(AGENPARL) – mer 07 giugno 2023 Prima edizione del concorso di composizione elettroacustica tridimensionale
per Sonosfera® e Rassegna di concerti acusmatici 3D.
ISAC-2023
INTERNATIONAL
SONOSFERA
AMBISONICS
COMPETITION
“Eugenio Giordani”
Rassegna di concerti
acusmatici 3D
Pesaro, 7-9 Giugno 2023
INTRODUZIONE
ISAC-2023, l’International Sonosfera® Ambisonics Competition “Eugenio
Giordani” è la prima edizione del concorso internazionale di composizione
elettroacustica tridimensionale, per lo spazio tecnologico Sonosfera®,
l’anfiteatro per l’ascolto profondo di ecosistemi e musica di Pesaro.
Negli ultimi anni, il salto in avanti delle tecnologie software di manipolazione
delle componenti spaziali del suono non è stato seguito dalla costruzione
di luoghi appositi che abilitano l’ascolto pubblico tridimensionale. Pesaro,
città creativa Unesco della musica, ha di fatto ben 2 di questi spazi pubblici:
S.P.A.C.E. (Soundscape Projection Ambisonics Control Engine) laboratorio
di ricerca e produzione presso il Conservatorio “G. Rossini”, e Sonosfera®
il teatro mobile di grande capienza di pubblico, ora ai Musei Civici.
Per le sue caratteristiche architettoniche, elettroacustiche e di acustica passiva,
Sonosfera® è di fatto uno strumento perfetto per l’innovazione linguistica nella
musica di ricerca. In Sonosfera® lo spazio – al pari dell’altezza e della durata
dei suoni – può diventare un parametro compositivo senza limitazioni
di direzione, dimensione, distanza di ogni singolo suono e relazione prospettica
tra i suoni. La musica può essere così estesa all’intero dominio sferico intorno
agli ascoltatori, in un’esperienza di realtà virtuale condivisa, ben diversa dalla
‘solitudine’ generata dai visori VR, dove il suono in cuffia non realizza quasi
mai un risultato sensoriale soddisfacente.
ISAC-2023 vuole richiamare l’attenzione internazionale, e orientarne la creatività,
su queste nuove possibilità del pensiero compositivo e della fruizione pubblica
della musica elettroacustica, distaccandosi dagli approcci commerciali sul suono
effettistico 3D dei dispositivi di consumo, al fine di dare corpo agli approcci
di innovazione linguistica – artistica e scientifica – propri della musica di ricerca
di ambito accademico, con radici nella storia della musica elettroacustica ‘colta’
praticata da gruppi di ricerca nelle Università e Conservatori di tutto il mondo.
Due le giurie: la prima nazionale composta da docenti di Conservatori italiani,
tutti ex-allievi della storica Scuola di Musica Elettronica del Conservatorio Rossini
che il M° Eugenio Giordani ha diretto per 40 anni; la seconda internazionale
con le prestigiose collaborazioni dell’Università di Stanford, di Vancouver
e di Oslo. Un numero di 77 candidati (c.ca 100 composizioni) hanno risposto
alla call da 26 paesi del mondo e sono stati selezionati tra le categorie
di “electroacoustic music” e “soundscape composition” per l’alta qualità artistica
e tecnica necessaria per “mettere in risonanza” uno spazio complesso e tecnologicamente
unico come Sonosfera®. A tal fine i 5 premiati potranno venire a Pesaro in una
breve residenza per realizzare il missaggio finale delle composizioni in Sonosfera®.
Queste verranno poi eseguite in un concerto “acusmatico“ (aggettivo derivante
dal termine greco akusmatikoi che indica l’ascolto del suono svincolato dalle
proprie cause fisiche, come lo era la voce di Pitagora che parlava ai suoi discepoli
senza essere visto). Sarà possibile fruire il concerto in Sonosfera® il 9 Giugno 2023
dalle ore 19.00 in prima esecuzione assoluta e in repliche durante la serata.
