IAMIC NEWS

IAMIC at Classical:NEXT 2016

IAMIC will once more be represented at Classical Next by a well positioned stand, where you and your materials are welcome to join us (please let Yanna know if this is the case). Also, following our very successful networking session and reception last year, we are once again hosting a panel debate and networking session followed by a reception. The theme this year is audience development with the title “Is Anybody Out There: Audience Development for the music of our time.” We will be using some practical examples, including from activities that some of you were involved in as part of the New:Aud programme, as well as drawing together a range of expertise on this important subject. I hope to see many of you there! Details about IAMIC session will be announced on the Classical NEXT website in the coming weeks.

Susanna Eastburn
Chief Executive, Sound and Music

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IAMIC out and about

 

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IAMIC Member news

Australia | Australian Music Centre

Australian Music Centre celebrates
 
At the end of February 2016, the Australian Music Centre will have been open to the public for 40 colourful years. Over these years, periods of frantic activity and relative financial security have alternated with harder times, where survival had to be put before vision and innovation. We've pieced our history together to form a timeline of interesting and entertaining events, milestones, images, and articles. Our international colleagues from other music centres will undoubtedly find many similarities in the fluctuations of a music centre’s fortunes.

 

AMC CEO John Davis said, “Fascinating to reflect on the ebbs and flows that the AMC has experienced over these 40 years and to note the consistent focus on Australian content and Australian artists over this time. The challenge to remain responsive and relevant to the communities that we serve is still at the forefront of our thinking, and we continue to address this challenge in everything that we do.” 
 
Today, the Australian Music Centre represents over 660 Australian composers and sound artists. We have just completed a major Digitisation Project and, as a result, can offer almost 10,000 scores as digital library loans to our members, and all our customers have access to more than 7,000 audio samples and close to 8,000 sheet music samples on our website.
 
AMC's first 41 years (timeline)
AMC’s Digitisation Project 2013-2015

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Catalonia, Spain | Institut Ramon Llull

Catalonian Composers Bring Engaging, Boundary-Pushing Electro-Acoustic Works to Chicago

Salvador Dalí, Antoni Gaudí, Pablo Picasso, and Antoni Tàpies, to name just a few, are among the stunningly original artists who have made Catalonia synonymous with artistic innovation. Catalonian composers are no exception to this tradition, reveling in boldly expressive works that seek to engage while shattering boundaries and preconceptions.
As part of their ongoing Global Connections series with the International House at the University of Chicago, Access Contemporary Music is proud to present a concert of daring, highly original electro-acoustic music by seven leading Catalonian composers on February 12, 2016.

“Contemporary music in Barcelona is experiencing a moment of intense creativity,  a wide range of composers are not only covering very different languages and styles but also building a fertile ground for creativity,” says Maria Lladó Ribot, Music Coordinator for the Institut Ramon Llull. “ACM's Global Connections series is an excellent opportunity to increase the active cultural dialogue between Chicago and Barcelona and also the international composer community which only gets richer every day due to the reinvigorating contribution of the new generations.”
Highlights of the concert include: Enric Riu’s Fetisch, a multi-disciplinary work exploring human interactions; Mercè Capdevila’s a Chillida en a-ciència, an other-worldly sonic tapestry for clarinet and electronics; and Joan Bagés i Rubi's stunning Interactions B which combines wild gestural frenzy with meditative yearning.

Access Contemporary Music (ACM) is dedicated to integrating musical creativity into everyday life by presenting the music of living composers at the highest quality, fostering musical creativity in our storefront music schools and through commissions, and partnering with composers, festivals, universities, and ensembles in cities throughout the world to build a global contemporary music network. ACM began in 2004 when composer and new music advocate Seth Boustead had the idea to assemble a group of musicians every week to read through, record, and post music by living composers.  That project, Weekly Readings, would go on to get national press and put ACM on the map. Find out more about ACM at www.acmusic.org.  
  In addition to ACM's Chicago concert season, Palomar has been invited to perform at Stanford's Pan Asian Festival, the Paris Conservatoire, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, the Anthology in New York City among others. Palomar is led by Artistic Director Francesco Milioto and consists of: Eliza Bangert – flutes; Alyson Berger – cello; Sebastian Huydts – keyboards; Christie Miller – clarinets; and Jeff Yang - violin

Program
Fetisch by Enric Riu
Interactions B by Joan Bagés i Rubi
[IVflbclVIvln/c] by Joan Arnau Pamies
Etres Liquidas by Ariadna Alsina
INTERMISSION
La Identidad de Diotima by Mateu Malondra
a Chillida en a-ciència by Mercè Capdevila
Trio "Wortschatten" by Hèctor Parra

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France | Documentation Centre for Contemporary Music

Cdmc wandering situation
Due to construction work at the premises of the Villette, the Cdmc has relocated to a temporary facility nearby, from where there is a very nice view on the new concert hall in Paris, the Philharmonie. The work was supposed to have been completed this month, but it has been delayed! So the Cdmc team has a little more time to prepare for its next move.
 
