20 Dec 2007

Åke Hodell award 2007

We are very pleased to announce that Jenny Sunesson, originally from Gothenburg, Sweden but now living in England, has received the Åke Hodell award 2007.

12 Dec 2007

Art's Birthday Party 2008

Just when you've got over Christmas and the New Year, it's time for the fourth birthday celebration of Art. Someone decided that January 17th would be a perfect date for that. The party will take place at Moderna Museet, starting at 7 p.m. and going on until 12:00 p.m. Rumour has it that it will go on somewhere else after that. Keep your eyes skinned. The Theremin is a bit of a theme this year as we have two Theremin artists on stage: Dorit Chrysler and Pamelia Kurstin, from U.S.A. There is also a live-electronics duo: Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz from Berlin. The P2 website about this should be up and running some time next week, so don't forget to check it. If you want to go to the party, make sure you get there early, or you might not get in at all! If you don't get in, you can watch it on the internet and see live pictures at the same time – that's always something!

4 Dec 2007

Guests at EMS

So much has been happening here at EMS, there has been no time left over for the blogging. At the moment, we are enjoying the presence of Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, currently living in Amsterdam and Erik Drescher, straight from Berlin. Michael Maierhof, a composer from Hamburg and one of the leading personalities behind the festival of contemporary music Stock 11 there, joined them for a few days, working on a project together with Erik Drescher.

This week, we also have the pleasure of the company of Anders Vinjar, a composer from Norway.

It's always nice when people from abroad come to EMS. We learn a lot of things during our lunches and coffee breaks! We also believe that EMS is appreciated by overseas composers because of the peace and quiet and the fact that they can get away from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives and just concentrate on their work!

14 Nov 2007

EAM is everywhere...

Yes, indeed!

It is enjoyable to see so many good projects involving artists here at EMS. EAM is really coming out of its little closet and out into the real world!

/Isabel

13 Nov 2007

Final Cut Pro

Some EMS users are becoming better at this as we had a much appreciated course for pros led by a Final Cut Pro pro, Sasskia Holmberg, last week. Over the past year, the film editing studio here at EMS has been booked more and more frequently for sound/image projects.

New, different, sound project in the pipeline

Lennart Westman is a composer who often uses the studios here at EMS and initiates several projects yearly. So far this year, he has traveled to Mexico and Argentina, presenting Swedish Electroacoustic music. His next project is a little different: living next to a building site in Stockholm he became inspired while enjoying the construction sounds from his balcony. He recorded some, to make a piece of the recorded material. He has also involved photographer Josef Doukkali and together they will make a film/bildspiel reflecting the birth of the new building. Read an article about it in Swedish.

There is also a short radio programme about it.

And another one on P4 (no longer available).
Listen from 9:40 on!

The building company, NCC, are financing this artistic project and the end result on DVD will be offered as a "moving in" present to the future inhabitants of the building! Nice idea!
/Isabel

8 Nov 2007

Concert in the big gasometer in Gävle

10 November 2007 at 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. at STORA GASKLOCKAN in Gävle. IDKA has organised this nocturnal 12-hour long concert where artists from France, Turkey, Singapore, Gävle and Stockholm will be featured.

25 Oct 2007

Premiere of Minnesdvärgar

There is still time (last performance 27 October) to see Minnesdvärgar which was premiered 22 October. Lars Åkerlund composed the music here at EMS. He, Johanna Ekström and Björn Elisson have collaborated several times before before. Dancers are: Anja Birnbaum, Sverre M Heidenberg, Love Källman, Sebastian Lingserius, Charlotta Öhverholm.

Martijn Tellinga

This week, Martijn Tellinga from Amsterdam is our guest composer here at EMS. He and percussionist Jonny Axelsson have a project together. We look forward to finding out more about that.

/Isabel

17 Oct 2007

Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz at EMS

Their visit here at EMS was short but they worked hard. They also gave a concert here at EMS which was very enjoyable. We will be seeing them again shortly as they are preparing something for Art's Birthday in January 2008.

Review in Göteborgs Posten

The earphone scene at GAS festivalen in Gothenburg 2007 got a good response in Göteborgs Posten.
Read all about it!

