City As Game / City As Concert Hall

PROJECT: GEO-TAGGED SOUNDWALKS

This edition of locativeadio was exploring the hybridisation of spaces and mor in particular the Concert Hall and the Urban City, in order to dissolve their physical boundaries to become a creative continuum. It focused on experimenting with three different systems to connect the Soundwalk Audioguide Tours with the Concert Hall, via geotagging. Participants in the Tours sent information to The Noise Upstairs locativeaudio guest Ensemble and the Audiogame performances. Physical geo-soundwalk Tours will happen in Manchester, UK and for the first time, simultaneously in another city in the USA (Virginia).

LOCATIONS:
There are a number of geotagged soundwalks for June 29th 2012 event:

• Whitworth Park Soundwalk (Manchester, UK)
• Heaton Park Soundwalk (Manchester, UK)
• Blacksburg, Virginia Soundwalk (USA)

SOUNDWALK SYSTEMS:
We are expeimenting with thee prototypes to connect the walks with the concert hall:

• NoTours Augmented Aurality tools (for Android)
  - Develped by notours.org and escoitar.org
• SonicMaps Audio Geotagging system with Unity3D (for Androd and iOS)
  - Developed by Ignacio Pecino at NOVARS Research Centre
• SoundToys Media Tours
  - Developed by Andrew Dolphin and Kingsley Ash at Leeds Metropolitan University

 

PROGRAMME

Friday 29th June, 2012 - From 12:00 to 17:00
Place: John Thaw Studio Theatre, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, University of Manchester.
All events are 100% free!
Activities: Workshops, live performances, audioguide tours in town and virtual presence.

WELCOME, TALKS (Drinks Reception)
Place: G16 (MHC)
Time: 12:00-12:50

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MEDIA INSTALLATIONS: AUDIOGAMES; THE VIRTUAL CITY
Place: MHC Foyer and G16 (MHC)
Time: Ongoing from 12:00 - 17:00

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LIVE MUSIC EVENTS
Place: John Thaw Studio Theatre, (MHC)
Time: from 13:00-17:00

• LIVE EVENT ONE: 4 Hands iPhone/14 hands on a Manchester Car boot Sale
  Time start: 13:00 - 13:45
• LIVE EVENT TWO: IMMERSIVE GAME-AUDIO WORLDS
  Time start: 14:00 - 14:50
• LIVE EVENT THREE: THE ACOUSMATIC CITY
  Time start: 15:00 - 15:50
• LIVE EVENT FOUR: TALKS, PRESENTATIONS AND FINAL DISCUSSION
  Time start: 16:00 - 16:50
  

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AUDIOGUIDE TOURS: SOUNDWALKS & PARKS
Workshop: Studio Cluster, NOVARS Research Centre (for futuresound students only starting at 11 am)
Departures: from 14:00 to 16:00
Participants are recommended to bring comfortable shoes for the walks and water proof chothing or portable umbrellas in case of bad weather. In case of crossing streets before reaching the park, it is imperative to take the headphones out.

PROGRAMME DETAIL
FRIDAY 29th June 2012
Martin Harris Centre (MHC), University of Manchester, UK

 

11 am: Workshop for Futureworks school (UCLAN)

WELCOME AND TALKS
Place: G16 (MHC)
Time: 12:00-12:50

• 12:00 Welcome: Drinks reception
• 12:10-12:30 Presentation: Listening to the City / Listening to Ourselves by Roddy Hawkins (2012); commissioned text.
• 12:30-12:50 Exploring Interactive Media Installations (list below)

MEDIA INSTALLATIONS: AUDIOGAMES; THE VIRTUAL CITY
Place: MHC Foyer and G16 (MHC)

Time: Ongoing from 12:00 - 17:00

• SU-Bahn Sonicography by Iain McCurdy - Interactive sound mapping installation in which visitors are invited to explore physical channels in the piece's surface with their finger tips.
• Interactive work by Ivica Ico Bukvic (installation version)
• Urbanvinyl by Mathias Fuchs - a virtual interactive world (installation version)
• Locally Toned by Teresa Foley - video documentary
• Sound Toys by Andrew Dolphin - E.g. MagNular: A collaborative sound toy in which players operate virtual magnets to create sound particle object collisions, resulting in clusters of sonic events. For 1-4 players.
• BMus Students Showcase - 2nd year students' coursework for the course Sounds for Digital Entertainment at University of Manchester
• NOVARS OpenSim by Ignacio Pecino- Select your avatar and Interact in this second-life like 3D virtual world created by the Interactive Media Group at NOVARS Research Centre.

