Delia collaborated on with Barry Bermange), the extended rhythm track for Dance from Noah (released on the LP EMS LP1 in 1971), music for the Brighton Festival and a closing sequence from Amor Dei.

The majority of the material featured has not been presented to a public audience outside of the University of Manchester.

This installation was compiled by David Butler and Camilo Salazar, using materials from the Archive.


A NOVARS Research Centre and Centre for Screen Studies Project

link to sensoria.org.uk here

NAVIGATION SYSTEM THROUGHT SOUND PRESENTED AND DISCUSSED AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS, USA

Ricardo Climent's new Navigation System Thought Sound will be presented and discussed at University of North Texas, as part of the Intermedia and Performance Art course run by Assistant Professor of Composition Studies David Bithell.

Time: Tuesday 14th Apr 2009, at 3 pm
Place: College of Music, University of North Texas, USA
Centre for Experimental Music and Intermedia.

Climent will present his last prototype of the Navigator System Through Sound in the context of a new piece called 'Ho', as part of his Research Project initially funded by SAHC at University of Manchester, UK and in collaboration with Berlin-based Electronic Engineer Sukandar Kartadinata.

Below, a brief presentation video of the interface in action (late March 2009)


Full Research Diary with project details can be found here (*)
(*) Restricted Access to research collaborators/advisers (Invitation by Project leader)