But this is not the last step for this mobile centre, as the Cdmc works to implement the Ministry of Culture's decision to merge the centre with IRCAM in 2016.  A report had advocated for this plan as the best option, but now a deeper study of the issues of library, data processing, and staff management shows that this potential merger is extremely complicated. We will keep you informed of the next chapters of that story. The Cdmc wishes to thank the members of IAMIC for the interest and support they have demonstrated.
 
The Cdmc begins its season with three Dédicaces

Dédicaces is an event designed by the Cdmc to highlight noteworthy contemporary music-related books, CDs, and DVDs. Short in length (around two hours), the format involves a dialogue between the creators and readers, listeners or viewers who have been previously asked to react and comment on the material. Between September and December 2015, the Cdmc has presented three Dédicaces about CD releases: « Dédicace CD Solitude - Séverine Ballon, violoncelliste », « Dédicace CD Philippe Leroux - Quid sit Musicus? » and « Dédicace CD Francisco Luque - L'Oiseau rare (label Espacio) ». All of these events took place at the contemporary art Galerie Univer in Paris. Follow the links above for further details (in French) about each of these events.

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Greece | Institute for Research on Music & Acoustics

 
MINSTREL project, a three year EU project, with the participation of 11 IAMIC members, and also IAMIC as an associate member, has been successfully completed. There are several services, created in the frame of the project that are now open to the public:
- the music ensembles database,
- the music information database and
- the platform for circulation of music works.

 

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Lithuania | Music Information Centre Lithuania

A Large Part of the MICL Sound Archives Has Been Destroyed in a Fire

On the morning of 14 January 2016 a fire started in the Lithuanian Composers’ House, in which Music Information Centre Lithuania is also located. The equipment storage room was completely destroyed in the fire. It held all the digital copies of recordings of work by Lithuanian composers made from 1960 to 2015, comprising 994 CDs and more than 60 other sound media items. Even though the actual damage is still being evaluated, it is possible to say at this preliminary stage that the MICL archives have lost about 4500 copies of recordings held on CD-Rs.

Even though this is a serious blow to Music Information Centre Lithuania’s sound archives – only 62 CD-R format copies had been made of the 994 sound media items, an activity undertaken over a number of years – the damage to the musical culture of Lithuania is not drastic and not irreversible. On the above-mentioned 994 sound media files were stored digitalised sound recordings made by the Vilnius Recording Studio and the Lithuanian Composers’ Union recording studio on magnetic tapes, copies of sound recordings by Lithuanian National Radio and Television and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, as well as duplicates of sound recordings held in composers’ personal archives. Only a very small part of the archive destroyed in the fire was made up of items which may no longer exist in any other format.

The magnetic tapes (about 700 items) and paper manuscripts (about 6000 items) stored in the Lithuanian Composers’ House archives were not damaged in the fire. The computerised sound recording files of work by Lithuanian composers (more than 1700 items) also survived.

Music Information Centre Lithuania and the Lithuanian Composers’ Union are grateful to everyone that informed the Vilnius Fire Service of the fire, as well as those that have offered moral support and help.

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Luxembourg | music:LX Luxembourg Export Office

music:LX in cooperation with SONORA, a Polish organisation promoting cultural events in Poland and internationally, and the Sepia Ensemble, a Contemporary Music Ensemble based in Poznan (Poland), has worked on a music exchange project between Luxembourg and Poland. The first part of the project has resulted in a concert at the Academy of Music in Poznan on December 13, 2015. The musicians of the ensemble exclusively performed Luxembourgish contemporary music. The concert was co-organised by the Poznan Music Academy and the Voivodship of Wielkopolska Region. A member of the F.L.A.C. (Luxembourg Federation of Authors and Composers) was present at the concert to introduce the Luxembourgish Contemporary Music Scene.

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New Zealand | Centre for New Zealand Music – SOUNZ

SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music champions the music of Aotearoa/New Zealand by collecting and curating resources, connecting them with audiences and collaborating with partners towards shared goals.

