MuTeFest’20: SPEAKERS GONNA SING
Electroacoustic music.
“Speakers Gonna Sing concert is a rare opportunity to experience electroacoustic music, made for multichannel sound systems. These systems allow composers to explore the musical potential opened by the disposal of a multitude of loudspeakers. There is a strong tradition dating from the 70s investigating the spatial possibilities offered by such electroacoustic instruments or setups, however, the complexity of them requiring dedicated facilities, a lot of hardware, calibration, and maintenance make these systems not widely available, for example, compared with stereo systems.” – A. Olarte
The concert is presented in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Department of Composition and Improvisational Performing Arts).
PROGRAMME
Centre for Music & Technology University of Arts Helsinki – Acousmatic and Electroacoustic Music Class
- “By a thousand cuts” by Ruben Kotkamp
- “L’envol”, a binaural composition 8’43” by Aline Clair
- “Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan” by Jari Koho
- “Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed” by Pilar Miralles Castillo
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre – Electroacoustic Music Class
Still images presented during the stream are by Marek Pluciennik. Images originally used in Pluciennik’s performances “Ephemeral Philm Live Cinema Projection” (2016-2019, various venues and festivals). The material is 16mm film frames which were melted during the performances and rephotographed with digital camera.
- “Nine Fragments of Isolation”, a collective composition by Tallinn Electroacoustic Music Class
- “462” by Johanna Kivimägi
- “Rebellion” by Jaanus Karlson
- “Neon” by Marie Vaigla
COMPOSERS AND PIECES
Ruben Kotkamp – “By a thousand cuts”
Ruben Kotkamp is a Dutch artist and composer currently based in Rotterdam. His main focus lies on audiovisual pieces and installation work, searching for the grey area where sound art, installation art, visual art and music collide.
His work is always inherently experiential, concerned more with evoking a physical or emotional response rather than an intellectual one. Currently he is most interested in physicality and objectivity in a sonic context. By employing techniques from psychoacoustics, synesthetic art and non-linear composition he is searching for tangibility in a field that is naturally ethereal.
By a thousand cuts is an attempt to choreograph sound. By emulating physical gestures using sounds that are totally abstract – sounds that have no perceived source – he tries to evoke an association with movement in isolation.
His work has been shown and exhibited at Ars Electronica (Lunz, Austria), Gaudeamus Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands), International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), SOLU Gallery (Helsinki, Finland) and Maas Theatre (Rotterdam, The Netherlands).
Aline Clair – “L’envol” (Binaural composition 8’43”, May 2020)
“One morning, I opened my email box. A student from my school in France wrote to us during the night. She mentioned her nocturnal questionings during the lockdown. She shared her emotions, her doubts, her fears, her abundant thoughts during this isolation time. She was talking about how it feels to fly even though no human has ever experienced it. That same night, another student answered her and then another one…
That Saturday morning, I opened my mailbox and read their words. I really liked what they shared with us. That’s why I asked them to record their voices in order to compose with it.
Linked to their lyrics, I had imagined an atmosphere. So I went to capture sounds representing this universe I had in mind. Capture of birdsong at nightfall, dry leaves brushed away with my hands, a little waterfall, a stream, a roar of the city in the distance, a threatening crow, a woodpecker hitting the trunk of a tree…
Then, to bind all these elements, I used a modular synthesizer. With it, I tried to create sounds that could compose a sound layer, screeching, distant crackling sometimes adding reverb… I then sorted, cleaned, organized the collected sounds and the lyrics to achieve to this composition.
I wished their words could fly away.” – A. Clair
Jari Koho – “Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan” (2020)
- Voice: Maria Matinmikko
- Composed by: Jari Koho
Jari Koho works extensively on sound. Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan is an electroacoustic sound artwork that embodies fragments from the book Kolkka written by Maria Matinmikko. Originally it is a commissioned work for the Sola Festival 2020 compilation.
Maria Matinmikko is a poet and prosaist living in Helsinki. Matinmikko’s literature hovers between the genres combining poetic, philosophical and critical thinking in different ways.