Al concerto delle 5 composizioni premiate, sono stati affiancati altri 3 concerti:
quello delle restanti 5 composizioni in short-list, quello di Natasha Barrett
(presidente di turno della giuria internazionale ISAC-2023, a conclusione della sua
Masterclass in Conservatorio) e un ascolto-concerto delle migliori composizioni
degli studenti del decennio 2013-2023 del corso di laurea di Musica Elettronica
LEMS-SPACE.
Una rassegna, pertanto molto specifica, di ‘arte acusmatica’ proveniente da
approcci compositivi elettroacustici e digitali di frontiera, che in Sonosfera®
potrà essere fruita nel buio completo tramite 45 altoparlanti in geometria sferica,
contemporaneamente attivi per la riproduzione del suono con un altissimo
grado di definizione dello spazio tridimensionale. Un’esperienza sensoriale
e cognitiva unica che il pubblico ascolterà ad occhi chiusi potendo entrare,
attraverso le qualità prospettiche abilitate da Sonosfera®, in veri e propri paesaggi
sonori dell’immaginazione.
David Monacchi
Sito internet del concorso:
https://isac-pesaro.github.io/
Call internazionale:
https://isac-pesaro.github.io/call.pdf
ISAC-2023
Guest International Jury:
Natasha Barrett – President (NSAM – Norway)
Chris Chafe (CCRMA – USA)
Rainer Kern (Germany)
Otolab (Italy)
Barry Truax (SFU – Canada)
Steering Committee:
Nicola Casetta
Carmine Emanuele Cella
Tommaso Giunti
David Monacchi
Alessandro Petrolati
Sonosfera® Curators:
David Monacchi
Daniele Vimini
Silvano Straccini
Produced by:
Ass. Cult. Fragments of Extinction
Si ringraziano in particolare l’Assessore alla Bellezza del Comune di Pesaro Daniele Vimini
per aver voluto questo concorso, il direttore della Fondazione Pescheria Silvano Straccini
e Camilla Iaccarino per l’operatività di Sonosfera®, Nicola Casetta per la collaborazione
organizzativa, Tommaso Giunti per gli elementi grafici e procedurali del concorso e della
rassegna, Alessandro Petrolati per la cura del sito internet, Carmine Emanuele Cella
per la collaborazione nei criteri di selezione del concorso, Matteo Rombolini, Cristina
Lupinelli, Paolo Tarsi per la comunicazione, oltre a Gianni Galdenzi e Silvia Melini
per la fondamentale parte amministrativa. Il concorso è dedicato permanentemente
al M° Eugenio Giordani, professore del Conservatorio “G.Rossini” di Pesaro, la cui passione,
competenza e professionalità vivono nelle generazioni di studenti e docenti di Musica
Elettronica a Pesaro, in Italia e nel mondo.
ISAC-2023 è sostenuto dal Comune di Pesaro, voluto dall’Assessorato alla Bellezza,
prodotto dall’organizzazione no-profit Fragments of Extinction in collaborazione
con la Fondazione Pescheria e il Conservatorio Rossini, nell’alveo degli eventi
anticipatori di Pesaro Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2024.
RASSEGNA DI CONCERTI
ACUSMATICI 3D IN SONOSFERA®
Mercoledì 7 Giugno
11.00 Conferenza Stampa ISAC-2023 (presso Sala dei MarmiConservatorio “G.Rossini”)
14.30 Masterclass I di Natasha Barrett (presso LEMS Conservatorio “G.Rossini”)
Giovedì 8 Giugno
09.30 Masterclass II di Natasha Barrett (presso LEMS Conservatorio “G.Rossini”)
18.00 Concerto di Natasha Barrett, Presidente Giuria Internazionale
ISAC-2023 (presso Sonosfera®)
19.00 Concerto dei 7 migliori laureati LEMS-SPACE 2013-2023
(presso Sonosfera®)
21.00 Replica concerto Natasha Barrett (presso Sonosfera®)
Venerdì 9 Giugno
16.00 Concerto delle 5 composizioni in short list (presso Sonosfera®)
18.00 Cerimonia Awards ISAC-2023 (presso Sonosfera®)
19.00 Concerto dei 5 premiati (presso Sonosfera®)
20.00 Replica concerto delle 5 composizioni in short list (presso Sonosfera®)
21.00 Replica concerto dei 5 premiati (presso Sonosfera®)
22.00 Possibile replica concerto dei 5 premiati (presso Sonosfera®)
Per l’iscrizione alla Masterclass di Natasha Barrett consultare:
https://www.conservatoriorossini.it/masterclass-2022-23/

Natasha Barrett Masterclass

Per tutti i concerti della rassegna, ingresso gratuito, info e prenotazioni
CONCERT N.1
experiencing. ‘Speaking Spaces no.1: Heterotopia’ is a journey from a forest
to a winter shoreline. The work was commissioned by EAU (Electric Audio Unit)
with support from the Norwegian Composers’ Fund.
