Katharine Norman: further information

Research activities

CD Recordings

  • Transparent things, Solo CD of piano music and electronic music by Katharine Norman; piano, Philip Mead. Metier Sound and Vision (MSV CD92054), 2000. Works recorded: High Force, Transparent things, Trying to translate, Fuga Interna (opposed sonorities), Bells and Gargoyles, In the stream.
  • London, Solo CD of digital works. Voted a ‘Critics’ Choice’ by The Wire. NMC (NMCD034), 1995. Works recorded: London E17, In her own time, People underground, Trilling Wire (soloist Jonathan Cooper).
  • Losing It on Deep Wireless (Toronto Radio Festival), 2005.
  • Insomnia on Insomniac, performed by New Noise (Joby Burgess/Janey Miller), Priory Records, 2003.
  • Hard Cash (and small dreams of change) on Sonic Circuits V, American Composers’ Forum (Innova 114), 1999.
  • Squeaky Reel on Miniatures Concrètes, Empreintes DIGITALes, Montréal (IMED 9837), 1998.
  • Bells and Gargoyles on This Music is Silent Until You Listen, Discus 6CD, 1996; re-released on Transparent things, 2000.
  • The Future on Network Two, Discus 5CD, 1995. 

Selected Works and Performances

  • Islands of One, 2007, electroacoustic (with text). Commissioned by The Western Front, Vancouver, British Columbia. First UK performance of electroacoustic version, June 2007, De Montfort University, EMS07 Conference.
  • Internet works (2005-7): three interactive new media works, Island Windrose, Bees and Broom and Here and There. Online here.
  • Two Thumbs Up (July 15, 1978), 2005, piano. Commissioned by Clive Williamson. First performance, Guildford International Festival, UK, 16 March, 2005.
  • Last year here was there, 2004, piano, live electronic processing, digital sounds. First performance, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, 12 November 2004 (performed by Katharine Norman).
  • Losing It, 2004. Live electronics/laptop computer. First performance, BLIM Gallery, Vancouver, 11 September 2004. Featured work on Sound Travels festival CD, Toronto, 2005. BBC broadcast August 2007, International Computer Music Conference 2008, Belfast.
  • Insomnia, 2001, percussion, oboe and tape. Commissioned by New Noise (Joby Burgess/Janey Miller). First performance, Blackheath Concert Hall, London, 2001.
  • Helpful Instructions for Circus Performers, 2000, percussion solo. Commissioned by Simon Limbrick. First performance, The Warehouse, London, 2002.
  • Fuga Interna (thirds), 2000, piano. Commissioned by Clive Williamson. First performance, The Warehouse, London, 2000.
  • Fuga Interna (ascent), 2000, piano. Commissioned by Philip Mead. First performance, British Music Information Centre, London, 2000.
  • [b] contained, 2000, clarinet and tape. Commissioned by Galway Arts Festival, Ireland. First performance, Aula Maxima Gallery, Galway; Paul Roe, clarinet, 2000.
  • Lardon Variation, 1999, piano. Commissioned by Stephen Gutman with Arts Council funding. First performance, Dartington International Summer School, 1999.
  • Leonardo’s Lists, 1999, tape, live electronics (composed for dance/live video). Commissioned by Elektrodome and South-West Arts. First performance, The L Shed, Bristol, 1999 (with live video by Brian Newbold and choreography by Emma Payne).
  • Leonardo Sketches, 1999, tape. First concert performance, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 2000.
  • Fuga Interna (sequence), 1999, ensemble and tape. Commissioned by Concorde/Jane O’Leary. First performance, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, 1999.
  • Five-minute wonders: Anything from the minibar?; Oranges and Lemons; You need a cab?; Something Quite Atrocious, 1998– (ongoing), soundscape/radiophonic. Many broadcasts, first performance of all as a set, National Review of Live Arts, Glasgow, 2000. You need a cab? commissioned by Sonic Arts Network.
  • Fuga Interna (opposed sonorities), 1998, piano. Commissioned by Stephen Gutman with Arts Council of England funding. First performance, Purcell Room, London, 1998.
  • Hard Cash (and small dreams of change), 1997, tape. Composed for CD release, selected for Sonic Circuits V (American Composers’ Forum) 1998 and performed/broadcast across USA. Funded by Arts Council of England Composer’s Bursary. First London concert performance, Goethe Institut, London, 1999.
  • Squeaky Reel, 1996, tape. Commissioned for CD by Empreintes DIGITALes, 1996. Broadcast on radio internationally many times.
  • Bells and Gargoyles, 1996, soundscape. Composed for CD release on This Music is Silent Until you Listen (Discus). First concert performance, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 1998.
  • The Future, 1995, tape. Commissioned for radio by Yorkshire Arts, 1995. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 1996.
  • Transparent things, 1995, piano. Commissioned by Stephen Gutman with a Holst Award. First performance, Sutton House, London, 1995.
  • Trilling Wire, 1994, clarinet and tape. First performance, Aarhus Concert Hall, Denmark, Jonathan Cooper, clarinet, 1994. Honourable mention, Luigi Russolo International Composition Competition, 1994.
  • Icarus, 1993, four voices and tape. Sonic Arts Network commission. First performance , Purcell Room, London, Electric Voice, 1993. Selected for ISCM World Music Days, Essen, Germany, 1995.
  • London E17, 1993, soundscape composed for CD. First concert performance, Huddersfield University Electric Spring festival, 1995.
  • In her own time, 1992, soundscape composed for CD release. First concert performance, Princeton University, 1993.
  • Dancing Day, 1992, soprano and horn. Commissioned by Jane Manning. First performance, Princeton University, Jane Manning and Roger Montgomery, 1992.
  • Trying to translate, 1992, piano, tape and live electronics, Arts Council of England commission. First performance, ICA, London, Philip Mead and Stephen Montague, 1992.
  • memory places, 1991, instrumental ensemble, finalist in Alea II Internatonal Composition Competition. First performance, Boston University, USA, conducted Gunther Schuller, 1991.
  • In the stream, 1990. First performance, Internatonal Computer Music Conference, Montreal, 1991.
  • Islanders, 1989, instrumental ensemble. First performance, Princeton University New Music Ensemble, 1990.
  • High Force, 1988. First performance, Stephen Neugarten, British Contemporary Piano Competition, Cambridge, 1988.

