18 Dec 2008

EMS' Christmas party and Studio 1 relaunch

This year, we were very sensible for all sorts of reasons and decided to throw several parties in the same evening. For one thing, Concerts Sweden, the organisation under which EMS is a department, is undergoing a serious crisis and about 25 people are facing the risk of losing their jobs. So, with regards to this and the general crisis going on in the world, we decided not to have our usual staff Christmas dinner and instead have a joint party with our fantastic, talented, intelligent, artistic, ingenuous and hard-working users. That turned out to be a great idea and nobody wanted to leave. Because we have been having to sort out a problem with the air in studio 1 (caused by mould), the studio has been closed for the most part of 2008. We now have a new mixer there and the studio has been pimped up quite a bit making it a very nice environment to work in, totally problem free. So, naturally, we had yet another thing to celebrate. You can see glamourous photos of the do on Flickr.

We are now very much looking forward to year 2009. Goodness knows what's in store, but so many inspiring things have been happening this year making us full of expectations for the future. We have had more than twenty guest composers and hope that we will be hosting as many next year. Our library has been growing steadily, thanks to the exceptional librarian we have (Pär Johansson, who is also a composer of acousmatic music). A new EMS training course (the professional one) has started and people are working away on projects, big and small.

Taking this opportunity to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Isabel

3 Dec 2008

François Bayle's visit in Stockholm

The hall was packed with students on Friday November 21 2008 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where François Bayle held a seminar (the title being ...mes images). Mr. Bayle spoke for three hours non-stop (almost) spell-binding his audience.
On Saturday 22 November a concert was given at Fylkingen to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Fylkingen. All pieces were by François Bayle and dedicated to various collegues and friends who are now dead: Arc pour Gérard Grisey, Ombres blanches (Théâtre d'Ombres -2), omaggio a L.Berio, L'Oreille étonnée en salut à Olivier Messiaen, Inventions à Pierre Schaeffer in memoriam, Univers nerveux à Karlheinz Stockhausen in memoriam. Again, the hall was packed with people and the atmosphere concentrated. For many, this was a longed for occasion!

18 Nov 2008

François Bayle at Fylkingen 22 November 2008

Don't miss this concert! And don't miss Fylkingen's 75th anniversary. For one week they will be celebrating 75 years of existence and you will find several items of interest in their programme.

10 Sept 2008

Autumn at EMS

The Autumn is here and the staff at EMS are back from their holidays.

A new EMS course will start shortly. 10 students will be studying electroacoustic music making in depth. There are a whole range of teachers tied to the course.

There are also several evening classes for the initiated and the not so initiated. Check Folkuniversitetet for more information on our courses in electroacoustic composition. You can also get in touch with us at the office on 00468556 08 850.

Fylkingen will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. EMS is borrowing François Bayle from Paris for the occasion. It will be a great pleasure to have him here (22/11 2008). There are many more artists on the programme. Check Fylkingen's website to get the whole picture.

Our guest composer of the summer, Jo Thomas will be performing her new piece, Alpha, composed in studio 2 here at EMS at the Cutting Edge concert series in London on 15 November 2008.

Mats Lindström, artistic and administrative director of EMS and Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz have just been to Linz, Austria to collect a prize for an interactive international video performance premiered at the Art's Birthday celebration at Moderna Museet in Stockholm 2008.

More news soon,
Isabel

27 Aug 2008

Four hour concert in Hågelbyparken, Stockholm

Centrum för Nutida Konstmusikis presenting its first big event on Sunday 31 August from 12 noon to 4 pm. Spend one whole afternoon listening to sounds, noises, music, and watching dance in this green venue. It will be an occasion to celebrate green sound. 23 different programmes will be heard and seen: electronic, acoustic, notated and improvised music. A modern dance piece will also be presented. Time: 12 noon to 4 pm. Free entry!

Participating organisations:

FRIM (Föreningen för Fri Improviserad Musik)
Great Learning Orchestra
Samtida Musik
SEAMS
Uruppförandeklubben
VEMS (Verksamma på EMS)


/Isabel

30 Jul 2008

The Norberg festival

was a great success! It took place between 24 and 26 July in Norberg (Västmanland) about 2 hours train journey from Stockholm.
Check out their website if you want to find out what took place there.
There were several EMS artists: Sabine Vogel and Erik Drescher, Linus Gabrielsson and our guest composer of the month Jo Thomas from the UK. Also Mats Lindstöm and Sören Runolf played a long duo to celebrate their twentieth anniversary as a duo.
The architecture of the derelict Mimerlaven is quite fascinating and the ensuing sounds and accoustics are well worth a visit. We are already looking forward to the next Norberg festival.

25 Jun 2008

Benjamin Thigpen

Benjamin Thigpen will be guest composer at EMS in April-May 2009. During that time he will also be teaching at EMS.

