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