/Isabel

10 Oct 2007

Lars Åkerlund

Lars Åkerlund is busy at EMS composing the music for a new choreography by Björn Elisson: Minnesdvärgar. The premiere will be taking place on 22 October 2007 at 7 p.m. at Dansens Hus, Lilla scenen, in Stockholm. Check Dansens Hus website for full information. This is one of several productions together with the choreographer. Lars Åkerlund has also composed a great deal of music for Per Jonsson, another well-known Swedish choreographer who died in 1998.

4 Oct 2007

Diana Simpson

Autumn 2007 is proving to be a very guest-composer specked autumn as far as we are concerned here at EMS. This trend will continue after the new year, as Diana Simpson will be coming to work in our studios for a period of about three weeks. More information on that soon. We're looking forward to her visit.

/Isabel

Kevin Drumm

This week, Kevin Drumm spent some time in studio 4 here at EMS and some enticing Buchla sounds seeped out. He also held a seminar on Sunday 30 September, which I am told was much appreciated.

/Isabel

21 Sept 2007

SEAMS seminars and webcast

Check SEAMS homepage to see what seminars you would like to go to this autumn. On SEAMS homepage you can also find the Webcast, which broadcasts electroacoustic music from Sweden on a 24/7 basis.

/Isabel

Martijn Tellinga

Martijn Tellinga will be guest composer at EMS in October (20-28) 2007.

/Isabel

20 Sept 2007

Hovs Hallar 2005 at YouTube

A short movie from the outdoor concert at Hovs Hallar 2005. The concert was part of the Båstad Chamber Music Festival. Music by Hanna Hartman, Ylva Skog, Pär Johansson, Daniel Skoglund, Jean François Cavro, Love Mangs and Erik Mikael Karlsson. Photo: Love Mangs.

13 Sept 2007

Erik Drescher and Marianthi Papalexandri-alexandri

Composer Marianthi Papalexandri-alexandri and flautist Erik Drescher will be guests at EMS between 21/11 and 5/12. Michael Maierhof will be joining them during that period as well. Project supported by Framtidens Kultur. Read article about Papalexandri-alexandri and Erik Drescher.

/Isabel

12 Sept 2007

ELI CompuRhythm CR-7030

Today we received a phone call from a certain Klaus in Germany who is making a documentary on human beatboxing. In fact the title of the film is going to be "Beatboxing - the 5th element of hip-hop". He asked us if we knew anybody who had an ELI CompuRhythm CR-7030 drum machine. If you are reading this blog and know anything about this drum machine, and especially if you have one, please get in touch!

/Isabel

6 Sept 2007

Kevin Drumm

Kevin Drumm from Chicago will be a guest composer at EMS between 29 September and 4 October 2007. He will be holding a seminar on Sunday 30 September at 5 pm, at EMS.

Read an interview with Kevin!

Kevin Drumm's visit is happening with the support of Framtidens Kultur.

Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz at EMS

Andrea Neumann is a live-electronics musician who has invented her own instrument – the Inside piano – which is what it sounds like: the amplified inside of a piano. She uses a certain amount of objects and the strings of the piano to create her own sound world. Last spring she was a guest composer at EMS and is now coming back, together with Sabine Ercklentz, on 8-17 October, with the support of Framtidens Kultur.

There will probably be a concert at some point, so keep your eyes skinned.

/Isabel.

5 Sept 2007

British TV programme on Electroacoustic music

Mats Lindström will be interviewed for a British TV programme on electroacoustic music. We look forward to watching that!

/Isabel

5 October GAS festivalen 2007

A new EMS Earphone concert at Avenyn (library). Music by Johan Boberg, Amanda Glans, Daniel Skoglund, Jenny Sunesson and hard, hard Leather. Date: 5 October 2007.
Others to appear at Gas-Festivalen are Laurie Anderson and Chris Watson to name but a few.

/Isabel

GAS festival debate 2007

Mats Lindström, administrative and artistic director of EMS, will be participating in a debate in Gothenburg in connexion with the GAS festivalen. Date: 3 October.

/Isabel

COMA festival

On Saturday 29 September you can go to Växjö where the CoMA festival takes place annually. At 7 pm at the Palladium, you can listen to live electronics by Mattias Petersson, Fredrik Olofsson and Johan Boberg from EMS.

/Isabel

The European Conference of Promoters of New Music

Mats Lindström, the artistic and administrative director of EMS, is going to participate at The European Conference of Promoters of New Music at the Gaudeamus festival in Amsterdam, 6-9 September 2007.