Written Publications

Book

Sounding Art: Eight Literary Excursions through Electronic Music. 240 pages (and accompanying audio CD), Aldershot, UK and Vermont, USA: Ashgate, 2004.

Book chapters

  • ‘Pareil à un voyageur perdu’, book chapter in Portraits Polychromes 10: Francis Dhomont, pp 89–98, ed. (and trans.) Evelyne Gayou, Paris: GRM-INA, INA PP10, 2006.
  • ‘Stepping Outside for a Moment: Narrative Space in Two Works for Sound Alone’, book chapter in Music, Electronic Media, and Culture, ed. Simon Emmerson, pp. 217–44, Aldershot, UK and Vermont, USA: Ashgate, 2000. Also republished in Open Space Magazine 3 (Spring 2001), Red Hook, New York.

Papers and commissioned extended articles

  • 'A Wave Across the Auditorium - some aural observations on spaces, sound and sound art' in Absorpsjon og resonans - lyd og mening (Absorption and Resonance - Sound and Meaning) ed. Jøran Rudi (in English and Norwegian), pp 97-107, Oslo: NOTAM, 2008.
  • ‘Local Materials (There’s my Stop)’ in Playing with Words: the spoken word in artistic practice, ed. Cathy Lane, pp 154-60, London: CriSAP/RGAP (distributed by Cornerhouse), 2008.
  • ‘Real-World Music as Composed Listening’, in A Poetry of Reality: Composing with Recorded Sound, ed. Katharine Norman, Contemporary Music Review 15/1–2: 1–26. London: Harwood Academic (now available from Taylor & Francis), 1996.
  • ‘Telling Tales’, in Timbre Composition in Electroacoustic Music, ed. Simon Emmerson, Contemporary Music Review 10/2: 103–09. London: Harwood Academic (now from Taylor & Francis), 1994. Paper also presented at City University, ‘Science and Music’ conference, London, UK, 1992.

Other journals and publications

  • ‘On Mentoring’, in eContact!, the online journal of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. Vol. 8 No. 4. 2005.
  • ‘The Space Between’, a curated sound gallery with accompanying essays for Sonus, Canadian Electroacoustic Community. 2005.
  • ‘Before and After Listening to Judy Klein’s The Wolves of Bays Mountain’, in Open Space Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 3, Red Hook, New York, 2004.
  • ‘Classical Music and Opera’, extended entry in USA 1950s, encyclopedia series, London: Brown Reference Group, 2005.
  • ‘Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Studio’, in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, ed. Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan, and New York: Grove, 2001.
  • ‘Electronic Music’, extended entry in Encarta Encyclopedia, World-English Edition (Microsoft CD-ROM), 1995.
  • Encarta Encyclopedia. Short biographical entries on a wide variety of musicians, both classical and popular, 1995.

As editor:

  • Guest commissioning editor: A Poetry of Reality: Composing with Recorded Sound, Contemporary Music Review 15/1–2, London: Harwood Academic (now available from Taylor & Francis), 1996.
  • Member of editorial board, Soundscape, the journal of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, 2002–06.
  • Editor, program and concert booklets, Eleventh International Congress on Women in Music (sponsored by the International Alliance for Women in Music), July 1999, London, UK.
  • Editor, ARRAY, newsletter of the International Computer Music Association, 1994–96.
    Editor, programme and concert booklets, International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), September 1994, Aarhus, Denmark.