Pilar Miralles Castillo – “Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed”
Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed is a piece for fixed-media electronics that forms part of a series of electroacoustic compositions called “Smoochy Series“. The pieces are composed entirely through sound synthesis using SuperCollider programming language. These series of compositions are related to a personal insight about affection and sexuality based on the fight against individuality and the lack of care and warmth within a society that is currently focused on the individual success and own benefit.
Pilar Miralles (1997) is a Spanish composer set in Helsinki. She studied a double instrumental specialty in flute and piano and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Composition from Spain. In 2020 she completed a Master’s Degree in Electroacoustic Composition at the Higher Center of Musical Education Katarina Gurska of Madrid tutored by Sergio Luque. She is currently at her first year of the Master of Music in Composition at the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. She has composed for different ensembles in Spain, Czech Republic, France, Sweden and USA among others. Her main interest at the moment is related to the temporality of the receiver’s emotional reaction, focusing on sound synthesis and algorithmic compositional procedures within SuperCollider programming language.
Various artists – “Nine Fragments of Isolation” (Fixed media, 2020)
Chain composition created by 9 composers during Covid-19 isolation in April-May 2020. Composers in chain: Tõnis Leemets, Karl Korts, Rebeca Vilpuu, Otto Iivari, Malle Maltis, Marie Vaigla, Matis Leima, Jaanus Karlson, Taaniel Pogga. Mastering by Margo Speaker.
Johanna Kivimägi – “462” (2020)
“Venus is the worst-case scenario of planet Earth. The average temperature on the planet is 462 degrees Celsius. Storms, solar winds, heat, uninhabitable environment. And yet it is the morning and evening star of our solar system, shining in its resplendent beauty.” –Johanna Kivimägi
Johanna Kivimägi (1992) started her composition studies in 2011 at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Tõnu Kõrvits and Galina Grigorjeva and received her Masters degree in 2018 in electroacoustic composition studying with Malle Maltis. In 2013/2014 she studied at the Iceland Arts Academy with Anna Thorvaldsdottir. After graduation, Kivimägi spent a year doing internships with composers Kent Olofsson in Malmö, Sweden and Pall Ragnar Pallson in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2017 she participated in “Nord & Mix” workshop on spatial soundsphere (ambisonics) at the Lithuatian Academy of Music and Theatre and in 2019 in “SoundMine” course for composition and live electronics in Bilzen under the guidance of Wim Henderickx, Jorrit Tamminga and Diederik Glorieux. Johanna attended a mixing&mastering course at Goldsmiths University in London.
Kivimägi’s music has been performed at festivals “Estonian Music Days”, “Autumn Festival of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre”, “Treffpunkt”, “TaHe” and “Tallinn Old Town Days” in Estonia, “InZonic 2017: Immersive Future” at ZKM in Karlsruhe, “New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2018” in New York, “Gaudeamus Muziekweek” and “Cultura Nova” in Netherlands. Her music has been part of exhibitions in Tallinn, London, Reykjavik, Paris, Rome, Venice and Vienna.
Jaanus Karlson – “Rebellion” (2019)
“Rebellion is a resistance against the establishment. There are all kinds of rebellions happening everywhere every day. Sometimes rebellions happen when a group of individuals are oppressed. Other times, it can be as simple as one’s mindset of trying to become a better person in spite of the toxic environment they’re in.
In Rebellion, as base sounds, I have used 100-year-old wood being broken, the accidental interference caused by a remote control in a microphone, the bassy sound of a hole of wet clay being plugged by metal in a 10 meter deep well, a tractor’s gas pump and many others.” – J. Karlson
Marie Vaigla – “Neon” (2019)
“Neon is inspired by Anne Katrine Senstad’s neon light installation “Radical Light“. Finding a sound corresponding to matter was an idea that inspired me, and I found that a neon rod is as simple as a sine wave – but it can create a whole world. This is what the world of neon sounds might sound like.” – M. Vaigla
Further information: Matti Leisma, matti.leisma@uniarts.fi
MuTeFest’20 a week of music creation with technology 24.–27.11.
MuTeFest is an annual festival of concerts and events highlighting some of the many sides of the artistic work of the Centre for Music & Technology of the Sibelius Academy of Uniarts Helsinki.
