Sebastian Berweck (photo by Anika Neese)

Pianist Sebastian Berweck will play at Berlin’s biggest festivals this season: on March 27th, Nicola Obuchow’s monumental Livre de vie at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, on November 5th a concert with stock11.de at the Klangwerkstatt 2010 and in January 2011 at the Ultraschall Festival.

His recent CD release, extended piano, will be featured in a portrait broadcast on Deutschlandradio Kultur in May. He has been invited to play two of contemporary music’s most important pieces: Pierre Boulez’ Incises (1994/2001) in September in Hannover in a radio production with the NDR and Farben der Frühe (2005) by Mathias Spahlinger at the Klangwerktage Hamburg.

Report from composer Barbara Ellison

As part of my Doctoral research, I travelled with two fellow artists/adventurers to Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Northern Canada from the end of December 2009 to mid-January 2010 to conduct research for a project centered around Inuit throat singing. This project is a collaboration with experimental singer/performer Stephanie Pan (USA/Netherlands) and composer Stelios Manousakis (Greece/Seattle) and has been generously funded by STROOM Den Haag, Centre for Art and Architecture in The Hague, The Netherlands.  We plan to develop a performative multimedia installation (working title: Hecate) based on this research trip up North.

Inuit throat singing, not to be confused with Tuvan or Mongolian throat singing, which is the form commonly referred to when talking about throat singing, is not so much considered an ‘artform’ by the Inuit themselves but as a sort of game. The context is essential in understanding the technique and the form. While the technique of Inuit throat singing is extremely impressive, it is its embedding within the whole of Inuit culture that makes it truly remarkable. Aside from the personal and collective entertainment aspect of the game, it is also used for practical purposes, such as a breathing exercise to prepare for bad weather, or simply to keep babies quiet. It is not only a game, but a form of bonding and communication within the community.

The main contact in Iqaluit was Vinnie Karetak, Director of Communications at the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, an organization devoted to protecting and promoting Inuit rights and values. He assisted us in finding local throat singers willing to share their knowledge of these vocal games and to give an insight into the techniques/history of throat singing as well as hosting ‘The Internationals’ as we became known in his home during our stay. This personal housing situation enabled us to be fully immersed in the environment, which was crucial for our experience there.

In the realization of this project, we would like to develop a performative installation where all three elements – live performer, video and audio – constitute equal parts of the whole. The video portion will be developed from materials generated during the trip. The audio portion of the final product will incorporate both material recorded during the trip to Iqaluit, as well as music composed in response to it, for Stephanie’s voice and electronics. The performance element of the final piece will also be created purely from the techniques learnt and the materials drawn from the trip.  (Barbara Ellison)

[Barbara Ellison is a PhD candidate in composition working with Prof Liza Lim (music) and Dr Deborah Middleton (drama)]

CeReNeM Journal, Issue One

Issue One was edited by Phd students Robert Dahm and Ray Evanoff and focuses on intersections between postgraduate research and the 2009 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.  It includes interviews, articles and scores from Timothy McCormack, Ben Isaacs, Richard Glover, Chikako Morishita and Einar Torfi Einarsson.

Newsletter: March 2010

CeReNeM Publications

The CeReNeM Journal, Issue One, has been published online.

Issue One is edited by PhD candidates Robert Dahm and Ray Evanoff and comprises interviews, articles and scores with a focus on intersections between postgraduate research and the 2009 Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music.

CeReNeM Journal, Issue Two, will comprise peer-reviewed articles edited by Dr Monty Adkins and Dr Scott McLaughlin who have put out a call for papers addressing the themes of Physicality and Tactility in Contemporary Electronic Music (publication, July 2010).

The CeReNeM-HCR Extended piano disc by Sebastian Berweck is now available for purchase through the University of Huddersfield Online Store and through Amazon.co.uk

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Research Festival 2010

As part of the 2010 Huddersfield University Research Festival, CeReNeM is co-presenting a showcase of four Huddersfield composers: Bryn Harrison, Aaron Cassidy, Mary Bellamy and Liza Lim on March 15^th at Kings Place in London.

The compositions performed are an outcome of research funded by a University Research Grant which has supported ELISION as CeReNeM Ensemble in residence.  Following the concert, these works will be recorded for DVD in London and for CD at the legendary Sendesaal Studios of Radio Bremen in Germany.