/Isabel

4 Sept 2007

Research on Akos Rozmann

This week at EMS, we have the company of Gergely Loch, an enthusiastic musicology student of the Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest, Hungary. Gergely´s aim is to perform research on Akos Rozmann, one of the most prominent composers of electroacoustic music in Sweden. Akos Rozmann, originally from Hungary but residing in Sweden since the 1970s, sadly died two years ago. Up until his death, he was one of the composers who worked the most frequently here at EMS. For a long time he was an organist at the Catholic Church, where he also had his subterranean sound studio. He stopped writing instrumental music very early on as a composition student and left us a great number of electroacoustic works such as Impulsioni, Twelve stations, Images of dream and death to name but a few. His music is strongly emotional, and the richness of the compositional material has in most cases led to long gripping developments, leaving the listener both shaken and stirred. Mass, first performed in 2004 at the German Church in Stockholm, is several hours long and it took five days to perform it in its entirety. Apart from the music we know, Rozmann left a considerable amount of tapes, diaries etc. which we are delighted to know that Gergely Loch is going to study while preparing his PhD. This will be time well spent.

/Isabel

24 Aug 2007

EMS at MySpace

EMS now has a MySpace page. You can also find a few videos from the festival Rålektronika 2003 on YouTube.

Update August, 25: We've now got a Flickr page too! More photos and vids will come in due time, but for now you can view some pics from the Rålektronika and Lövstabruk festivals.

Rålektronika is pronounced "Rawlectronica", which is a pun on "Raw electronic" and Rålambshov (pronounced "Raw-lambs-haw"), the park in Stockholm where the festival took place.

The EAM festival at Rålambshov is arranged by VEMS (a society for composers working at EMS), and has been an annual event since 2001, although this year it moved to Långholmen, at the opposite side of Riddarfjärden in Stockholm.

(Note: We've forgotten who took these pics and vids, so if you want credit, please let us know!)

NOTCH

This week, Lei Yang, the curator of the Notch festival in China came to visit EMS. Notch stands for NOrdic countries + CHina. Lei Yang was in fact visiting all the Nordic countries to establish more personal contacts with people involved in electronic music. Next festival is in October 2007. We hope this will lead to more collaborations between Northern Europe and China.
/Isabel

18 Aug 2007

Headphone EMS at Nordiska Musikdagar

This year, EMS will be participating at Nordiska Musikdagarna in Norrköping with headphone concerts. Click on the link to find the programme and read more about the event. Besides tape music there will also be some live-electronics where the VJ Kajsa Hellstrand will be contributing. The headphone scene starts at 12 on 29 August and at 1 pm there will be a new version of Lars Gunnar Bodin’s Clouds including new visual material. The festival will take place between 29 Augusti until 1 September.

Swedish electro-acoustic music in Argentina, August 2007

Now it’s time for Swedish electro-acoustic music to be presented in Buenos Aires! Lennart Westman will be lecturing on "De-composing the subject" on his and Gunnar Jutelius’ video "Spiritus" prior to its performance on August 30, within the frame of the exchange project between Latin America and SEAMS (the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in Sweden). Lennart Westman will also diffuse Lars-Gunnar Bodin’s piece "The Enigma Engines", Rolf Enström’s "Figurin" and Pär Frid’s "Il est agréable pour le poète de dormir" during the same internationl festival, Sonoimágenes 2007. The festivalen is held for the eighth time and a mind-boggling two hundred works have been submitted.

EMS at Lövstabruk

Love Mangs, Lars Höjerdahl and Pär Johansson in Lövstabruk
Artists from EMS and IDKA participated in an outdoor concert in beautiful Lövstabruk in Northern Uppland, Sweden on August 11, 2007. The concert was arranged by Pär Johansson, Love Mangs and The Lövstabruk Cultural Society, and featured works by Thomas Bjelkeborn, Lars Höjerdahl, Pär Johansson, Love Mangs, Lise-Lotte Norelius, Irène Sahlin, Per Samuelsson, Conny Skoog and Johan Sundberg.

(From left to right, Love Mangs, Lars Höjerdahl and Pär Johansson. For more pictures, please click the image to visit IDKA:s website! You can also view some pictures from Lövstabruk at Flickr.)