Aroha Quartet-RNZ Concert-SOUNZ Recordings
The new collaborative project, between SOUNZ, the Aroha String Quartet and Radio New Zealand Concert in association with the Composers Association of New Zealand and Chamber Music New Zealand took place in October.
Aroha Quartet workshopped seven previously selected NZ works, which were recorded, producing 70 minutes of string quartets. The works will be available on SOUNZ website in 2016. Read more here.
 

Lilburn100
SOUNZ has been celebrating the centenary of Douglas Lilburn’s birth throughout this year. In October, SOUNZ had the opportunity to partner with the contemporary chamber music ensemble Stroma, in presenting a tribute concert on Lilburn’s birthday. The Nine Echoes concert featured nine new works written by NZ composers, each responding to one of Lilburn's Nine Short Pieces for piano. The concert will be available on SOUNZ website in 2016. Read interviews with the participating composers here.
 
Five years of Resound project
SOUNZ’s Resound project celebrated its fifth anniversary this year and SOUNZ hosted a film screening and a party in November. The project, which is funded by NZ On Air and delivered by SOUNZ in partnership with Radio New Zealand Concert, is the first of its kind in documenting NZ art music through films and audio recordings of existing works as well as new works. More details are available at www.sounz.org.nz.

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Poland | Polish Music Information Centre

New English language News portal on Polmic.pl
 
The Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC has launched a new section of its website. English speaking internet users are welcome to visit the daily updated News section of www.polmic.pl to get acquainted with latest events and facts concerning Polish music and musical life in Poland (www.polmic.pl/index.php?lang=en).
 
Jerzy Kornowicz – new Director of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music
 
The competition for the post of Director of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music was adjudicated on 22nd October 2015.
Jerzy Kornowicz has been named the new Festival director and will begin his tenure with the task of programming the “Warsaw Autumn” festival to be held in 2017. The competition was held in accordance with the Act on Organising and Conducting Cultural Activity of 25th October 1991 – despite the fact that non-governmental entities are not obliged to follow this Act.
Jerzy Kornowicz, fot. Anton Grosch
By observing the Act’s regulations, the Polish Composers’ Union (the Festival organiser since its inception in 1956) manifests the transparency of its decisions and upholds the standards of public knowledge with regard to the decision-making process.
 
Composing Commissions - programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance
 
On October 8th, 2015, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland launched the 5th edition of its Collections programme, Composing Commissions 2016-2017 priority. The programme is implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance and aims to support contemporary music composition by commissioning new works and creating favourable conditions for their permanent presence in the public space. The programme—the first project in Poland which systemically supports the latest musical production—annually endorses approximately one hundred new pieces by Polish and foreign composers, enabling a wide audience to access valuable contemporary music compositions.
 
The programme was launched in 2012 as an initiative of the Polish music community. The annual competition attracts applications from musical organizations willing to commission a work from a (Polish or foreign) composer or group of artists. The subsidy includes co-financing the work along with its world premiere and recording which is later made available online, free of charge. Detailed information on the programme, as well as the database of the commissioned works and composers’ bios can be accessed at www.composingcommissions.pl, a new website of the programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance which was the source for this report. (More detailed information is available on that site as well as on the Institute’s own site.)

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Portugal | Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre

APEM CIME/ICEM International Conference, October 2015
In October, Miso Music Portugal (Portuguese Federation of ICEM) and the International Confederation for Electroacoustic Music organized the CIME/ICEM General Assembly and the international conference, Archiving and Preservation of Electroacoustic Music. During this event, at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, the participants presented not only papers on the above mentioned subject, but also various projects concerning technological innovation in music. These presentations were accompanied by concerts with the Miso Music Portugal's Loudspeaker Orchestra. The concert programmes consisted of electroacoustic works from several CIME/ICEM National Federations and Organizations-International-Members, including pieces by three Portuguese contemporary composers : Simão Costa, António Ferreira. and Rui Penha. Behind the Sound and Image at O’culto da Ajuda, November 13, 14, 26 & 27
 
On November 13, 14, 26 and 27, there were a series of meetings around music in cinema to rediscover various Portuguese and international films from classic to experimental and to explore the possible interactions between sound and image. Trying to trace a line of development of music in cinema, we have approached some of the theoretical writings on this subject: Composing for the Films (1947) by Theodor W. Adorno and Hanns Eisler, as well as more contemporary texts, such as Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music (1994) by Royal S. Brown, among others. (For further details, visit:
http://misomusic.com/index.php?option=com_icagenda&view=list&layout=event&id=215&Itemid=503&lang=en.)

