Guest composers in spring 2010

So far we know that Benjamin Thigpen and Philippe Moënne-Loccoz will be coming. We also hope to see Amanda Cole. And many more are in the pipeline.

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/Isabel

Digital PDP 15

Today we found parts of the old Digital PDP 15 from the old days when the studio was situated on Kungsgatan 8!

Daniel Araya

Our new studio engineer Daniel Araya has arrived! We are very happy to have him on board and are looking forward to maintain and develop EMS together with him.

Welcome Daniel! say Ylva Skog, Mats Lindström, Göran Svensson and myself, Isabel Thomson.

Sukandar Kartadinata

will be holding a Sensor workshop at EMS 2-4 October 2009. On Thursday 1 October, he will be giving a seminar.

/Isabel

André Bartetzki

gave a much appreciated SuperCollider workshop at EMS in September 2009.

/Isabel

Benjamin Thigpen

has finished the piece he was working on at EMS in Stockholm and at GRM in Paris. It will be premiered on Radio France on 5 December 2009.

/Isabel

Guest composers

Guest composers this autumn at EMS include Carlos Giffoni and Mark O'Leary.

/Isabel

New Studio Engineer at EMS

Our studio engineer of 40 years, Göran Svensson will sadly be retiring at the end of November. Göran has been a witness and key engineer in the history of the electroacoustic music evolution here at EMS!

On 1/10, the new studio engineer at EMS will be joining us! His name is Daniel Araya and has previously worked as a sound engineer etc at the Swedish Radio. He is also very big on analogue synthesizers and knows all about our Buchla and Serge here at EMS and can cure them when they are sick!

Those of you who have been to the Norberg festival know that he is one of the driving forces behind it and may have danced at his own club Camp 303!

/Isabel

Gregorio Jiménez

the president of AMEE Música Electroacústica de Espana is our guest composer for a week (15-23 April 2009).

Changes at EMS

Well, in retrospect, the previous entry is quite ironic. Yes, we ARE suffering from the major crisis that Concerts Sweden/Rikskonserter are undergoing and yes, we have to put up with staff cuts. In fact I was laid off! In a few months' time I will no longer be working at EMS. I have had a wonderful time here at EMS which is a fantastic resource, quite unique in its kind. Anyone who is interested in the electroacoustic medium will agree that this is a great environment. Once you are a user of EMS you can book studio time and use up-to-date software and analogue synthesizers etc, and use the library with its collection of subject-related books. It's a brilliant working space. A bit like a public library with studios. Luckily, I'm still a user so I will go on coming to EMS and keep my fingers crossed that this is just a short interlude before something more constructive happens!

/Isabel

Happy 2009! …?

What will 2009 have in store for EMS? This is the big question at the moment as we are waiting to see how our beloved institution will be affected by the major crisis at Concerts Sweden (Rikskonserter), under which we are a department since the mid nineties. It may mean staff cuts, which would be very unfortunate, in a time when we are actually expanding work-wise more than ever. More and more composers from all over the world are interested in coming here to work. Those who have been here say they love the atmosphere and find working and composing here very easy (that's because we really do our best to make them feel comfortable!). Over the past few years, our connection to the Norberg festival has grown and we are already looking forward to the summer. The archive project where Arkivet för Ljud och Bild (i.e. the department for audiovisiual media at the Swedish Royal Library) is a strong partner. That's just a few of all the projects in which we are involved. Keep your fingers crossed for us and don't hesitate to show your moral support!

/Isabel

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

Benjamin Thigpen

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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