• LIVE MUSIC EVENTS
  Place: John Thaw Studio Theatre, MHC.
  
  LIVE EVENT ONE: 4 Hands iPhone/14 hands on a Manchester Car boot Sale
  Time start: 13:00 - 13:45
  

  • 4 Hands iPhone: Atau Tanaka & Adam Parkinson - Adam & Atau exploit a commonly available consumer electronics device, the Apple iPhone, as an expressive, gestural musical instrument. The device is well known an iconic object of desire in our society of consumption.
  • 14 hands on a Manchester Car boot Sale: New piece by Julio d'Escrivan -
    Audiences are encouraged to bring small-size found objects from Manchester for the performance (which may have interesting sound properties; e.g. bell-like objects, etc)
    

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  LIVE EVENT TWO: IMMERSIVE GAME-AUDIO WORLDS
  Time start: 14:00 - 14:50
  

  • Hồ- a Sonic Expedition to Vietnam by Ricardo Climent:
  • New Interactive Media work by Ignacio Pecino:
  • New Sound Toy by Andrew Dolphin-Kingsley Ash:
  • Live feed from Blacksburg, Virginia -Interactive work by Ivica Ico Bukvic

LIVE EVENT THREE: THE ACOUSMATIC CITY
Time start: 15:00 - 15:50

• Soundscape of Manchester (2012) 6:13 - Danny Saul
• The Noise Upstairs Piece ONE
• Cross:World (2012) 6:53- Nick Casswell
• Environ-cycle (2012) - Michael Lau
• Bus Piece (2012) (movement) - Brona Martin
• Nijo (2009) 13:00 by David Berezan
  

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LIVE EVENT FOUR: TALKS, PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION
Time start: 16:00 - 16:50

• Presentation by Frauke Behrendt - Title: "The sound of locative media"
• The Noise Upstairs "Guytonville"
• Presentation by Alex Allred - Manchester: Explorations of Meaning in the Sounds of the City
• Urbanvinyl by Mathias Fuchs - a virtual interactive world -
  
• CLOSURE

AUDIOGUIDE TOURS: SOUNDWALKS & PARKS
Worshop: Studio Cluster, NOVARS Research Centre
Departures: from 14:00 to 16:00

VICTORIA PARK, HEATON PARK AND BLACKSBURG TOURS

Victoria Park: Smartphones required ANDROID (with GPS, WIFI, 3G )

• Felipe Otondo - Soundcapes from Chile and other cities
• Enrique Tomas - NoTours
• Horacio Gonzalez- Escoitar
• Sonic-Metaontology Tours (Mark Pilkington, Brona Martin, Ricardo Climent, Suk-Jun Kim, Nacho Pecino)
• Narrations/ Original Texts by: Roddy Hawkins, Alex Allread, Caitriona Devery, Dr Melanie Giles and Prof Sian Jones, Angela Connelly, Alexander Pope / Voice actress for audioguides: Jenny Novitzky / Gordon Delap

Heaton Park: (Manchester North)
ANDROID (with GPS, WIFI, 3G )
iPhone, iPad (with GPS, WIFI, 3G)

• “Alice: Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady” by Ignacio Pecino

Backsburg TOURS:
ANDROID (with GPS, WIFI, 3G )

• Augmented Aurality Soundwalk by Ivica Ico Bukvic
  
• 
  

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BIOGRAPHIES OF PARTICIPANTS

Mathias Fuchs -Salford University/ Universität Potsdam, Institut für Künste und Medien
Mathias Fuchs, (* October 20, 1956 in Erlangen/ Germany), studied computer science in Erlangen and Vienna (Vienna University of Technology), and composition in Vienna (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien) and in Stockholm (EMS, Fylkingen). He holds degrees in Computer Science (Diplom Ingenieur), Electroacoustic Composition, and a PhD (Dr. phil).
Mathias Fuchs has been a university lecturer at University of Applied Arts Vienna, The University for Industrial Design in Linz, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, and at University of Potsdam.
Following a commissioned piece for "Synreal: The Unreal Modification",[1] a games exhibition organized by Institute for New Culture Technologies/t0, and curator Konrad Becker, Mathias Fuchs started working on, and increasingly focused on game art.
He has pioneered in the field of artistic use of games[2] and is a leading theoretician on Game Art and Games Studies. He is an artist, musician, media critic and currently Senior Lecturer at the University of Salford.