11 Jun 2008

Norberg festival 2008

Keep a look-out for EMS at the Norberg festival 2008!
25 & 26 July
at Mimerlaven - Nytgatan/Gamla Banan, SE-738 21 Norberg, Mid Sweden, Bergslagen, Scandinavia

German Sound Art Award 2008

Johannes Sistermanns, who was a guest composer at EMS earlier in the Spring has been awarded the German Soundart Award 2008 (WDR Radio Cologne + Sculpturemuseum Marl, Germany) for the last 20 years of his sound art work and also for one project in particular: 'transparent listening'.

Congratulations from all of us at EMS.

/Isabel

21 May 2008

Sound workshop for children

We have just had sound workshops for children here two days in a row. EMS received a total of 100 children aged 6-9 (luckily divided into groups of 11-13 or so) for a workshop led by Ida Lundén. The sound workshops are always a great success and it was wonderful to see all the children's happy and delighted faces as they discovered the powerful sounds and effects they could achieve with the various synthesizers and weird instruments that Ida had brought. Ida is an experienced music teacher and each lesson with her is well thought-out, filling the 45 minutes to the brim. There was never a dull moment and the children didn't once lose focus or were bored. At the end of each lesson, the children got to perform a mini concert. All of them did very well and took their mission seriously; and they all produced very different things. It is clear that electronics and electroacoustic music should already be taught to this age group in the music schools!

8 May 2008

Bas Kalle

Bas Kalle from Holland will be guest composer at EMS 11-16 2008.

6 May 2008

Electronic workshop for children

On 20-21 May 2008 EMS will be having a workshop for school children. Ida Lundén, live-electronics composer and musician, will be running a workshop for several school classes. This year, pupils from Engelbrektsskolan and Wasaskolan will be benefitting from these workshops.

16 Apr 2008

Swedish Outsiders

If you're in London on 17 and 18 May and are pining for Swedish experimental music, you can always go to the [no.signal] festival.

Ivan Zavada

will be composer in residence here at EMS during his stay in Sweden (21/4-27/4). During this time he will also be giving two concerts and a seminar. Read more on SEAMS website.

Concert: 22 April in Gävle, Kulturkiosken at 7 p.m.
Seminar: 25 April at EMS, Stockholm at 5-7 p.m.
Concert: 26 April at Fylkingen at 7.30 p.m.

10 Apr 2008

EAM forum

Next week, the EAM forum which is held annually, will take place at Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm and EMS. This is an opportunity for all involved with EAM in Sweden, as music promoters and on a research/higher education level, to meet and discuss important issues.

Lars Åkerlund

has recently remixed two electroacoustic pieces: Ur and Volt. Both were originally made for dance pieces. Ur for a choreography by Per Jonsson and Volt for a choreography by Björn Elisson. These remixes were issued on CD by Fylkingen/CDA and have won critical acclaim. Lars Åkerlund is a frequent studio user at EMS and teaches there extensively. Listen to a snippet here.

8 Apr 2008

Mats Lindström

will be the moderator in a panel discussion on music and dance in Malmö on 7 April 2008. The discussion was organised by Skånes dansteater and Malmö Opera and Musikhögskolan in Malmö.

2 Apr 2008

Mats Lindström

the director of EMS will be one of the contributors to a seminar at Uppsala Konstmuseum on Friday 4 April 2008 from 9.00-17.00.

1 Apr 2008

Courses at EMS

You do know EMS runs short courses in electroacoustic music don't you?
Check out Folkuniversitetets hompeage for more information.

We also have a longer part time course over 2 years that starts now and then when we have enough students. If you are interested, get in touch with us as soon as you can.

/Isabel

DEGEM webradio

A second programme of electroacoustic music from Sweden will be broadcast by DEGEM for a period of six weeks starting May 6.
So stay tuned in and don't forget to check the Swedish webradio

27 Mar 2008

EMS Playlist at DEGEM

If you tune in to
www.degem.de/webradio and select Radio button A you will find the first of two programmes featuring Swedish electroacoustic music. The second programme is due soon.

/Isabel

18 Mar 2008

EMS on Facebook

Those of you who haven't abandoned Facebook yet might be interested to know that EMS now has both a Facebook profile and a page.

/Pär

3 Mar 2008

Johannes S. Sistermanns

Johannes Sistermanns is guest composer here at EMS. He will be here until 14 March, 2008. Johannes S. Sistermanns is the vice-president of DEGEM (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik), by the way. DEGEM, like SEAMS/EMS/Royal College of Music Stockholm, run a webradio.
/Isabel

28 Feb 2008

Guest composers

The last few weeks have been very busy indeed here at EMS!
Several guest composers have been here, some of them simultaneously:
Diana Simpson, Jakob Riis, Hideki Kozakura, Robert van Heumen, Andrea Neumann, Sabine Ercklentz, Erik Bünger, John Bowers, Steven Takasugi and I hope I haven't forgotten anyone! More and more composers seem to come here from afar to work with our Buchla.