“Impossible Moments from Venice” (2023)
On September 1st 2022 I landed in Venice for the first time. This was to be
the final field-trip in the project. Loaded with expectations about history and culture,
and influenced by how Venice has featured in the literary fiction of some of our
great writers, my goal was to explore this city of islands, canals and bridges.
Happy to be there outside the peak tourist season, and a year after cruise ships
had been banned from the lagoon, I walked, listened and recorded. The tall
and narrow buildings mislead a GPS and cast you into watery dead-ends, while
a blind corner may reveal a hidden diagonal bridge leading to a passage the width
of a person, transporting you directly to where you had intended to go.
Capturing reality seemed impossible. The sounds, the acoustics, the light,
the people, and whether the concept of the Venetian as a native inhabitant
still exists, created a paradox of past, present and expectations of the future.
18.00 Concerto di Natasha Barrett, Presidente Giuria Internazionale
ISAC-2023 (presso Sonosfera®)
21.00 Replica del concerto (presso Sonosfera®)
NATASHA BARRETT
Soundscape composition in Sonosfera®
Final concert of the masterclass, and opening
of ISAC-2023 feestival
Natasha Barrett’s concert represents a unique opportunity to listen to an
undisputed master of electroacoustic composition in one of the best venues
in the world for her specific spherical music. Starting from 3D recordings
of concrete sounds and external environments, the composer’s work develops
in the genres of sound documentary, transformation and soundscape composition,
using an impressive palette of spatial-audio compositional techniques.
Program:
1. “Speaking Spaces no.1: Heterotopia”
2. “Impossible Moments from Venice 1”
3. “Impossible Moments from Venice 2”
“Speaking Spaces no.1: Heterotopia” (2021)
I can no longer remember when I realised: rather than hearing the dog bark,
the hawk screech, the traffic or the child, I instead heard the forest, the mountain,
the rock-face, the city. It was something more than the spaces speaking with
the voice of their acoustic reflections. These encounters contradicted my normal
perception and became transformative experiences during my walks through
the landscape.
To me these spaces were now constructed from more layers of meaning than
immediately evident to the eye and ear. ‘Speaking Spaces’ is a series of works
that explore these alternative conceptions of common space. Without knowing
what to call this irst composition I stumbled across Foucault’s concept
of Heterotopia as a mirror, which seemed to embody much of what I was
(25’00”)
(6’48”)
(7’42”)
“Impossible Moments from Venice 1” creates music from an impossible moment
juxtaposing floating iron piers, vaporetti (water buses), the jostling behind the scenes
of the graceful gondolas from 5 am to 8 pm and the sound of distant boats rolling
across the lagoon late in the evening
“Impossible Moments from Venice 2” reveals the outdoor city squares, a fishmonger
and church bells, from many vantage points, and ends with a fortuitous recording
exemplifying the clash of cultures living side-by-side in this city. The sound materials
were recorded with an MHAcoustics EM32 4th order ambisonic microphone,
two Dolphin Ear hydrophones and two DPA 4060s. Thanks to the Conservatorio
di Musica Benedetto Marcello Venezia for hosting my visit.
Natasha Barrett (1972) composes concert works, public space sound art installations
and multimedia interactive music using a broad palette of sounds, new technologies
and experimental techniques. She is internationally renowned for her electroacoustic
and acousmatic music, and use of 3D sound technology in composition. Her work
is commissioned and performed throughout the world and has received over
20 international awards including the Nordic Council Music Prize, the Giga-Hertz
Award (Germany), five prizes and the Euphonie D’Or in the Bourges International
Electroacoustic Music Awards (France), two first prizes in the International Rostrum
for electroacoustic music and most recently the honorary Thomas Seelig Fixed Media
Award for 2023. She regularly collaborates with performers, visual artists, architects
and scientists, is active as a performer of live electronics and spatial audio, and as
a researcher has a track record in both artistic and academic publications.