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CeReNeM Staff News

Congratulations to research fellow, Dr Julie Wilson-Bokowiec on her recent grant success in the last Arts Council of England funding round and publication, together with Mark Bokowiec, of an article in Intermédialités, the Canadian journal of cross-disciplinary arts practice.

Dr Geoffrey Cox’s documentary and multimedia work, made in collaboration with film maker Keith Marley, was given a major showing during the GEMdays Festival in January in Huddersfield.

Dr Bryn Harrison’s large-scale work, Repetitions in Extended Time, originally commissioned by the 2008 Huddersfield Festival, will be performed on April 12^th by Ensemble Plus-Minus at Kings Place London.

Prof Liza Lim has signed a new publishing contract with Ricordi Munich Verlag with two works: Invisibility, for solo ‘cello (2009) and Pearl, Ochre, Hair String, for large orchestra (2010).  The orchestral work is a joint commission from the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and West Australian Symphony Orchestra and will be premiered in Munich in July 2010.

Dr Philip Thomas has initiated a new Research Group in Experimental Music Performance. His book, Changing the System: the music of Christan Wolff, co-edited with Stephen Chase, will be published by Ashgate in Summer 2010.

Dr Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, currently on sabbatical, is working on a commission as part of a residency at Lisbon’s Miso Music before heading to Berlin to work in the studios of the Technische Universität Berlin on a collaborative project with composer/laptopist Helena Gough.

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Other News

Please see the CeReNeM website for other news and research student news

Enquiries: Prof Liza Lim, l.lim@hud.ac.uk

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How does one approach and pitch a project to a festival or presenter; what works or doesn’t; developing an artistic concept, presentation of materials, cvs, networking etc.

Postgraduate composers and performers are invited to put forward project proposals which will be discussed by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie.

Please submit materials to Aaron Cassidy by Friday 16th April.

Enquiries: l.lim@hud.ac.uk

The Journal of the Centre for Research in New Music at the University of Huddersfield is currently soliciting articles for its second edition. The theme of this edition of the Journal will be ‘Physicality and Tactility in Contemporary Electronic Music’.

The Journal will be peer reviewed and published online by CeReNeM at the University of Huddersfield.  All submissions on this topic will be considered.

We are particularly interested in articles concerning the following areas:

physicality as aesthetic in all areas of electronic music (electroacoustic, glitch, microsound, ambient etc.)

live-electronic improvisation

new interfaces

extended instruments

performance practice

sonification of external physical data sensors

issues of virtuosity in new technology

live coding as performance

perception of physicality in electroacoustic music

Articles should be between 3000 - 6000 words (see contact below for formatting details) and submitted by email to monty.adkins@hud.ac.uk by Friday 21st May.   This edition will be co-edited by Dr Monty Adkins and Dr Scott McLaughlin and will be published in July 2010.

Further details on formatting and other enquiries can be made to monty.adkins@hud.ac.uk

Lead researcher: Dr Philip Thomas

Aim: To study the performance and performance practices of experimental music.

One of the most valuable routes to understanding the experimental music repertoire is through the study of performance. This is in part because of the greater role the performer has in asserting and moulding a work’s identity, usually because of indeterminacies in the notation. The work as a score (whether using musical notations, text, or graphics) is only a part of the story – performances (‘realizations’) themselves give a far truer picture of what constitutes the work.

Areas of study, and suggested outputs include:

Performance practices of John Cage’s music Study of performances of Fluxus works Study of interpretative approaches to indeterminate music, including that of Wolff, Feldman, Brown, Cardew, etc. Studies and analyses of emerging performance practices Establishment of an archive of performances of experimental music (audio and video) Collections of realizations, both notated and recorded, and analyses

Website: www.philip-thomas.co.uk Publications Book

Thomas, Philip, ed. (2010), Changing the System: the music of Christian Wolff, Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-7546-6680-6

Book chapter

Thomas, Philip (2010), ‘Playing the Game?: Five reflections on performing Christian Wolff’s music’, in Changing the System: the music of Christian Wolff, Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-7546-6680- 6

Thomas, Philip (2010), ‘For Pianist: the solo piano music’, in Changing the System: the music of Christian Wolff, Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-7546-6680-6