Julio d'Escrivan - Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
Julio d'Escriván is a composer who uses music technology, both for concert music, and in its applications to film, video and new media. He is at present helping set up the Digital Performance Laboratory as part of the University's Cultures of Digital Economies Research Institute. Between 1991 and 2003 he was a successful writer/producer of music for film and TV for Latin America and the Caribbean region, working on national and international advertising campaigns as well as documentaries and feature films and shorts.
Julio has been twice winner of awards at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, France, in 1987 and 1989. He has also won awards for his film (Festival de Mérida, 2008) and advertising work (Premios ANDA) in Venezuela as well as mentions in the National Composition prizes there. His music has been performed at numerous music festivals in countries such as The Netherlands (Gaudeamus), Spain (Centro Reina Sofía), The Basque Country (Festival Klem), France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Argentina, Sweden, Mexico, Norway, U.S.A. and Venezuela. His work has been broadcast in America and Europe on stations such as BBC Radio 3, VPRO Amsterdam, Radio Nacional de España, and RAI (Italy) among others.

Frauke Behrendt
Dr. Frauke Behrendt is leading the EPSRC-funded research project Smart e-bikes, understanding how commuters and communities engage with electrically-assisted cycling and is on the Steering Committee of the European COST Action on Sonic Interaction Design and of the International Workshop of Mobile Music Technology. In addition, she is a member of NYLON (international research network in sociology, history and cultural studies), and the Centre for Material Digital Culture (Sussex University). Previously, she has held positions at the University of Sussex and as Visiting Assistant Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (US). She completed her PhD on ‘Mobile Sound. Media Art in Hybrid Spaces’ at the University of Sussex and holds an MA in Cultural Studies from Leuphana University in Germany.

Andrew Dolphin - Leeds Metropolitan University
Andy Dolphin - a composer & digital artist currently working as a lecturer in Music, Sound & Performance at Leeds Met University, UK, and in the final stages of completing a PhD at SARC (Sonic Arts Research Centre), Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Previously I worked as a music technology lecturer (HE & FE) for 6 years at Northbrook College, Worthing and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Brighton. I completed my MMus at Goldsmiths and BA Hons in Sonic Art at Middlesex University. He has quite a few areas of interest within the field of computer music, but many recent projects have focused upon the exploration and practical application of computer game and physics engine technologies in the creation of creative works in the fields of sound art and music composition. Themes of play, allocation of compositional control to players, user accessibility and symbolic representations of sound, synthesis and music control parameters are often key themes in the game engine projects.
Andrew has a keen interest in acousmatic music and composing multichannel electroacoustic works, creating skewed suggestive sound environments from constrained themed materials. In my spare time I enjoy making electronica.

Kingsley Ash - Leeds Metropolitan University
Kingsley Ash is a composer and performer of electronic music specialising in interactive computer
music systems. He has performed in venues across Europe and the USA, with recent work at the
International Computer Music Conference, Pixilerations Festival and the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking
Festival. Kingsley studied Astrophysics at Manchester University and is currently working in the
Music, Sound and Performance Group at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Felipe Otondo - University of Lancaster
Studied acoustics in Chile where he started composing and performing music for experimental theatre developing several performance projects with actors and musicians. In 1999 he moved to Denmark to undertake post-graduate studies in sound perception at Aalborg University focusing on spatial sound and timbre perception. He studied composition at the Carl Nielsen Academy with Anders Brødsgaard where he composed and performed various compositions and took part in several interdisciplinary projects with visual artists. For several years he worked as a research fellow at the Acoustic Technology unit of the Danish Technical University in projects exploring the directional characteristics of musical instruments for room auralizations in collaboration with IRCAM.
In 2005 he pursued his composition studies at the University of York in England with Ambrose Field and Roger Marsh focusing on electroacoustic composition and music theatre. His works have been performed in festivals across Europe, Asia and the Americas and received the first prize at the 2008 Citta di Udine International Composition Competition and the second prize at the 2008 CEMVA International Composition Competition in Brazil. He also collaborated with Neil Sorrell in the music for the BAFTA-award winning radio play The Glass Man commissioned by BBC radio 4.
Felipe is currently a lecturer at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts at Lancaster University where he teaches composition and music technology. His research interests involve: electronic music, sound art, spatial sound, site-specific works and interdisciplinary projects.