CONCERT N.2
CONCERT N.3
19.00 Concerto dei 7 migliori laureati LEMS-SPACE 2013-2023
(presso Sonosfera®)
16.00 Concerto delle 5 composizioni in short list (presso Sonosfera®)
20.00 Replica del concerto (presso Sonosfera®)
LEMS-SPACE graduate students
selection 2013-2023
ISAC 2023 5 compositions in short list
This concert is comprised of some of the best productions that students of the
Electronic Music course at the Conservatory G.Rossini of Pesaro composed
over the first 10 years of activity of S.P.A.C.E. the first full periphonic HOA
studio and public venue in Italy (2013) at LEMS Laboratory (Electronic Music
Studio founded in 1971 by Walter Branchi and directed for more than 40 Years
by Eugenio Giordani).
Program:
1. “Onirico”
by Tommaso Giunti
2. “Simple_Test”
by Enrico Francioni
3. “Articulation Transfer”
by Alessandro Guerri
4. “Noise Knockout”
by Lorenzo Mandolesi
5. ”Craftal”
by Michelangelo Mattoli
6. “One Day More”
by Andrea Gori
7. “Shaking Like Sparks”
by Matteo Tomasetti
For details please see separate program
notes available at the concert.
(8’00”)
(9’58”)
(4’42”)
(9’59”)
(9’55”)
(5’48”)
(8’13”)
This concert is comprised of the 5 compositions that were selected for the overall
final short list of 10 compositions. Despite their excellent technical and artistic
ranking in the first and second selection phases of the competition, these
composition could not be awarded but are definitely of outstanding artistic level.
Program:
1. “The Silent World”
by Simonluca Laitempergher (Italy)
2. “Female Child System, Imprisonment”
by Anthony di Furia (Italy)
3. “Kýkloi alpha & beta”
by Ernst van der Loo (Holland/Norway)
4. “Yohkoh-The sonic journey of a photon
by Gregory Beller (France)
5. “Das Dach mit seinem Schatten
by Anna Maly (Austria)
(10’00”)
(10’00”)
(7’52”)
(8’32”)
(3’21”)
“The Silent World” (10’00”)
The piece, re-modulated for the purposes of a collective concert experience, follows
the extreme practice of free diving, with the various phases of the dive – as codified
by the personal notes of sportsmen and athletic trainers – mapped and used as a formal
structure: heart rate variations and arrhythmias, blood pressure changes and progressive
lung emptying, the contact with the target, the moments of lethargy, the controlled
emergence. By superimposing mimetic enunciation with sound abstractionism,
the piece traces imaginative parallels departing from the physical journey, suggesting
an emotional, almost psychological-existential path. The silent world proceeds
geometrically through the two phases of immersion and emergence. The deepest point
is an anti climax; a moment of stillness and contemplation, an almost-silence to be
abandoned quickly on returning to the surface to breathe.
“Female Child System, Imprisonment” (10’00”)
The composition attempts to tell an imaginary story through a “sound fable”. A female
child with beautiful eyes, she is incarcerated alone in a huge prison, completely dark
and without windows. She is unable to speak, the only glimmer of communication
is represented by the sound she hears by hitting one of the steel bars in her suspended room.
Through this sound, transforming it into her mind, she embarks on a dreamlike
journey; along the way, her imagination gains strength and, trying to limit it, builds
a “sound mosaic” that slowly falls apart to gently lead her into a parallel reality, removing
the emptiness of her perception, finally returning to her prison, keeping her life altered.
She doesn’t fight, she just teaches who she is. And the “sound fable” continues…
The composition is inspired by a recurring dream and a very dear friend of mine.
The composition was made only with synthetic sounds, starting from the sound
simulation of a steel bar.
“Kýkloi alpha & beta” (7’52”)
The piece is dedicated to – and is celebrating – the 100th birthday of Iannis Xenakis.
