La vie quotidienne:

Composer Nicolas Gilbert’s new work “La vie quotidienne” for saxophone quartet and electronics (realized at matralab) will be premiered by Quasar Quatuor de saxophones on March 31st and April 1st, 2010 at Espace Dell’Arte (40 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Montreal).

Nicolas Gilbert is a post-doctorate researcher at matralab.

Workshop on Sound Spatialization in Jamoma:

Wednesday, March 31 Matrabox, Concordia University. 1515 Sainte-Catherine West, room EV 4.502 12.15-1pm: Nils Peters presents an overview of spatialization techniques 1-1.30pm: Navid Navab discusses issues in controlling spatialization 2-6.30pm: workshop on Jamoma and spatialization Jamoma is an open-source project for structured programming in MaxMSP and Jitter (www.jamoma.org). Jamoma is based on modular principles that allow the reuse of functionalities whereas all parameters remain customizable to specific artistic needs. Participants are asked to bring a laptop (mac preferred) with Max5 installed and audio files for experimentation. If interested, please send a short description of what you wish to do in the workshop to nils.peters@mcgill.ca‎ This event is free and open to the public. Nils Peters is a PhD researcher in Music Technology at McGill University and affiliated with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). His work focuses on the perception and modeling of spatialized sounds. He studied electrical and audio engineering at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts and the University of Technology (Graz, Austria). He has worked as an audio engineer in the fields of recording, post-production and live electronics in Germany, Austria, France, and Canada. He is also a co-developer of Jamoma.

Navid Navab is a matralab research associate.

Arts in One World:

matralab will have a strong presence at the international annual “Arts in One World” conference that takes place at Brown University, Providence, RI from April 18-21, 2010. The theme this year is “Home: Composing the Rooted Local in the Rapid Global Environment” and both Sandeep Bhagwati and Devora Neumark will present two events each. Sandeep Bhagwati will give two public lectures about his artistic work. On Friday evening, he will talk about his work as a composer between different music cultures. On Saturday evening, he will present his theatre work Lamentations an exploration of displacement and migration through gestures and biblical texts. Devora Neumark will give a presentation on Narrative and Ritual in Perpetration and Survival on Sunday morning and conduct a workshops on story circles on Friday afternoon.

Sandeep Bhagwati is the matralab director.

Devora Neumark is a matralab PhD researcher.

Matramath
Electroacoustic music composer Mathieu Marcoux has created the blog Matramath which he will be updating on a regular basis. This site will be used to document his research projects at matralab.

Mathieu Marcoux is a matralab research associate.

Are Forests Better Concert Halls?

For two days, the renowned experimental filmmaker and interdisciplinary sound artist and publisher Uli Aumüller will show and discuss his work at Concordia. He is in Montreal as a member of the jury at the FIFA Festival for Films on Art.

At matralab, he will present his CDs “Séries Sonores”, a fascinating collection of raw and unedited field recordings made by some of the most renowned sound artists of today. These often hour-long “reality soundworks” cover everything from a sunny cherry tree to Montréal bridges, from Transsylvanian dog packs to a Berlin nightingale song. For matralab, he has created an eight-channel walk-in installation with rotating 10 minute segments from these field recordings. Open on Wednesday March 17 from 10am to 5pm.

Uli Aumüller will also give two talks/screenings in the departments of cinema and music. In his presentations, he will touch on the current revival of experimental radio and experimental documentary film in Germany, on his approach to discursive documentations in both media, on filming old and new music, on nature and music – and on creating “image-tracks” to soundworks. He will engage the students in discussions on sound and moving image, and refer to many short examples from his films “Mon cinema pour l”oreille” (on the acoustic art of Francis Dhomont and Paul Lansky), “Thy Kiss of Divine Nature” (on medieval music) and others.

The complete versions of Aumüller’s films will be screened this fall in a small filmusic festival that will celebrate the arrival of the Concordia music department at its downtown location in the MB building. March. 16th, 2010 at 8:30 pm FB.435, the Faubourg – 1250 Rue Guy, Montréal. SGW campus March. 17th, 2010 at 5:00 pm CC314, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montréal Loyola campus March. 17th, 2010 at 5:00 pm Installation at the matralab – EV 4.502 1515 rue St. Catherine Ouest, Montréal.

