Open Circuit 2017

Friday, 24^th March 2017

workshop Realtime Music - 11am

This workshop introduces secondary school students to the practice of using computers to connect action, sound and video in a real-time performance setting. Following brief discussions of fundamental concepts, participants will gain hands-on experience working with graphic programming environments and will make sound and music collaboratively using various digital interfaces, such as game controllers and drawing tablets. Reserve a ticket.

concert Digital Game Pieces - 1pm

Drawing upon the interactive quality of video games, digital game pieces feature dynamic audiovisual scores that simultaneously guide the production of music and react to the real-time decisions of players. This event features realisations of two digital game pieces that use sound from acoustic instruments as game controller, albeit in significantly different ways. Performances will be followed by a discussion with the audience. Reserve a ticket.

concert Grunting into the Machine - 7pm

This concert explores a variety of different approaches to rethinking the relationship between the performer, the composer and computer intervention.  Martin Parker’s GruntCount, an improvised but rehears-able composition for performer and computer, takes a brute force approach to technological interaction: both the performer and the computer play a series of musical sounds (grunts) which set off a chain reaction of mutual influence.  Harry Whalley’s Clasp Together invites the performer to control their own neurological responses during performance.  Other improvisations and pieces will explore the boundary between improvisation and composition. Reserve a ticket.

Saturday, 25^th March 2017

concert Swedish Meatballs - 7:30pm

The RLPO’s Ensemble 10/10 performs a concert of music curated by guest conductor Christian Lindberg. Lindberg’s programme surveys new and innovative approaches to writing for chamber ensemble by emerging young Swedish composers Andrea Tarrodi, Jan Sandström and Per Egland as well as work by the conductor himself. Reserve a ticket.

Monday, 27^th March 2017

concert Electronic Music and Video Art Showcase - 1pm

Open Circuit presents an immersive audio and visual experience, featuring electronic music and video art selected from the Open Circuit international call for works. Reserve a ticket.

talk Enda Bates: The Spatial Composer as Illusionist - 2:30pm

In this talk composer Enda Bates discusses the practical and artistic use of space in electroacoustic music for multiple loudspeakers. The metaphor of an illusionist is used to emphasis the sometimes fragile nature of musical space, particularly in a performance context, and to underline the importance of an appreciation of the actual listening experience of the audience. A variety of different spatial 'illusions' are discussed in terms of their technical production, how they operate on a perceptual level, and their use in original works of electroacoustic music by a number of different composers.

concert Flute and Electronics with Richard Craig - 7pm

Richard Craig is renowned as a performer of challenging new music for flute and electronics. At the centre of his work is the development of contemporary repertoire through commissioning works from well-established and emerging composers. In this concert he will premiere a new arrangement for flute and voice of Steven Takasugi’s The Flypaper as well as performing three world premieres by University composers Matt Fairclough, Liam Carey and Ian Costabile. Reserve a ticket.

Tuesday, 28^th March 2017

talk Philippe Manoury: Recent Music for instruments and electronics - 4pm

French composer Philippe Manoury is known for his work with instruments and computer sound. He was a pioneer in this field, collaborating with Miller Puckette in the 1980s at IRCAM in Paris on a series of pieces that pushed the boundaries of interactions between performers and computers. These innovations included new strategies for ways in which computers process live sound and methods for teaching the computer to understand where the performer is in a musical score. His work with Puckette also led to the creation of the electronic music making programme known as Max/MSP, which is now widely used by composers, musicians and sound designers.

concert Pixels Ensemble - 7pm

This concert is centred around Philippe Manoury’s Partita I for viola and realtime electronics, which combines cutting-edge electro-acoustic interactivity with the traditional form of the baroque suite. Other works curated by Pixels Ensemble explore the theme of composers' responses to older music, including the Open Circuit 2017 commission by composer Mic Spencer and a new work by festival director Ben Hackbarth for piano and electronics. Reserve a ticket.

Wednesday, 29^th March 2017

concert House of Bedlam - 1pm

Three new works exploring relationships between music and narrative through projected text. Joe Snape’s (music and text) Disappointment and Small Relief, Hospital Scenes tells the story of a doomed romance between Out Hero (a photosensitive in-patient at an eye clinic) and You (an ophthalmologist with a strobe like smile). Larry Goves’ (music) and Matthew Welton’s (text) The book of Matthew is a ‘setting’ of part of a poem of the same name; a collection of 39 hauntingly beautiful variations arranged according to Roget’s Thesaurus. Tithonus, Drunk, by Laurie Tompkins (music) and Sam Quill (text) is a short soap about life of the sauce for four instrumentalists, electronics and projected drinker. Reserve a ticket.

workshop Sound Recording and Production - 2:30pm

The music department’s head sound technician offers a workshop to adults who are interested in Digital Audio Workstations, the software-based production environments which are at the heart of most recorded music production. Realtime recordings of live musicians will be made and then used to demonstrate how modern recordings are assembled. The aim is to de-mystify the notion that big recording studios are needed to make professional sounding recordings, and to show how the modern producer takes advantage of the creative potential and high quality of affordable recording setups.

Please note there is limited availability for this workshop which will have a maximum capacity of 15. Reserve a ticket.

concert Open Works and Improvisation - 7pm

The Merseyside Improvisers Orchestra, under the direction of Ged Barry, present a wide variety of compositions, improvisations, and everything in between. This program celebrates performer agency and collaborative authorship by showcasing open works of the twentieth century, contemporary compositions by local composers, and directed improvisation. Reserve a ticket.