U.S.O.'s friend Domenico Sciajno will perform a new piece called Phadora for the opening of the Ars Electronica 2008.

Phadora is an electroacoustic piece designed for a very special 4+4 speaker setup at the open air and it has been specifically composed for this occasion.

SoUNdSET, the work of Italian artists Domenico Sciajno and TeZ (aka Maurizio Martinucci), is a sound performance that was conceived especially for this location: the Pöstlingberg terrace, the perfect spot for panoramic cityscape viewing. This piece works with the natural sunset and features audience interaction. As the sun begins to go down (at 7:38 PM on September 4, 2008), visitors can take a seat on the viewing terrace, focus their attention on the diminishing natural sunlight and simultaneously influence via directional loudspeakers the live soundscape being generated in relation to it. As the natural light increasingly gives way to the darkness of night, the more these acoustic experiences are transformed.

The complete schedule of the opening for the Ars Electronica 2008 Festival is available here.

[myspace.com/sciajno]
[sciajno.net]

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Unidentified Sound Object

Electroacoustic music is in a sense more democratic than pop music: You don't need a tremendously expensive studio to compose your music and no huge international record companies are likely to promote your works, so composers from around the world have more equal chances of being heard. Do you find interesting differences in the electroacoustic music composed in different parts of the world?

There are different ‘schools of thought’ producing different sounds, different approaches to time, and different philosophies of public performance. But these schools of thought extend across geographical boundaries. As you point out, we can hear music from all over the world on the Internet.

Ironically, now that more people have an equal chance at being heard, it can be harder to actually get noticed; people are so overloaded with distractions it’s difficult to get anyone’s attention, much less hold their attention for the period of time necessary to discuss and to build upon what has been said and done previously.

During the middle ages, an educated person might have owned one book and they really studied and memorized that book; now we have so many books that we might not even read all of them completely, much less memorize them; we might prefer to get the ideas from the author’s blog or online video instead. A similar thing is happening in music; it is easier to find breadth than depth. This is the perfect scenario for accelerated evolution during a period of rapid change in the environment.

[read the full article - via electromediaworks.gr]

[carlascaletti.com]

[symbolicsound.com]

Daniel Teruggi (GRM, Paris): The novelty of concrete music. from U.S.O. Project on Vimeo.

[you can download the full interview here - mp3/italian only - via Radio Papesse]

Turin - Italy
Rai Auditorium Arturo Toscanini
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
19 pm- Award Ceremony
21 pm - Concert

The manuscript of the original version of Metastaseis by composer and architect Iannis Xenakis now becomes music to listen to, in first execution at the RAI Turin, dedicated to the participants of the XXIII World Congress of Architects Uia in their evening gala.
In addition to Metastaseis, the programme provides Shaar for string orchestra and two compositions by Edgar Varése : Offrandes for soprano and chamber orchestra and Amériques for large orchestra.

Arturo Tamayo director

Carole Louis soprano

Iannis Xenakis
Shaar for large string orchestra

Edgar Varèse
Offrandes for soprano and chamber orchestra

Iannis Xenakis
Metastaseis
(absolute first execution of the original version)

Edgar Varèse
Amériques for large orchestra

[orchestrasinfonica.rai.it]
[uia2008torino.org]

RAI Studio of Musical Phonology: historical footage #2 from U.S.O. Project on Vimeo.

[more on youtube.com]

RAI Studio of Musical Phonology: historical footage #1 from U.S.O. Project on Vimeo.

[more on youtube.com]

Agostino Di Scipio

UNTITLED 2008

Ökosystemische Klanginstallation in 2 freien oder ausgeräumten Zimmern

This work implements a chain of recursive processes leaning on the acoustics of the host space. A web of purely sonic interaction is established, mediated by the room acoustics. A unique sonic narrative is outlined: (1) a "production plant" exploits the room as a kind of energy reservoire out of which raw sound materials are carved; this is accomplished with very low-frequency acoustical feedback making some thing in the room tremble or buzz; (2) this raw material is then "optimised" and "packaged" (computer-processed), and finally delivered to a "consume" system (loudspeaker system); the "wastes" of sound in the room (resonances in peculiar spots in the room, where no human ears can stand) are in turn collected and "recycled" in the production plant.

Agostino Di Scipio (Naples 1962), composer, sound artist and theorist. His works often explore non-conventional approaches on the generation and trasmission of sound, and recently have involved dynamical networks of live sonic interactions between performers, machines, and environments. Some samples of his work are in his monograph CD "Hörbare Ökosysteme. Live-elektronische Kompositionen" (RZ Edition). Di Scipio works primarily in his own studio (L'Aquila, Italy), but occasionally has pursued his efforts as visiting composer in various institutions (Simon Fraser Univ. Vancouver, 1993; ZKM Karlsruhe, 2006; IMEB Bourges, 2003 and 2005). Artist-in-residence of the DAAD Berlin (2004-05). Electronic Music professor at the Music Conservatory of Naples, guest professor at CCMIX (Paris, 2001-2007). He lectured at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Johannes-Gutenberg Universität (Mainz) and elsewhere. In Winter 2007-08 he served as Edgard-Varese-Professor at TU Berlin. Author of essays and articles in the analysis and critical theory of music technologies. Editor of many publications, including the Italian translation of books such as "Heidegger, Hölderlin & John Cage" by M.Eldred (Semar, 2000) and "Universi del suono" by Iannis Xenakis (LIM/Ricordi, 2003). Materials and more info.

[via inventionen.de]

Concerts and sound installations / 60 years Musique Concrète / 50 years GRM Paris / International conference SMC08

23rd July - 3rd August 2008 - Berlin

Castello Sforzesco
Museum of Musical Instruments
Sala della Balla
06:00 p.m.

MITO has promoted the transfer of the RAI Studio of Musical Phonology at the Museum of Musical Instruments in Milan to make its equipment and electronic archives available to the public.
The priceless musical heritage and technology is for the first time assembled and exhibited in its entirety in a museum.
Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna and Luigi Nono's experimental music will live again in their original environment and an innovative digital library will disclose its contents.

Free admission

[mitosettembremusica]

Silence a boundary notion, a conceptual ideal, an aural vanishing point. Saying something about silence equals loosing it. Being silent is impossible may it include to cease living. Many words have been uttered to grasp this paradox.

There is no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound.

No Silence exists, that is not pregnant with sound.

Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. - John Cage

[thanks to silentlistening]