Around Frayed Edges

Jane Tingley’s work will be featured in the upcoming group exhibition Around Frayed Edges at the Agnes Jamieson Gallery (Minden, Ontatio) from March 18 through May 29, 2010. Opening reception: March 19 at 4pm A narration spun through work that pushes the limits as to what an artist can do with fibre today. Similar to social misfits that sit on the outskirts of society, like mad inventors experimenting, and geniuses with universal knowledge, this exhibition encourages the far reaches of thought and imagination. Does society hang by a thread, will the Fates cut the cord, oh what a tangled web we weave…here is an opportunity to see work that follows a string into a world on the periphery. Curated by Laurie Carmount Artists: Marianne Kyryluk, Carl Stewart, Robin Ripley, Jean Farrell, Heidi Hudspith, David R. Harper, Jill Odegaard, Laura Trach, Liz Menard, Nadine Papp, Wendy O’Brien, Johanna Nousiainen, Fay Wilkinson, Audrey MacLean, Caitlin Erskine-Smith, Barbara Wisnoski, Erika DeFreitas, Carmella Karijo Rother, Suzen Green, Sandi Luck, Cynthia Jackson, Amanda McCavour, Ilona Staples, Karen Goetzinger, Catherine Vamvakas Lay, Karina Bergmans, Jane Tingley Agnes Jamieson Gallery 176 Bobcaygeon Road Minden, Ontario www.mindenculturalcentre.com

Jane Tingley is the matralab coordinator.

Lilira: Soundscapes of Inukjuak

Sound artist Nimalan Yoganathan has been commissioned by Resonance104.4FM Radio in the UK to produce the radio art piece Lilira: Soundscapes of Inukjuak. It was premiered this week on show framework:afield that is curated by Patrick McGinley and dedicated to field recording based compositions. Nimalan recently participated in an artist residency in Inukjuak, Nunavik during July and August 2009 (funded by Conseil des Arts et des lettres du quebec). He was studying and recording the sonic environment to gain insight into the richness of Inuit culture. This included both natural sounds such as the wind and huskies, as well as cultural sounds including carvers at work and throat singing. These field recordings serve as the compositional foundation for this piece. Nimalan also led weekly sound art workshops for youths between age 13 and 16, during which they were taught outdoor field recording techniques. Each youth was given their own digital recorder to document their sound walks around the community. Nimalan has included portions of their field recordings in this piece. The podcast of Lilira: Soundscapes of Inukjuak can be heard here Further details on the piece Nimalan Yoganathan is a matralab research assistant.

Choses étonnantes vues en rêve

Composer Nicolas Gilbert’s new orchestral work Choses étonnantes vues en rêve is currently being profiled on a new Radio-Canada website. This work has been commissioned by the Orchestre Métropolitain. The web site contains interviews, photos and project details. It will be updated regularly until the work’s premiere in mid-April and will allow the public to follow the rehearsals and general advance of this project. Nicolas will also frequently add blog entries to the site.

Nicolas Gilbert is a post-doc researcher at matralab.

Juftar

Contemporary music composer/pianist Farangis Nurulla Khoja will be premiering Juftar in Montpellier, France on March 5, 2010. This work has been written for the National Symphony Orchestra of Montpellier.

Further info

Farangis Nurulla Khoja is an artist-in-residence at matralab.

How Many Slaves Do You Own?

Beginning at 18h00 on Friday March 12, 2010, Engrenage Noir / LEVIER – in collaboration with the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) – will present How Many Slaves Do You Own? Art and the economies of exploitation, past and present, a 3-day exploration of coercive economies operating locally and afar.

The event will take place at the MAI (3680 Rue Jeanne-Mance) with organized site visits to ‘Nigger Rock’, a historical gravesite in St. Armand, Quebec and Old Montreal.

Through a mixture of musical performances, theatre, dance and street art interventions, along with keynote talks and round-table discussions, we will examine the equation between consumer product consumption and exploitation, the impact of trans-Atlantic and Aboriginal slavery in Quebec, the plight of domestic, immigrant and migrant workers in Canada, the prison industrial complex in North America, and the international sex trade and trafficking of women and girls.
In preparation for this event Engrenage Noir / LEVIER commissioned new work from Jason Selman and Chimwemwe Miller; Moe Clark in collaboration with Andy Williams and Jenn Doan; Naila Keleta Mae in collaboration with Rebecca Foon and Pohanna Pyne Feinberg; Melissa Mollen Dupuis and Émilie Monnet; Éric Létourneau; Lynne Cooper; Reena Almoneda-Chang, Pascale Gagnon, Caroline Hudon and Meena Murugesan.
Louise Lachapelle and Devora Neumark will be co-facilitating the event.

A detailed schedule is available upon request.
For more information contact: combiendesclaves@engrenagenoir.ca

Devora Neumark is an artist-in-residence at matralab.

Hypertext and Performance:
A Resonant Response to Joanna Baillie’s Witchcraft
is a three-year FQRSC-funded interdisciplinary theatre project that engages both English romantic literature specialists and contemporary theatre research-creation practitioners in studying, performing, and teaching Joanna Baillie’s gothic play, Witchcraft.