Atau Tanaka - Goldsmiths University, London
Before moving to Goldsmiths University, London, Atau Tanaka held the Chair of Digital Media at Newcastle University, and is Director of Culture Lab. He has conducted research at IRCAM (Centre Pompidou), has been Artistic Ambassador for Apple France, and was the first artist to become researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) Paris.
Atau’s first inspirations came upon meeting John Cage during his Norton Lectures at Harvard. He moved to Europe in the 90’s and formed Sensorband with Zbigniew Karkowski and Edwin van der Heide. He then moved to Japan and came in contact with the noise music scene, playing with Merzbow, Otomo, KK Null and others. In Tokyo he was artist in residence at NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), and visiting professor at Keio University SFC.
He helped to establish the conference, New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). His research in this area covers biosignal interfaces, networked performance, and mobile locative media. With the democratization of these technologies, he looks at the societal impact of creative practice with digital media in major projects for the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Digital Economy Hub, Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy (SiDE).
Atau has released solo, group, and compilation recordings on labels such as Sub Rosa, Bip-hop, Caipirinha Music, Touch/Ash, Sonoris, Sirr-ecords. His work has been presented at Ars Electronica, SFMOMA, Eyebeam, V2, ZKM, and has received support from the Fondation Daniel Langlois. He was Artistic Co-Director of the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) and mentor at the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA, UK).

Adam Parkinson- Culture Lab Newcastle
Adam Parkinson is a PhD candidate based in Culture Lab and ICMUS.
He likes to program in Max / MSP and Pure Data, and has been developing musical iPhone apps for live performance and improvisation. He uses iPhones in the duo 'Atau and Adam', with Atau Tanaka.
His music ranges from glitchy, textural improvisations to bass heavy dancefloor assaults and avant garde disco pop.
He has done remixes for Maximo Park, Dextro, Si Begg and Cakeboy (and Chris De Burgh too, but he doesn't know about it), and had music released on Entr'acte, Noodles, Mutate Records and others.

Roddy Hawkins - University of Leeds / University of Manchester
Roddy is a Teaching Fellow in Music at the University of Manchester. He lives in London.
His doctoral dissertation looked at the emergence of the term 'New Complexity' in Britain with a focus on reception and cultural politics. He is concerned in all his work to examine the role of ideology in the way music is put to use in societies, both today and in the very recent past.
He was the co-convenor of the international conference 'The Symphony Orchestra as Cultural Phenomenon' alongside Duncan Boutwood, which took place in July 2010 at the Institute of Musical Research in London (with support from the British Academy). A conference proceedings is currently in process.
He has taught courses and modules in Aesthetics, Popular Music, Composition and Music History as well as supervised dissertations, Research Skills training and individual and group tutorials, both at the University of Leeds and in his current position at Manchester.
Roddy is an occasional composer and plays bass guitar regularly in different bands in London and the south-east. He also writes about music and society for non-specialist periodicals and blogs.

Enrique Tomas - Austria/Notours.org
Enrique Tomás (Madrid, 1981) is a sound artist. He started his musical studies at the age of 12 in Spain. In 2004, after finishing his MSc. in Telecommunications Engineering and becoming a dissident from academic composition academy, he started to exhibit his work. He has been responsible for interactive sound art works like “Algorithmic Echolocation” exhibited at SONAR 05 Festival, Ars Electronica 2005, Observatori Festival 2006 and Sevilla’s Contemporany Art Biennial 2008. In 2005 he started to work for Medialab Madrid (known as Medialab Prado nowadays) for the production of media art works, exhibitions and events. His second project “EMI (Experimental Music Instruments)” in colaboration with David Cuartielles and Koray Tahiroglu was exhibited in Ars Electronica 2006 and La Noche en Blanco de Madrid 2006. Focusing in new interfaces for musical expression, EMI played in Finland, Sweden, Piksel Festival in Norway, Spain... From the experiences lived as educator in Electrolobby Ars Electronica 2006, he starts the Libre Art Software collective RecursiveDog (exhibiting and performing in Electroloby Instituto Cervantes Berlin, Facultad Bellas Artes Valencia, etc) for the development of open source tools and code for artistic production. In 2007 he founded Atmosfera::Sustrato_Ruido, a Spanish guerrilla that uses only noise as material in architectural interventions and performances showed in Madrid and Sevilla. In the last months of 2007 he got a Research Fellowship position in the Robotics Lab at the UC3M University in Madrid, developing some parts of the social robot Maggie, focusing in musical lenguaje possibilities for human to robot interaction. In 2008 he produces the work Life Floor for Laboral, in colaboration with Román Torre and Jorge Cano, exhibited in Laboral in Homo Ludens Ludens exhibition and selected for the permanent exhibition at the new museum of Ars Electronica in Linz. Since August 2008 he lives in Linz, when he accepted and invitation for working in Futurelab Ars Electronica, developing three sound installations for the composer Rupert Huber that will be permanently showed in the new Viena’s Airport. As an educator he has developed many workshops about interactive art and interfaces for musical expression in different institutions and festivals: Madrid, Helsinki, Linz, Berlin, Bergen, Mexico, Sevilla, Cuenca… As a electroacustic music performer, as known as “ultranoise” he has shown his noise in galleries, clubs and festivals in Spain, Mexico, Austria, Norwey, Finland, Sweden and Germany. Since 2008 he is part of the electroacustic music trio Endphase with the composers Alberto Bernal and Joao Pais.