“Speakers Gonna Sing concert is a rare opportunity to experience electroacoustic music, made for multichannel sound systems. These systems allow composers to explore the musical potential opened by the disposal of a multitude of loudspeakers. There is a strong tradition dating from the 70s investigating the spatial possibilities offered by such electroacoustic instruments or setups, however, the complexity of them requiring dedicated facilities, a lot of hardware, calibration, and maintenance make these systems not widely available, for example, compared with stereo systems.” – A. Olarte
The concert is presented in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Department of Composition and Improvisational Performing Arts).
PROGRAMME
Centre for Music & Technology University of Arts Helsinki – Acousmatic and Electroacoustic Music Class
- “By a thousand cuts” by Ruben Kotkamp
- “L’envol”, a binaural composition 8’43” by Aline Clair
- “Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan” by Jari Koho
- “Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed” by Pilar Miralles Castillo
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre – Electroacoustic Music Class
Still images presented during the stream are by Marek Pluciennik. Images originally used in Pluciennik’s performances “Ephemeral Philm Live Cinema Projection” (2016-2019, various venues and festivals). The material is 16mm film frames which were melted during the performances and rephotographed with digital camera.
- “Nine Fragments of Isolation”, a collective composition by Tallinn Electroacoustic Music Class
- “462” by Johanna Kivimägi
- “Rebellion” by Jaanus Karlson
- “Neon” by Marie Vaigla
COMPOSERS AND PIECES
Ruben Kotkamp – “By a thousand cuts”
Ruben Kotkamp is a Dutch artist and composer currently based in Rotterdam. His main focus lies on audiovisual pieces and installation work, searching for the grey area where sound art, installation art, visual art and music collide.
His work is always inherently experiential, concerned more with evoking a physical or emotional response rather than an intellectual one. Currently he is most interested in physicality and objectivity in a sonic context. By employing techniques from psychoacoustics, synesthetic art and non-linear composition he is searching for tangibility in a field that is naturally ethereal.
By a thousand cuts is an attempt to choreograph sound. By emulating physical gestures using sounds that are totally abstract – sounds that have no perceived source – he tries to evoke an association with movement in isolation.
His work has been shown and exhibited at Ars Electronica (Lunz, Austria), Gaudeamus Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands), International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), SOLU Gallery (Helsinki, Finland) and Maas Theatre (Rotterdam, The Netherlands).
Aline Clair – “L’envol” (Binaural composition 8’43”, May 2020)
“One morning, I opened my email box. A student from my school in France wrote to us during the night. She mentioned her nocturnal questionings during the lockdown. She shared her emotions, her doubts, her fears, her abundant thoughts during this isolation time. She was talking about how it feels to fly even though no human has ever experienced it. That same night, another student answered her and then another one…
That Saturday morning, I opened my mailbox and read their words. I really liked what they shared with us. That’s why I asked them to record their voices in order to compose with it.
Linked to their lyrics, I had imagined an atmosphere. So I went to capture sounds representing this universe I had in mind. Capture of birdsong at nightfall, dry leaves brushed away with my hands, a little waterfall, a stream, a roar of the city in the distance, a threatening crow, a woodpecker hitting the trunk of a tree…
Then, to bind all these elements, I used a modular synthesizer. With it, I tried to create sounds that could compose a sound layer, screeching, distant crackling sometimes adding reverb… I then sorted, cleaned, organized the collected sounds and the lyrics to achieve to this composition.
I wished their words could fly away.” – A. Clair
Jari Koho – “Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan” (2020)
- Voice: Maria Matinmikko
- Composed by: Jari Koho
Jari Koho works extensively on sound. Tuuli lentää tyveen, läpäisee lävistyksen, liimautuu laukkaan is an electroacoustic sound artwork that embodies fragments from the book Kolkka written by Maria Matinmikko. Originally it is a commissioned work for the Sola Festival 2020 compilation.
Maria Matinmikko is a poet and prosaist living in Helsinki. Matinmikko’s literature hovers between the genres combining poetic, philosophical and critical thinking in different ways.