19 Feb 2008

Jakob Riis

Jakob Riis is a guest composer at EMS from 18/2 to 29/2. He is essentially working with our Buchla.

Hideki Kozakura

is a guest composer here at EMS from 15/2 to 22/2 2008. He is working together with Jörgen Pettersson on a piece called "Komponist bin ich".

Christopher Fox

Party and premiere: Wednesday 20 February 2008
Venue: Fylkingen
Time: at 10 pm

Jonny Axelsson (percussion) plays John Cage, 27'10.554" for percussion and electronic devices, and Christopher Fox, Enclosure for percussion and live electronics (this piece was partly composed here at EMS).

After that there will be a release party for Lars Åkerlund's CD VOLT (Fylkingen records FYCD 1028)!

15 Feb 2008

Stockholm New Music

The biggest Swedish festival of contemporary music, Stockholm New Music, starts on Saturday 16 February and will be featured in a number of venues. Sound artist Erik Bünger has been working at EMS on a sound installation that will be running throughout the whole festival at Kulturhuset. Read more about it.

Rolf Enström

was awarded the Manifest 08 prize for Quarks. The prize is awarded by an organisation called Svenska Oberoende Musikproducenter (Swedish Independent Music producers).

Art's Birthday 2008

The 2008 edition of Art's Birthday was a success. Read more about it and see clips!

16 Jan 2008

Diana Simpson

is our next guest composer here at EMS. Diana will be here from 21 January to 24 February 2008.

10 Jan 2008

Art's Birthday Party 2008

Coming up next week. 17 Jan. to be precise.

Torsdag den 17 januari är det dags igen - för fjärde året i följd
hyllas konsten med en fest på Moderna Museet och en gigantisk interaktiv
direktsändning i Sveriges Radio P2.

Nu är det dags igen!

EBU ART'S BIRTHDAY 2008: Forever Young på Moderna Museet i Stockholm
och i Sveriges Radio P2!

Art's Birthday Party 2008: "Forever Young" är en internationell
musikfest och hyllning till konsten som ordnas i samarbete med den
europeiska radiounionen EBU. Musiker, tonsättare, dj:s och
ljudkonstnärer från hela Europa kommer att interagera och utbyta ljud
och musik, mixa och remixa via satellit, ljudledningar och internet.
Allmänheten bjuds in till evenemanget på Moderna Museet och alla kan
följa hyllningen via radio och internet.

Medverkande artister är österrikiska thereministen Dorit Chrysler,
amerikanska thereministen Pamelia Kurstin, svenska trion Tape,
electronica-stjärnan Kangding Ray från Frankrike, tyska Andrea Neumann
och Sabine Ercklentz, Sten Hanson och så svenske ljudkonstnären Daniel
Skoglund.

Årets tema för Art's Birthday Party är "Forever Young". De medverkande
inbjuds att fantisera fritt kring framtidens popkonst och popmusik.

- På Art's Birthday Party bryts barriärer mellan finkultur och
populärkultur ned. Likaså barriärer mellan vad som kan kallas musik
och konst, säger Erik Mikael Karlsson, producent på SR. Han är
tillsammans med producenten Stefan Holmström initiativtagare till
evenemanget.

Art's Birthday Party 2008 produceras av Sveriges Radio P2 och EBU i
samarbete med Moderna Museet, EMS (Elektroakustisk musik i Sverige) och
SRc vid SR Radioteatern. 2006 års sändning från Art's Birthday
tilldelades Ikarospriset i radioklassen.

Art's Birthday Party 2008 äger rum på Moderna Museet i Stockholm den 17
januari 2008 kl. 19.00-24.00. Ingång Sjösidan. Fri entré. Evenemanget
direktsänds i Sveriges Radio P2 och på webben.

Dessutom officiell efterfest på BERNS - klubben fram till kl 04
arrangerat av Ström i P2!

Läs mer: www.sr.se/p2/artsbirthday

Henri Chopin

Now for the sad news: Henri Chopin has died. Press the link and read more about that on the excellent eamlibrarian blog.

Mats Lindström's contract

has been prolonged for a new 4-year period, meaning he will be the artistic and administrative director of EMS until 2012, at least. That's the good news.

3 Jan 2008

Art's Birthday Party 2008

Coming up soon!
17 January at Moderna Museet, starting 7 p.m. until 12 a.m. and then going on until the small hours of the morning at Berns Salonger.

2 Jan 2008

Erik Bünger at EMS

Erik Bünger will be working at EMS for a period of approximately 6 weeks, starting today. He is working on a commission for Stockholm New Music 2008 (Rikskonserter), a festival of new music that takes place in Stockholm in the month of February. Visit their website for more information.