Horacio González - Galicia/ Escoitar.org
Fine Arts degree and PHD student in Design an Engineering at University of Vigo, Horacio González is a Secondary School teacher in Galicia since 2005. He is currently teaching at the University of Vigo in a Master to prepare future Secondary School art teachers and collaborating with Escoitar.org and VHPlab collectives as an artist and a developer. His creative work involves augmented reality, online maps and designing interactive interfaces and applications. He has participated in several international exhibitions and workshops such as "Gateways" at Kumu (Tallinn, Estonia), "Banquete" at ZKM (Karlsruhe, Gemany), "Google Art, or How to Hack Google" at New Museum (New York, USA) or "Summerlab 2010" at Laboral (Gijón, Spain).

Ivica Ico Bukvic - Virginia Tech, USA
The art of composer and intermedia sculptor Ivica Ico Bukvic (b.1976) is driven by the notion of ubiquitous interactivity. Fueled by a synergistic outlook, his work is a balancing act between scientific research of new multimedia technologies for the purpose of betterment of the overall quality of life and a pursuit of new forms of artistic expression using newfound tools. This passion for art and technology coupled by a traditional music background has empowered him to defy preexisting forms and even challenge the very foundations, yet do so without sacrificing their lasting appeal. His opus encompasses aural and visual, acoustic and electronic, performances and installations.

Teresa Foley- Locally Toned, USA
T. Foley makes interactive installations, videos and public art projects in which emoticons talk to people, blow up dolls drive cars, and people make and share regionally-based ringtones. Described as a “Jenny Appleseed of media literacy,” she works to democratize mass media by encouraging others to express their creativity. Within her art projects, and as a consultant or director of initiatives for arts nonprofits, Foley designs and facilitates experiences that empower people to access, analyze and/or produce media for themselves. Through her ongoing public art project, Locally Toned, Foley helps the public create original ringtones that are shared free-of-charge via the Web (www.locallytoned.org) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). She’s performed ringtones in Valencia Spain and at the Megapolis audio art festival in Baltimore, MD; and has conducted recording sessions with communities in Berlin, Germany, Bridgeport, CT and Pittsburgh, PA. Recently, Locally Toned was included in the show, “It’s for You,” Conceptual Art and the Telephone, at the Housatonic Museum of Art (a show that also featured telephone-inspired artworks by artists John Cage, Christian Marclay, Yoko Ono and Adrian Piper). Foley has directed artist-led initiatives at The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, the True/False Film Festival, GirlsFilmSchool, and CCA Santa Fe. She holds a BA in English Literature from Duquesne University, and studied filmmaking, video production, and Balinese painting and woodcarving techniques as an independent student. She has been awarded fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and The Pittsburgh Foundation, and artist residencies by new media design firm Deeplocal, Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Iain McCurdy - Berlin / Northern Ireland
Iain McCurdy is a composer of electroacoustic music and sound art originally from Belfast and currently based in Berlin. Having come from a background of writing for fixed medium, more recent work has focussed on sound installation, exploring physical metaphors of compositional structures through the creative use of electronic sensors and innovative human interface design. Physical designs are minimalistic, using primary shapes and colours and utilising instinctive user inputs. I use the program Csound extensively in my work and a didactic catalogue of examples can also be found on this site along with mp3s of my music for fixed medium and videos of my installation work.

Patrick Sanan - California Institute of Technology
Patrick Sanan is a graduate student in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Caltech. He received a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a BA in Mathematics-Applied Science at the University of California, San Diego and a Master's in Electroacoustic Music Composition at the University of Manchester. He is interested in physical modeling and sound sythesis.