Countering the common reflex to mimic Xenakis ’mathematical composition
techniques, “Kýkloi Alpha Beta” (cycles alpha and beta) is more concerned with
the physicality and violence of his sound world.
“Yohkoh-The sonic journey of a photon” (8’32”)
Yohkoh means ray of sunshine in Japanese. Yohkoh is the music of the life of a photon.
Born at the heart of the sun, the nuclear fusion makes it bounce from atoms of helium
in atoms of hydrogen. After the radiative and convective zones, the photosphere
and the chromosphere, it is expelled from its native sun by a coronal mass ejection.
Quickly leaving the solar system, it will cross other galaxies until be snatched by
a black hole. Then… For bringing the sensation of the speed, I created a “spiral synthesizer”
the parameters of which are controlled by the motion of the body. The hands control
the aphelia, the center and the speed of each spiral, but also some timbre parameters.
So the interactive part of the composition is inside the making of the piece.
CONCERT N.4
19.00 Concerto dei 5 premiati (presso Sonosfera®)
21.00 Replica del concerto (presso Sonosfera®)
22.00 Possibile replica del concerto (presso Sonosfera®)
ISAC 2023 AWARDED COMPOSITIONS
1st Prize: “Khemenu”
by Nikos Stravropoulos (Greece/UK)
2nd Prize: “Weightless”
by Otto Iivari (Finland/Estonia)
3rd Prize: “ní nán”
by Wei Yang (China/USA)
(8’19”)
1st Mention: “Scène aux champs”
by Jean Marc Duchenne (France)
2nd Mention: “La porta nel dado”
by Jakob Gille (Germany/Austria)
(9’36”)
(7’14”)
(9’59”)
(9’36”)
“Das Dach mit seinem Schatten” (3’21”)
The goal of my compositional practice is to create something new. Creating something new
is the one often overlooked thing that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot do. These AI
algorithms are only able to reproduce what they have learned. In order to create something
new I use a very old-fashioned technique: Analysis-Resynthesis. Stockhausen already did it
in 1955 with his Gesang der Jünglinge, and we all did it in our musical education when
we first analysed the composition techniques of the big masters before we learned
to compose by ourselfs. The analysis-resynthesis algorithm calculates the parameters
in the analysis step to resythetisize the original signal in the synthesis step.
1st Prize: “Khemenu” (8’19”)
The name of the work, Khemenu is derived from Egyptian mythology and refers to
The Ogdoad, a group of eight primordial deities worshipped in ancient Egypt. The group
consisted of four male and female couples who are symbolising the balance between
the primary elements of the cosmos. The notion of the Ogdoad (group of eight) is also
found in early gnostic belief systems and ancient astronomy and cosmology (eight
celestial bodies), as well as Chinese mythology (eight immortals). Eight is also the number
of channels in a 2nd order Ambisonic recording (A Format), the technique used to capture
the raw materials for the work.
The resynthesized signal is nearly indistinguishable from the original signal. So after
resynthesis I have the original sound like I had in the beginning. But I also have something
else: the parameters that were used for resynthesis. A recording of my own voice transforms
into an opera vibrato, transforming into a cello string, transforming into fluctuating partial
tones. The something new enables us to synthetically generate natural sounds and in addition
having the parameters to shape the sounds as we want them to.
Khemenu is part of a series of works which explore the notion of aural microspace
an area of acoustic space, which cannot be inhabited due to physical constraints,
and whose aural architecture is only accessible when mediated by recording technology.
In this case, sound materials for the work were recorded exclusively with a 2nd order
ambisonic microphone in an effort to capture and work with three-dimensional
spatial detail at source. These recordings were processed using tools which catered
for multichannel sources in order to embed the characteristics of the sources’s aural
architecture in the development of new materials. This is not to say that the acoustic
space captured in the recordings is retained in processed sounds materials, but rather
that it ermeates, it informs the aural architecture of resulting materials once the original
has gone through processing.