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Switzerland | Fondation SUISA

  «schweizsuissesvizzerasvizra» at jazzahead! Bremen
Switzerland will be the partner country for the next edition of jazzahead! in Bremen from April 21 to April 24, 2016. Highlights of the trade fair will be an exhibition about the festival landscape in Switzerland, a «Swiss Night» featuring 8 different artists, who will show the broad spectrum of Swiss Jazz and—last but not least—the «Gala Night» with Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin and Hildegard lernt fliegen. With the chosen slogan «schweizsuissesvizzerasvizra», the country underscores its four languages as well as its diversity. «schweizsuissesvizzerasvizra» is co-sponsored by Fondation Suisa, Pro Helvetia, and the Swiss Music Syndicate (SMS).
For more informaion, visit: www.jazzahead.de and https://fondation-suisa.ch/en/trade-fairs-events-abroad/jazzahead/.

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United States | New Music USA

New Music USA has published its annual Year in Review which highlights our activities during the 2014-2015 fiscal year. A digital version of this publication is available from the New Music USA website: https://www.newmusicusa.org/yir/2014-2015-year-in-review/.

Here are some more recent developments. First, information about some of our grantmaking activities: Music Alive, administered in partnership with the League of American Orchestras, aims to bring new music to the forefront of our nation’s orchestras and the communities whom they serve. Since 1999, we’ve been advancing new music in these channels, and this year we’re taking an even more active approach. There are two extensions of Music Alive. The first – Music Alive Residencies – focuses on creating deep and innovative approaches to extended, multi-year composer residencies as models for the field. Five orchestras were awarded Music Alive Residencies in 2013, with performances and activities currently ongoing and extending through the 2015/16 season. The second – Music Alive: New Partnerships – focuses on short, one-week residencies to develop new relationships between composers and orchestras who have not previously worked together. For more information, see: https://www.newmusicusa.org/grants/music-alive/
New Music USA also believes in small ensembles and venues. Often artist-led and driven by a Do-It-Yourself ethos, they’re the beating heart of the new music scene.

The New Music Impact Fund is our latest, most ambitious effort to support and promote this sector in New York City. We’re delighted and honored to have our vision shared by the leadership of the Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund of the Scherman Foundation. The Rosin Fund has made this new beginning possible with a three-year $495,000 grant. There has been a lot of buzz in the NYC new music sector around this program. Everywhere we go folks have commented to us about it – first, how great it is that a funder is investing so much in the sector and second, that they are excited about the program itself. The first round of the Impact Fund grant cycle opened on January 21, 2016. You can read the guidelines here as well as a blog post on our website which further describes the new program.

NewMusicBox, the web magazine from New Music USA, continues to publish new content on an almost daily basis. Recent highlights include a conversation with Canadian-born librettist Royce Vavrek who has been the wordsmith behind many of the most cutting-edge recent operas in the U.S., an analysis of the role that producer Teo Macero played in the creation of Miles Davis’s landmark jazz-fusion album Bitches Brew, and an essay on whether the resurgence of vinyl LPs will have impact on the new music community. Another recently posted essay in which the author, composer/singer Mari Esabel Valverde, asserts that sopranos should not be told to curb their vibrato has sparked considerable debate on the site and has had over 20,000 page views thus far.

Finally it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of composer John Duffy (1926-2015) who, in 1974, founded Meet The Composer, which merged with the American Music Center to become New Music USA in 2011. Members of the IAMIC community met John Duffy when he served on a panel during the 2005 IAMIC Conference in New York City. Duffy was a personal mentor to many of us and his broad aesthetic view of what constitutes new music as well as his ideas about the role composers could and should have in our society continues to inform all the work we do at New Music USA.

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IAMIC Board

President: Susanna Eastburn (Sound and Music)
Vice President: Ed Harsh (New Music USA)
Secretary: Michalis Karakatsanis (Cyprus Music Information Center)
Treasurer: Kostas Moschos (Institute for Research on Music & Acoustics)
Urs Schnell (Fondation SUISA)
Gwyn L. Williams (Ty Cerdd: Centre for Welsh Music)
Asta Pakarklyte (Music Information Centre Lithuania)

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IAMIC Communication Working Group

Chaired by Frank J. Oteri | New Music USA, with:
Izabela Zymer | Polish Music Information Centre
Jonathan Grimes | Contemporary Music Centre Ireland
Eva Planková | Music Centre Slovakia
Yanna Papadopoulou | IAMIC Office Coordinator

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IAMIC is member of:

  

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