Ricardo Climent
Ricardo Climent works in areas of music composition and interactive media, involving the use of audio and visual metadata. Since 2006 he serves as Co-Director of the NOVARS Research Centre, University of Manchester in UK and previously held a lecturing position at SARC, (Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast). Ricardo has also served as resident composer and researcher at the JOGV Orchestra in Spain; Conservatorio of Morelia in Mexico; Sonology - Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo; LEA labs, at the Conservatorio of Valencia; the Cushendall Tower- In you we trust; Northern Ireland, at CARA- Celebrating Arts in rural Areas, cross-border Ireland, N.K. Berlin and at the Push Festival, Sweden.
He was involved in the creation of a number of collaborative projects, such as: The Microbial Ensemble, (sound installation performing microbes, with Dr Quan Gan); The Carxofa Electric Band (a children's project with vegetables and Electronics with iain McCurdy); The Tornado-Project (a cross-atlantic set of works for flute, clarinet and computer for American wind virtuosi Esther Lamneck (clarinet) and Elizabeth McNutt (flute)); Drosophila Tour (a dance-theatre work of a blind fly with KLEM and Idoia Zabaleta); Hồ- a sonic expedition to Viet nam, (a 3D interactive interface project for planetariums), project manager for S.LOW, (a cross-disciplinary project in Berlin) and for Locative Audio, a project about sound in cities using smartphones, in partnership with NoTours, escoitar and Institutions in UK and abroad)

Ignacio Pecino
Ignacio Pecino initially studied Physics from 1994 at the University of Seville (Spain) and graduated as a Sound Technician (Fundación Audiovisual de Andalucía) in 2001. Both fields finally led into a BMus(Hons) Degree in Music Composition at “Conservatorio Superior de Malaga” where he worked as a sound engineer and a lecturer. In 2007, he attended master classes with members of the INA-GRM in Paris Daniel Teruggi, Parmegiani Bernard and Francois Bayle.
His multiple interests range from acousmatic and spatialisation to semiotics, cybernetics and perceptual organization. All these disciplines are then explored in the context of virtual 3D environments with an emphasis on ontological interactions within the virtuality continuum (Reality > Augmented Reality > Augmented virtuality > Virtual Reality). He has been commissioned orchestral works by the “Malaga Symphony Orchestra” (“Granado/2 “(2010), “El creador del creador”(2011)) and premiered acousmatic and audiovisual works at MAEM’07 (Madrid), “Festival Zeppelin 2010″ (Barcelona), “Primavera en la Habana 2010″ (Cuba) and “MANTIS Festival 2010/11″ (Manchester,UK).
Ignacio has recently completed a Master on Electroacoustic Music Composition at Novars (University of Manchester) where he was granted the Harry Clough Award. He is currently a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Ricardo Climent.

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NOVARS COMPOSERS (for fixed media concert)

Danny Saul
Danny Saul is an experimental musician, performer and composer from Manchester, UK. Aside from his solo work, his involvement in a variety of projects over the past few years have included an ongoing improvisational partnership with Greg Haines (working under the name Liondialer), and a number of collaborations and live performances with notable contemporary experimental musicians, including Ben Frost (performing “Music for 6 Guitars”, at Iceland Airwaves 2007, Reykjavik), Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, Xela and Simon Scott.
Danny has played in the UK, Europe, the U.S. and most recently Tokyo, where he performed an improvised laptop/acoustic guitar & voice set, to visuals by video artist Shimada Ryohei (“Four Spectacles”). He runs the experimental label White Box Recordings, and has to date released two solo albums, “Harsh, Final.” (White Box, 2009), and “Kinison – Goldthwait” (Hibernate Recordings, 2010)
Danny graduated from Salford University in 1998 with an upper second class BA Hons in Popular Music & Recording. He is currently studying a MusM in Electroacoustic Composition, under the supervision of Dr David Berezan at the NOVARS research centre, Manchester University.
His interests include instrument/laptop improvisation, real-time composition and performance, and aesthetics of electroacoustic music.
Websites: http://www.dannysaul.com http://whiteboxrecordings.co.uk