Nikos Stavropoulos (Athens, Greece, 1975) is a composer of predominantly acousmatic
and mixed music. He read music at the University of Wales (Bangor, Wales, UK), where
he studied composition with Andrew Lewis and completed a doctorate at the University
of Sheffield (England, UK) under the supervision of Adrian Moore. His music is performed
and broadcast regularly around the world and has been awarded internationally
on several occasions. His practice is concerned with notions of tangibility and immersivity
in acousmatic experiences and the articulation of acoustic space, in the pursuit of probable
aural impossibilities.
Since 2006, he has been a member of the Music, Sound & Performance Group at Leeds
Beckett University (Leeds, England, UK), where he is a Professor in Composition
and lectures on Electroacoustic Music. He is a founding member of the Echochroma
New Music Research Group, a member of the British ElectroAcoustic Network (BEAN)
and the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association (HELMCA).
2nd Prize: “Weightless” (7’14”)
Weightless is a spatial electroacoustic piece made for ambisonic system. The piece
is inspired by the choreographic principles of Rudolf von Laban’s Effort theory.
The piece uses manipulated field recordings, instrumental and vocal recordings with
a fresh connection to the musique concrète tradition. Each sound object expresses
weightless movement behavior based on Laban’s studies of human movement and dance.
Weightless was the creative outcome of my master’s thesis research project where
I wanted to explore the experienced similarities between visual movement
and movement of sound.
Otto Iivari (b. 1987) is a Finnish master’s student in The Estonian Academy of Music
and Theatre, specializing in electroacoustic composition. His works are mainly acousmatic,
spatial electroacoustic music composed for multichannel settings and ambisonic system.
Iivari likes to draw influence from natural sound phenomenas and present them
as magnified, new dimensions. Space and the movement of sound are crucial elements
in Iivari’s music. After recently spending an exchange semester in IEM Graz, Austria,
Iivari is currently studying with Malle Malt is and his 2022 piece Th? won the Europen
Student Competition for spatial electroacoustic music.
3rd Prize: “ní nán” (9’59”)
The title spells the Chinese word ?? which means speaking in a low voice, and can be
roughly translated to murmur, whisper, mutter. Hidden behind the simple description
of the sonic property, the word itself is often associated with a constellation of sentiments
nostalgia, intimacy, tenderness, to name a few. The piece itself is based on a studio
recording of Melia her bowing viola near the bridge with the strings damped.
The composition draws from its rich expression, resulting from the physical effort
implied in producing the sound, as well as the sonic oscillation between noise, tone,
and silence, which in the piece are sometimes kept distinct, but other times transform
from one to another, generating ambiguity echoing the title.
Wei Yang is a composer/sound artist from China. He works with different mediums,
through which he often contemplates the body’s role in sound production, sound in space,
as well as the integration of various data from the performance environment (reverberation,
light, etc.). Wei composes both instrumental and electronic music, and often uses various
sensors/physical computing to build performative systems that allow dynamic interaction
among different components.
His works have been presented in various places, including China, United States, Poland,
Japan, Finland, Canada, Austria, Germany, France, Mexico, Brazil, and Switzerland.
Wei received his Doctor of Musical Arts from University of Washington under the supervision
of Joël François Durand. He is currently a PhD student at the university’s Center for Digital
Arts and Experimental Media, working closely with Richard Karpen and Joseph Anderson.
1st Mention: “Scè ne aux champs” (9’36”)
A tribute to “Scène aux champs” from the “Symphonie fantastique” from Hector Berlioz.
This piece represents in a way an inverse approach of the romantic symphonic poem:
instead of using the means of orchestral music to suggest, represent or even simulate
natural elements, it starts from naturalistic phonographies to create a form of narration
that leads to the musical. But it is especially the notion of “fields” which interested me here,
in the first sense of course which determined the choice of the type of sound recordings,
but especially in that of the loudspeaker and auditory production fields, near and far,
through the particular case of the capture and the ambisonic processing. The first important
thing for me was to consider the action of decoding as a way to extend the subjectivity
of the sound images, and to treat it in the same way as we used photographic development,
to perhaps optimize what was inscribed on the film, but also to push it towards something
more original, more expressive.
