International Masterclass for Composers 2024

International Masterclass for Composers 2024

25 - 27 March 2024 | Lisboa Incomum

The educational and concert platform for new music DME is announcing the International Masterclass for composers, presenting as guest tutors/artists Åke Parmerud and Jaime Reis.

This event will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, on 22-27 March 2024, as part of the Immersive Festival 2024, focused on acousmatic music and immersive audio. Composers regardless of age and residence are welcome to apply.

The event will be divided in two parts:

    22-24 Mar 2024: Festival Imersivo (daily seminars and concerts with Åke Parmerud, Thomas Gorbach, Enrique Mendoza Mejia and Julien Guillamat);

    25-27 Mar 2024: Full-day masterclass with Åke Parmerud ("Composing with modular synthesis") and Jaime Reis (individual lessons - one for each student).

Both seminars and masterclass will be focused on mixed music and acousmatic music.

Deadline for application is February 23rd, 2023.

The tuition fees depends on the following categories:

    · Active participation: International masterclass with Jaime Reis and Åke Parmerud + attendance to Festival Imersivo and seminars (22-27 Mar): €250

    · Active participation: International masterclass with Jaime Reis and Åke Parmerud (25-27 Mar): €200

    · Passive participation: possibility to attend all activities as listener (it does not include an individual lesson) : €150

Portuguese composers (or resident in Portugal) are entitled to receive a grant that will range between €50 and €150. The grant applicants should attach a motivation letter in the formulary with maximum 3000 characters.

Each participant is responsible for her or his travel expenses, accommodation and meals in Lisbon.

Registration form for the International Masterclass for Composers:  https://forms.gle/fismQXmPLwvHf86SA (until February 23rd, 2023.)

– If you want to register only for the seminars during Festival Imersivo, it has a cost of 50€ and you can do so here: https://forms.gle/iySy9XVeQdoRrxTS9

The international masterclass has a maximum numbers of 8 participants, so there might be the need to make a selection of participants.

If you have any questions, feel free to write an email to producao.dme@gmail.com

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25-27 March:

Åke Masterclass Seminars: 3 p.m to 6 p.m.
Composing using VCV rack modular synthesis and other freeware solutions.

Synopsis: Modular synthesis has gained a lot of interest and popularity over the last decade. It is a powerful way of working with both sound design and composition although in a somewhat restricted sense. It is also very expensive to work with hardware eurorack modules which acts as another limiting factor. Using freeware such as VCV rack opens the access to modular synthesis to any composer or musician to explore the possibilities of this technology. However it is important to combine modular synthesis with other ways of composing. The masterclass will deal with both the basics of modular synthesis as well as a broader strategy using combinations of different software approaches to composition.

Åke Parmerud

Åke Parmerud is an artist with a global presence in contemporary music and media art. In addition to his electroacoustic and instrumental music, his body of work encompasses compositions that span a wide cross-section of modern experimental music in areas such as dance, film, interactive art, multimedia, theater, and video. He regularly receives commissions to compose works for international institutions, and in 1997, his piece "Grains of Voices" was performed at the United Nations in New York on United Nations Day. His music has been released on eight solo albums and in several compilation albums. Åke Parmerud is also a stage artist and performs concerts with interactive instruments, often as a soloist. In 1998, he was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

With a background in photography, he continued his studies in music at the University of Gothenburg and later at the Gothenburg University College of Music. Since his work "Proximities" won first prize at the international electroacoustic music festival in Bourges, France in 1978, he has received 17 international awards and three major Swedish distinctions.

On two occasions, he has been awarded the Swedish Grammy for Best Classical Album of the Year, and his music has represented Swedish Radio twice at the Prix Italia, as well as being nominated for the Nordic Council's major music prize.

His artistic activities have led to several international collaborations. Between 1999 and 2006, he worked closely with the Danish group Boxiganga Teater, developing groundbreaking interactive video installations and telematic concepts and interactive solutions for stage performances. From 2000 to 2002, he collaborated with Canadian choreographer Pierre-Paul Savoi as a composer, sound, and software designer. Between 2003 and 2017, he created interactive dance and video performances in collaboration with Canadian choreographer Mireille Leblanc, and together they received the Walter Fink Prize in 2008 for the best innovative dance performance, "The Seventh Sense." He has also worked as a visual designer and composer with choreographer Gun Lund in several works and provided sound design for choreographer Margareta Åsberg's production "A Thousand Years with God."

In the late '80s, he formed a duo with composer Anders Blomqvist. Their live shows, which included fireworks, were successful throughout Europe well into the '90s. From 1999 to 2010, he worked as an innovative sound and software designer for interactive sound and image installations and performances. His own works, "The Fire Inside," "The Living Room," and "Lost Angel," have been exhibited in Berlin, Gothenburg, Leon, Mexico City, Paris, and Reykjavik. He has also curated concerts and served as the artistic director for large audio- visual events both indoors and outdoors, including at the World Music Days in Stockholm in 2002. Since 2002, he has worked with Olle Niklasson at the sound design company Audio Techture, which received the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in Berlin in 2015.

Jaime Reis

Jaime Reis (b. 1983) is a Portuguese composer.

He studied Composition and Electroacoustic Music with João Pedro Oliveira, Emmanuel Nunes, and K. Stockhausen. He continued his Ph.D. Studies at Nova University in Ethnomusicology. 

Reis’ music is informed by both his keen interest in cutting-edge research in the natural sciences and his abiding attention to Asian musical - and indeed spiritual - traditions.

One of his focuses is the dynamics of forms, forces, and fluxes in music. He explores spatial polyphonic paths through dome-shaped immersive sound systems.

Another striking feature of his music is the presence of fairly complex concepts that underpin the construction of his pieces, whilst not in any manner distracting from their sensible beauty. Ideas work as hidden functions which, their intellectual rigor notwithstanding, generate voluptuous musical forms.

Reis is a Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music in the Lisbon College of Music (ESML), and a researcher at the Nova Institute of Ethnomusicology. He is the artistic director of Festival DME and of Lisboa Incomum, both of which develop an intense activity of research and creation in contemporary music.

His music has been performed worldwide by ensembles and musicians such as Christophe Desjardins, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Aida-Carmen Soanea, Ana Telles, Ensemble Fractales, Ensemble Horizonte, Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa, Machina Lírica, Orchestre de Flûtes Français and Aleph Gitarrenquartett.

http://jaimereis.pt/

Monika Streitová, flutist and Professor at the University of Évora

retrieved from jaimereis.pt; last update: May 2020
fotography: @Sofia Nunes