David Berezan
After completing a BA in History (1988) at the University of Calgary, a Diploma in Composition (1996) at Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton) and a MMus in Composition (2000) at the University of Calgary, David Berezan moved to the UK and completed a PhD in Electroacoustic Composition (2003) at the University of Birmingham (UK) with Jonty Harrison.
He has composed works for solo instruments and ensembles, electronics and instruments, solo electronics, and collaborative interdisciplinary work, but his primary focus is acousmatic music. He is also a practitioner and proponent of sound diffusion performance and the interpretation of fixed-media work.
David Berezan has been awarded in the Bourges (France, 2002), Luigi Russolo (Italy, 2002), Radio Magyar (Hungary, 2001), São Paulo (Brazil, 2003, ’05), L’espace du son (Belgium, 2002) and JTTP (Canada, 2000) competitions. He has worked in residence in the studios of The Banff Centre of the Arts (Canada, 2000, 07), ZKM’s Institut für Musik und Akustik (Germany, 2007), GRM (France, 2007), IMEB (France, 2007), ESB (Switzerland, 2005), and Tamagawa University (Japan, 2007).
In 2003, he was appointed Lecturer and Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Manchester (UK) and he founded MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound).
His work is published by Empreintes DIGITALes.
http://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/berezan_da/

Brona Martin
Brona graduated with an MA in Music Technology from the University of Limerick in 2008. She is currently pursuing a PhD in electroacoustic composition at the NOVARS Research Centre, University of Manchester, supervised by Dr David Berezan.
Research interests and influences include: found sounds, space, visuals, experimental film, noise, audio/visual perception, sound design, sound art, minimalism, dance.

Mark Pilkington
Mark Pilkington is a performer and composer of electronic and electroacoustic music. Interested in fusing together audio/visual structures that can be manipulated from a score or improvised in real-time thus presenting performances that question traditional concepts of art, music and technology. He works in the areas of screened works, recordings, installation and live performance. Currently a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester (UK).Graduated with an MA in electroacoustic composition from the University of Huddersfield in the UK 2004. He has completed the Summer Intensive Electroacoustic Workshop at the Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX) in Paris, France 2005 and presented a paper 'Audio/Visual' composition at the BETA conference at FACT Liverpool 2005. Mark also runs his own audio/visual label called ‘TUM' - www.thought-universe.co.uk.
As the recording artist Thought Universe Mark performs electronic music - Skam (UK), Sonic World Service (UK), Mainline (DK), DalRiada (UK) and Recordcamp (USA) have released his music. He has performed in the UK, Europe and the USA. With live and recorded radio broadcasts around Europe via the EBU.Currently he is a lecturer /educator on the BA Music Production at Futureworks/UCLAN, Manchester. Sound Designer for various computer games companies. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Composition at the NOVARS Research Centre, the University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr Ricardo Climent and Dr David Berezan.

Michael Lau
Born in Hong Kong, Michael is a instrumental and electroacoustic composer. Graduated from 2009 in Hong Kong Baptist University with music composition, Michael's interests include acousmatic music practice, sound spatialisation, ambisonics.
He studied MusM in Electroacoustic Composition at NOVARS (University of Manchester) in 2010-11 (subject to graduation) and has started PhD in 2011 with Dr Ricardo Climent.

Craig Burguess
Craig is a master student at the NOVARS Research Centre and staff at futuresound (UCLAN)

Nick Casswell
Born on 25 July 1974 in London, Cassell studied at the Dartington College of Arts in Devon (1993–1996) and at the University of York (1998–1999). Thereafter he completed his PhD studies in composition at the University of Leeds. [1]
In 2000, his string quartet composition "Papillon" won the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society’s Millennium Composing Award and was also performed at the 2001 Gaudeamus Music Week. The first movement of his "The Transformation and Other Stories" earned him the title of most promising composer at the 7th International Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn. In 2003, "Temporal Trajectories" for percussion quartet was awarded second prize at the 2nd Jurgenson International Young Composers Competition in Moscow. Under a fellowship awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, he conducted research into the Korean folk music sanjo at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. Nicholas Casswell is currently Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Performing Arts at University of Central Lancashire, Preston.[2][1]

 

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The Noise Upstairs LOCATIVE AUDIO ENSEMBLE: (Provisional List)

Keith Jafrate is a saxophonist and writer who has performed throughout England, and toured in North America and Europe. He gained a reputation in the 80’s as a jazz-poet with his band Sang, and has since specialised in creating lyrical, spacious and bleak settings for his own texts. Working somewhere between jazz, improv and contemporary music, he has composed for bands from duo up to octet, writing challenging and beautiful vocal parts and bringing together musicians from a variety of backgrounds to perform his work. He is a member of jazz/electronica trio orfeo 5, half of the improvising saxophone duo Wolf Scarers, and formerly a member of sax quartet Hornweb. He is also the lyricist for folk group Army of Briars, whose CD of the same name was released by Discus in 2008.