Parametric decoding, as it is available today, allowed me at first to respond to the diversity
of the spatial images I had selected, by applying it to each sound according to its
characteristics and what I wanted to accentuate. But if certain captures were sort
of “landscapes”, with an image of distance that was coherent with the way the sound
was diffused, others could be captures of proximity, whose spatiality and materiality
no longer agreed with the real distance of the projection, and could only give perhaps
a good illusion for a few well placed auditors. I then took advantage of the means
offered by parametric decoding to dissociate on certain sounds the part of the diffuse
waves and that of the direct waves, in order to distribute them on two complementary
zones of space: the “natural” external dome and the interior part of the holophonic space,
which could thus constitute a kind of small interior dome.
Jean Marc Duchenne is born in 1959, he works and lives in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
region in France. After classical musical studies of clarinet and instrumental compositions,
he has devoted himself entirely to acousmatic creation since the 1980s. He particularly
likes to explore the diversity of listening situations, notably through installations and original
louds peaker environments, and how the integration of the spatial dimension in the conception
of works and in the creation of sounds gives rise to new forms and expressions. He composes
exclusively in his personal studio, which has followed the evolution of compositional
techniques while ensuring compatibility with different conceptions of space, up to the
78 channel holophonic/volumetric space of the Acousmonef today. It is open to the public
and to composers for training and broadcasting.
2nd Mention: “La porta nel dado” (9’36”)
“La porta nel dado” is an electroacoustic ambisonic composition that explores the theme
of creation from destruction, taking the listener on a transformative journey within an
immersive soundscape. Inspired by Pierre Henry’s Variations pour une porte et un soupir
from 1963, the piece begins with familiar soundscapes that take on a dierent form and
meaning through the spatialisation techniques employed. As the soundscape progresses,
the initial sonic elements are completely deconstructed and destroyed, leaving behind
a small, bristling sphere.
This sphere then unfolds into space, filling the entire ambisonic sphere and creating new,
ever-changing rhythmic patterns. The composition continues to evolve as the rhythms
undergo a series of transformations, eventually collapsing until something seemingly
different emerges at the top of the sphere, still resembling the rhythms from before,
but with completely new material. Throughout the creative process, the primary challenge
was to seamlessly weave together disparate sonic materials while maintaining a coherent
overarching narrative of creating something new out of destruction, opening doors from
order to chaos and back again.
Jakob Gille began his formal education at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber
Dresden, where he studied composition and music theory with Franz Martin Olbrisch
and Thomas Zoller. His passion for sound and experimentation led him to institutions
such as the ZKM Karlsruhe and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, where he worked with the
Akusmonium GRM Paris and the Studio für elektronische Musik HfM Dresden respectively.
Jakob Gille is the driving force behind Into Sound, an initiative that has organised multiple
concerts for 3D loudspeaker setups since its inception in 2018. In 2022, Jakob Gille joined
the Catalyste Institute as a lecturer in room acoustics and conducted workshops on
ambisonics. In the same year, he participated in an artist residency at Encircled Audio
Studio. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in computer music and sound art
at KUG & IEM Graz.
Sonosfera® is a mobile technological amphitheatre for deep listening of ecosystems
and music, designed for Pesaro UNESCO City of Music by David Monacchi
opened to the public in Dec 2019. It is equipped with an array of 45 custom-built
loudspeakers isotropically positioned in a spherical space (with the only exception
of the nadir area) with perfect internal acoustics. Sound-transparent circular
terraces lift the audience above an acoustically ‘active’ lower hemisphere,
while the upper one is also equipped with a 360° projection screen with horizontal
resolution of 24k. Sonosfera® puts listeners at the centre of soundscape, in the
darkness of a stimulating acousmatic sensorial experience, sometimes lighted
up by visual analyses of sound.
Sonosfera® was originally designed and built specifically for the spherical
reconstruction of HOA field recordings carried out in primary tropical rainforest
ecosystems, within the long-term scope of the project Fragments of Extinction.
But Sonosfera® is, of course, capable of reproducing any 3D-soundfield with
up to 6th-order ambisonics spatial resolution, including new creations
of electroacoustic, soundscape, and integrated audio-visual compositions.
For this reason ISAC-2023 represents the first occasion to use this perfect
3D-sound instrument and venue, within a framework of contemporary research
in music and sound/visual creation.