The research-creation component for 2009-2010 includes live performance of six multimedia theatre scenes to be performed during the Congress for Humanities at Concordia’s Hexagram Black Box this May and June 2010.

Three scenes from Joanna Baillie’s play will be interwoven with three contemporary responses to the play, commissioned from three playwrights, Lindsay Wilson (MA Playwriting, Concordia), Joanna Donehower (current MA Playwriting, Concordia), and Patrick Leroux (Artistic Director, Assistant Professor, Concordia). Three directors—Alison Darcy (professional director and actor), Cristina Iovita (professional director and PhD in Humanities student), and Patrick Leroux—are currently rehearsing as autonomous production units in Matralab’s Black Box

Patrick Leroux is a matralab researcher.

Cristina Iovita is an artist-in-residence at matralab.

Sandeep Bhagwati will be giving a talk on improvisation at IRCAM (Paris, France) on February 12, 2010 as part of the two-day conference Comment analyser l’improvisation?

Sandeep and Navid Navab will also lead workshops about the OMax programming environment from February 14 through February 17, 2010 at IRCAM. These workshops will be organized in the context of the FQRSC funded research/creation project Native Alien.

Sandeep’s composition Invite will be performed on February 17, 2010 at Oscar Peterson Concert Hall (Montreal) as part of the event Trombone and Electronics with Haim Avitsur. Michal Seta will be diffusing a live eight-channel electroacoustic environment (using a program designed by Navid Navab), accompanied by New York based trombonist Haim Avitsur. (8pm, Free Admission)

Sandeep Bhagwati is the matralab director.

Michal Seta and Navid Navab are matralab research associates.

Two concerts with premieres by Sandeep Bhagwati in January and February:

On January 7, 2010 in Halifax Bhagwati’s “STELE III for James Tenney” in the version for string orchestra will have its Canadian premiere in the concert “New Music for a New Year” played by Symphony Nova Scotia and conducted/ comprovised by Bernhard Gueller, together with works by Armanini, Charke, Cram, Brady and Blais. This will be part of the annual Forum of the Canadian New Music Network.

On February 6, 2010 in Montreal, Xenia Pestova will play the World Premiere of Bhagwati’s recently completed “Scardanelli Sonata in three movements” for piano solo.

The Christmas party was a success – thanks to all who attended!

Karen Zalamea vit et travaille à Montréal. En 2009, elle a complété une maîtrise en Beaux Arts à L’Université Concordia sous la supervision de Manon De Pauw. Elle est lauréate de plusieurs récompenses, dont le prix de la Fondation Sylvie et Simon Blais pour la relève en arts visuels. Ses travaux ont fait l’objet d’expositions au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Angleterre, en France et en Hollande.

When: Nov 6 at 8:45pm
Where: Hexagram Black Box EV OS3.845

This piece is centered around the involuntary expressions of displacement. For this work, I research involuntary gestures made by “Montrealers displaced by War Genocide and Human Rights Abuses” who were interviewed by a large CURA project of the same name, led by oral historian Steven High. Can we find any traces of their experiences in their normal gestural repertoire ? We analysed 12 long lifestory interviews and excerpted gestures that are then transposed into a gestural theatre work.
“Gesturing/Lamentations” does not last long – around 25-30 min, followed by a short Q&A session with all participants. This show is by invitation only and part of the conference on Remembering War, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations: Oral History, New Media and the Arts, Nov. 5 – 8 organized by the above-mentioned almost eponymous CURA project.

http://news.concordia.ca/events/015516.shtml

Oct. 22nd, 2009 at 7:00 pm (19hr)
matralab EV 4.502, Concordia University
1515 Ste Catherines St West

Pianist Guy Livingston talks about music and time, from his perspective as creator of the sixty-seconds-for-piano project. Livingston will draw from his experiences over the last decade living in Paris and Amsterdam and commissioning works from hundreds of composers, as well as screening a selection of one-minute films produced in Holland.

Born in Tennessee, with degrees from Yale, NEC, and the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands, pianist Guy Livingston wowed critics and audiences with his successful “Don’t Panic” CD. Sixty composers each wrote one minute for Livingston, and the CD was featured on NPR, in The New York Times , Le Monde , Sports Illustrated , and was praised by the Atlanta Constitution as the ‘party record of the year.’ Livingston is based in Paris and Amsterdam and travels widely as a pianist and director. Concerto appearances have been with the Orchestre Nationale de France and the Chicago Symphony. Livingston has recorded two CDs of the music of George Antheil, and is producing a DVD with 60 musical clips by vanguard Dutch filmmakers.