Richard Knight has been using mixers since a young age, but only realised their potential as expressive instruments within the past few years. During this time he has amassed a formidable collection of audio mixers and investigated their curious musical possibilities. He's interested in using their potential for improvisation, precisely structured 'techno' music and the diverse area between.

Dave Birchall was born in Leicester and started playing the guitar there in 1995. He moved to Manchester in 1999 and still live here. His work as a musician has been in several areas: in improvising within and without structures and in writing and arranging music. At present he am focused on working on developing ideas for improvising with guitar. He has also worked with zines, promoting gigs and in education.

Hervé Perez plays the landscape and the urban environment alike – metal bridges and wooden floors, wisps of water clapotis and wind pipes…
It started with rattling the railings and the next thing you know you are drumming public benches. An offence well worth the penalty of eternal silence. Confined in the motifs of muffled footsteps and veiled hushes. absence of thoughts. field recordings of emptiness. an architecture of sound sculpted to reveal the harmonic imprints of sacred spaces and those corruptly filed in the forgotten folds of consumed phat.

Rodrigo Constanzo is a Spanish-American performer and composer living in Manchester, England. He is an avid improviser and performs regularly using home made electro-acoustic, and modified electronic instruments. He has performed at the FUTURESONIC and Manchester Jazz Festivals in Manchester, the SOUND Festival in Aberdeen, and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. He has released several CDs including an improv duo CD with Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, and most recently, I AM YOUR DENSITY, a large ensemble improv composition which includes the graphic score with it. He is currently working towards an MA in Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Manchester and involved in several projects including Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern, an improv based performance-art group. He also co-runs The Noise Upstairs, an improv collective and label which puts on monthly nights and quarterly workshops in Manchester and Sheffield.

Ben Cottrell is a composer and saxophonist. He studied on the prestigious Joint Course between the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music, where his principal study was contemporary classical saxophone. Ben is the musical director of the Beats & Pieces Big Band, which he founded in 2008 as a vehicle for his own compositions and arrangements, and since then the band has established a reputation as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging jazz groups. In March 2011, Beats & Pieces were named as the winners of the European Young Artists’ Jazz Award, one of the continent’s major jazz prizes for emerging musicians, held as part of the Burghausen International Jazz Festival in Germany.

Simon Prince is one half of the improvised flute & piano duet "Our Liberated Winter" & is a saxophonist in the group "Wolf Scarers, who will perform at The Noise Upstairs in July. He directs Oldham Youth Contemporary Music Group & is currently working on a contemporary ensemble take on the music of Eric Dolphy.

Mauricio Pauly is a Costa Rican composer and electric bass player based in the UK. He is co-director and founder of the Distractfold Ensemble and of the Altavoz Composers. He performs with the Manchester-based trio, A Greater Horror and teaches at the Royal Northern College of Music. His music has been performed by ensembles and soloists including L’Arsenale, JACK Quartet, Asamisimasa, ACME, Ikarus Chamber Players, Vertixe Sonora and Francesco Dillon, among others. He received a Staubach Honoraria commission for the 2010 Darmstadt Courses. Upcoming premieres include: Dal Niente Ensemble at Darmstadt 2012; and Eunoia Quintett at the Luxembourg Philharmonie Talea Ensemble at the Harvard University; Karin Hellqvist at the Ultima Festival in Oslo. A studio recording of his latest string quartet by the JACK Quartet will be released at the end of the year. In 2011, Mauricio was awarded the Costa Rican Authors and Composers Association Composition Prize.

Anton Hunter - guitar. Anton co-runs The Noise Upstairs, a Manchester and Sheffield-based improvisation night and performs regularly with improvisational groups including Takahashi's Shellfish Concern. He is also interested in the blending of improvisation and composition, and explores this boundary in his quartet HAQ and, more recently, the Anton Hunter Trio. With The Beats & Pieces Big Band he won the European Young Jazz Award 2011. Web here

Rob McWhirter is a guitarist, teacher and a composer. He has performed in various musical settings from Metal, Prog rock, big bands - even prostituting himself as a part of a function band, but now focuses on Jazz and contained improvised music. Rob spent a lot of his time teaching, either running workshops or one to one he has recently reduced this to concentrate on composition.