Thomas, Philip (2009), ‘A Prescription for Action’. In: The Ashgate Research Companion to Experimental Music. Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-7546-6282-2

Article

Thomas, Philip (2007), ‘Determining the indeterminate.’ Contemporary Music Review, 26 (2). pp. 129-140. ISSN 0749-4467

Conference Paper

Thomas, Philip (2009), ‘Abstruse Indeterminacy: Christian Wolff’s For Pianist as extreme performance practice.’ In: Sixth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, 2-5 July 2009, Keele University. (Unpublished conference paper)

Performances

Small Preludes, Aytoods and other new music from America: world premieres and performances of music by Douglas Barrett, Travis Just, Joseph Kudirka, Michael Pisaro, Larry Polansky, Craig Shepherd, Michael Winter, Christian Wolff. Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 2009.

Something New, Something Old, Something Else (2): two portrait concerts featuring the music of Laurence Crane and Markus Trunk (Sheffield City Hall and The Warehouse, London (as part of The Cutting Edge series), 2009.

For Pianist: three-concert portrait of the solo piano music of Christian Wolff, including world premieres of works by Stephen Chase, Tim Parkinson, Michael Parsons, 2008.

Comprovisation: works written by or inspired by musicians normally known as improvising musicians, 2006. Also CD of same name.

The Art of Touch: four-concert portrait of the solo piano music of Morton Feldman, including world premieres of works by Bryn Harrison, Michael Parsons, James Saunders, 2002.

John Cage and Twenty-First Century Britain: three-concert portrait of the solo piano music of John Cage, including world premieres of works by Chris Burn, Stephen Chase, Richard Emsley, Michael Parsons, 2008.

CD

Comprovisation (2007, Bruce’s Fingers, BF66): Paul Obermayer coil; Michael Finnissy Jazz; Mick Beck Not Just A Load Of Balls; Chris Burn pressings and screenings; Simon H Fell Composition No.73: Thirteen New Inventions.

The middle distance (2010, Another Timbre, at24): improvisations by Chris Burn (piano), Simon H Fell (double bass), Philip Thomas (prepared piano).

Forthcoming: the complete works for solo piano by Christian Wolff

Forthcoming: piano music by Tim Parkinson (Wandelweiser)

Forthcoming: piano music by Michael Pisaro (Another Timbre)

The Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) will be holding the First International Roberto Gerhard Conference on:

27th - 28th May 2010. The two-day conference will include 15 peer-reviewed papers by international researchers, two concerts (including one of extremely rare electronic music) as well as films and panel discussions.

Keynote Speakers: Prof. Michael Russ (University of Huddersfield) and Prof Roger Reynolds (University of California, San Diego) t.b.c.

Roberto Gerhard was born in 1896 in Valls, Spain. Initially he studied piano with Granados and composition with Felipe Pedrell. When Pedrell died in 1922, Gerhard moved to Vienna as a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. Returning to Barcelona in 1928 he became a central figure in the Catalonian avant-garde, befriending such figures as Pablo Casals and Joan Miró. Identified with the Republican cause throughout the Spanish Civil War, Gerhard was forced to flee to France in 1939 and later that year settled in Cambridge, England. Once in England, Gerhard produced a series of orchestra and stage works that would establish his international reputation. The Symphony (in memory of Pedrell), the ballet Don Quixote, First String Quartet, and the opera The Duenna followed in quick succession. In the 1950s Gerhard developed his musical style, synthesizing Schoenbergian serialism with catalan folksong. These years also marked him out as the first composer in England to engage seriously with electronic music. Gerhard worked extensively at the newly formed BBC Radiophonic Workshop producing a series of abstract electronic works as well as electronic music for stage - most notably his score for the 1955 Royal Shakespeare Production of King Lear. The last decade of his life saw Gerhard’s musical language evolve still further and the composition of late masterpieces such as the Symphony nos 3 and 4, the chamber symphony - Leo and the masterly Concerto for Orchestra.

A proceedings of the conference will be published by the University of Huddersfield Press

Conference Organisers: Dr Monty Adkins (University of Huddersfield), Dr Carlos Duque (City University, London), Trevor Walshaw (University of Huddersfield)

Enquiries: Monty.Adkins@hud.ac.uk