Travels in Time and Space - reflections on approaching 50 years in acousmatic music

Speaker: Jonty Harrison

Abstract

This presentation explores the close relationship between my compositional thinking and the development of BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), and the fuzzy boundary between composition and performance in the acousmatic domain.

This seminar follows a concert of works from throughout Jonty Harrison's career, which takes place at City on Tuesday 6th December. Please book separately for this event, at the concert webpage.

About the speaker

Jonty Harrison (born 1952) studied at the University of York between 1970 and 1976, before moving to London, where he worked at the National Theatre and City University.

In 1980 he joined the Music Department of the University of Birmingham, where he was Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studios and of BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), which he founded in 1982.

He retired as Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music in 2014 and is now Emeritus Professor. He was Guest Professor of Computer Music at the Technische Universität, Berlin (2010) and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow (2014-15).

He is Compositeur Associé with Maison des Arts Sonores/KLANG! Acousmonium, Montpellier, France.

He has been commissioned by leading organisations and performers (INA-GRM, Bourges, ICMA, MAFILM/Magyar Rádió, Arts Council England, Electroacoustic Wales/Bangor University, Maison des Arts Sonores/KLANG! Acousmonium, BBC) and won several prizes (Bourges, Ars Electronica, Musica Nova, Destellos, Thomas Selig Fixed Media Award/DEGEM, Lloyds Bank, PRS Prize).

His music appears on four solo albums (empreintes DIGITALes, Montreal) and on several compilations (NMC, Mnémosyne Musique Média, CDCM/Centaur, Asphodel, Clarinet Classics, FMR, Edition RZ and EMF).