Dear friends and students: Matralab will be in residence at the mythical Hexagram Black Box from May 5-16. The first week will be devoted to a theatre production of a new work by Patrick Leroux (more details). The second week will be devoted to ground-breaking work in Music. On May 13 evening (6-9pm) and on May 14 afternoon and evening (3-9pm) I will test and develop a new kind of spatial composition with wandering and partly improvising musicians (a composition I am writing for a festival in Vienna, Austria, November 2008) in the Hexagram Black box, together with musicians from the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne Montreal and their conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt. I would need help from some people for the following tasks:

– printing and photocopying the rehearsal material (May 12)
– setting up the black box (chairs, music stands, lights, floor labels, refreshments) (May 12-14)
– videographing and photographing the rehearsals (May 13-14)
– recording parts of the rehearsals (May 13/14)
– generally being around for listening and troubleshooting, as well as giving feedback to me (May 12-14)

On May 15, matralab in residence at the Hexagram Black Box will host the McGill Digital Composition Studios in a semi-public fashion (only for faculty and students of both universities). Ph.D. candidate and composer D. Andrew Stewart will show new digital instruments used in recent concerts of the Digital Orchestra at McGill and lecture about their design, use and demonstrate musical applications. Open Workshop with possibility of talkback and perhaps hands-on tryout. For this event, I need help to:

– spread the word
– design and put on posters in Music and elsewhere
– again set-up this event (chairs, tables, connectivity)
– video-document the event

Please tell contact us if you would be interested in doing some of the stuff described above. (You may leave a comment at the bottom of this post.) If you know a colleague (composer, musician) who would be interested to experience professional musicians working their way into a new composition, and/or the promise of the newest developments in musical interfaces, please tell them to contact me. Please note: No casual onlookers, everybody who wants to be in the room has to commit to some active help – and I need their student ID’s for Security by May 5 latest. Yours cordially, Sandeep Bhagwati