Pilar Miralles Castillo – “Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed”
Caressing You Till My Fingers Bleed is a piece for fixed-media electronics that forms part of a series of electroacoustic compositions called “Smoochy Series“. The pieces are composed entirely through sound synthesis using SuperCollider programming language. These series of compositions are related to a personal insight about affection and sexuality based on the fight against individuality and the lack of care and warmth within a society that is currently focused on the individual success and own benefit.
Pilar Miralles (1997) is a Spanish composer set in Helsinki. She studied a double instrumental specialty in flute and piano and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Composition from Spain. In 2020 she completed a Master’s Degree in Electroacoustic Composition at the Higher Center of Musical Education Katarina Gurska of Madrid tutored by Sergio Luque. She is currently at her first year of the Master of Music in Composition at the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. She has composed for different ensembles in Spain, Czech Republic, France, Sweden and USA among others. Her main interest at the moment is related to the temporality of the receiver’s emotional reaction, focusing on sound synthesis and algorithmic compositional procedures within SuperCollider programming language.
Various artists – “Nine Fragments of Isolation” (Fixed media, 2020)
Chain composition created by 9 composers during Covid-19 isolation in April-May 2020. Composers in chain: Tõnis Leemets, Karl Korts, Rebeca Vilpuu, Otto Iivari, Malle Maltis, Marie Vaigla, Matis Leima, Jaanus Karlson, Taaniel Pogga. Mastering by Margo Speaker.
Johanna Kivimägi – “462” (2020)
“Venus is the worst-case scenario of planet Earth. The average temperature on the planet is 462 degrees Celsius. Storms, solar winds, heat, uninhabitable environment. And yet it is the morning and evening star of our solar system, shining in its resplendent beauty.” –Johanna Kivimägi
Johanna Kivimägi (1992) started her composition studies in 2011 at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Tõnu Kõrvits and Galina Grigorjeva and received her Masters degree in 2018 in electroacoustic composition studying with Malle Maltis. In 2013/2014 she studied at the Iceland Arts Academy with Anna Thorvaldsdottir. After graduation, Kivimägi spent a year doing internships with composers Kent Olofsson in Malmö, Sweden and Pall Ragnar Pallson in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2017 she participated in “Nord & Mix” workshop on spatial soundsphere (ambisonics) at the Lithuatian Academy of Music and Theatre and in 2019 in “SoundMine” course for composition and live electronics in Bilzen under the guidance of Wim Henderickx, Jorrit Tamminga and Diederik Glorieux. Johanna attended a mixing&mastering course at Goldsmiths University in London.
Kivimägi’s music has been performed at festivals “Estonian Music Days”, “Autumn Festival of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre”, “Treffpunkt”, “TaHe” and “Tallinn Old Town Days” in Estonia, “InZonic 2017: Immersive Future” at ZKM in Karlsruhe, “New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2018” in New York, “Gaudeamus Muziekweek” and “Cultura Nova” in Netherlands. Her music has been part of exhibitions in Tallinn, London, Reykjavik, Paris, Rome, Venice and Vienna.
Jaanus Karlson – “Rebellion” (2019)
“Rebellion is a resistance against the establishment. There are all kinds of rebellions happening everywhere every day. Sometimes rebellions happen when a group of individuals are oppressed. Other times, it can be as simple as one’s mindset of trying to become a better person in spite of the toxic environment they’re in.
In Rebellion, as base sounds, I have used 100-year-old wood being broken, the accidental interference caused by a remote control in a microphone, the bassy sound of a hole of wet clay being plugged by metal in a 10 meter deep well, a tractor’s gas pump and many others.” – J. Karlson
Marie Vaigla – “Neon” (2019)
“Neon is inspired by Anne Katrine Senstad’s neon light installation “Radical Light“. Finding a sound corresponding to matter was an idea that inspired me, and I found that a neon rod is as simple as a sine wave – but it can create a whole world. This is what the world of neon sounds might sound like.” – M. Vaigla
Further information: Matti Leisma, matti.leisma@uniarts.fi
MuTeFest’20 a week of music creation with technology 24.–27.11.
MuTeFest is an annual festival of concerts and events highlighting some of the many sides of the artistic work of the Centre for Music & Technology of the Sibelius Academy of Uniarts Helsinki.