CIME Spain - AEEE

Composer: Gara Hernández Sánchez (Spain)

Sound Diffusion: Adolfo Núñez (Spain)

An epistemology of violated bodies.

Composer: Diana Pérez Custodio (Spain)

Sound Diffusion: Adolfo Núñez (Spain)

Lorca said that in the darkness there are soft branches. That image always floods my mind when I listen to the later music of Nono.

In tribute to Nono, I have created this piece, making some fragments of his Prometheus my own.

Composer: Sergio Blardony (Spain)

Sound Diffusion: Adolfo Núñez (Spain)

Tenor saxophone: LIU Cheng (China)

The Jewish world is the starting point of the work, albeit from a somewhat peculiar perspective: the initial idea comes from the Jewish-German philosopher Walter Benjamin and his philosophical interpretation of history (The Angel of History) inspired by the drawing by Paul Klee entitled Angelus Novus. Benjamin’s philosophical theory also has a point of anchoring in Jewish tradition through a legend of the Talmud, "The new angel". The poem by Pilar Martín Gila that appears in the musical work is equally suggested by Klee’s drawing and Benjamin’s interpretation, and it is this poem that drives the poetic discourse of the piece. Benjamin died in Porbou (it is not known if he committed suicide or was killed by the Gestapo), when he tried to flee to the US from Nazi persecution and was detained in this Catalan border town.

Somehow, this journey cut short by death is also a metaphor for his theory of history: the impossibility of moving away from the past, symbolized by his final paralysis in the old place (Spain) as he headed towards the new world (USA), symbol of progress. From the point of view of the musical material, although in a subterranean way, scarcely perceptible in the listening of the piece, there is a kind of weaving together of references to certain forms of Hebrew song, including Sephardic. Pasaje was commissioned for the HARIA record project, an initiative of the saxophonist David Hernando Vítores, with whom I have collaborated very intensely, researching different aspects of the instrument.

Composer: Emiliano del Cerro (Spain)

Sound Diffusion: Adolfo Núñez (Spain)

This piece is a composition written for electric guitar with a vision of contemporary music of the twenty and twenty-first centuries. The piece is based on Computer Aided Composition and Digital Signal Processing. The main idea of the composition is derived from diatonic theory and mathematical operations. In addition, the work uses stochastic process and self-similarity ideas derived from new mathematical concepts. The piece uses samples recording, Physical model synthesis and Karplus Strong algorithm, and DSP processing to simulate pedals to modulate and change the sound. There is a great lack of literature written for this instrument in so-called classical music. However, there is a whole tradition of electric guitar music in the tradition of popular music, rock and jazz. There are also several composers from contemporary music world that used the electric guitar in a concert music situation: Stockhausen, Branca, Feldman, Tenney, Murail, and several others that tried to joint popular tradition and avant-garde music. The work is presented as pre-recorded audio files distributed over an array of loudspeakers around the audience at the performance space. Cracked neck uses the tradition of guitar music in the fields of Spanish tradition (flamenco style) and the use of pedals for signal transformation used in popular music.

 

 

 

CIME USA - University of North Texas Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia

Composer: Jon Christopher Nelson (USA)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

Bang, Crunch, Bounce is inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity, a theory that strives to create a grand unifying theory that merges quantum mechanics and general relativity. This theory speculates that our known universe is in an infinite cycle consisting of a Big Bang, a subsequent expansion followed by a contraction, or “crunch,” until everything compresses into another Big Bang, from which another universe “bounces” into existence. This work contains numerous bang/crunch/bounce cycles that create a very small set of sonic universes. Within each of these cycles, an acoustic sound world emerges and regresses. Each cycle is exponentially shorter than the previous soundscape, much like the duration of bounces of a ping pong ball become shorter and shorter. Within this work, each sonic environment was selected from among recordings of acoustic environments collected over three decades.

CIME USA - SEAMUS

Composer: Simon Hutchinson (USA)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

Analog synthesizers and other outboard gear have been enjoying a resurgence in recent years, leading to a new trend in “DAWless” performance setups (systems that eschew laptops and software). This renewed interest in analog gear for music production coincides with a renewed interest in analog computing as we quickly approach the limits of our ability to improve on transistor-based chips. Some companies are now exploring hybrid chips that would offer the best of both worlds—the super-speed of the analog with the precision of control of digital. "Ancestor" uses hybrid live electronic performance with both analog and digital synthesis and control, exploring the potential for using the best of both of these musical worlds.

Composer: Marcin Pączkowski (USA)

The title of the piece comes from a nursery rhyme referenced in George Orwell’s book “1984”. Throughout the book the main character struggles to remember the poem’s ending, which is revealed to him at the key moment, right before he is captured: “Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head”. This thread in the whole story resonated with me, as it touches on the volatility of one’s memory, with the backdrop of large-scale manipulation of recorded knowledge performed by the totalitarian regime in the book. While Orwell mostly deals with the memory that exists within humans and memory that’s written down, today we deal with omnipresence of recorded media of multiple sorts, particularly sounds, images, and videos. As we produce larger and larger amount of such records, not only through traditional books, audio records and movies, but also in social media, blogs, podcasts etc., I find it fascinating how we navigate this oversaturated space and how it is being transformed by both large-scale phenomena as well as targeted actions. In my piece I am seeking to explore these transformations by employing a machine learning model that embeds the memory of the piece. While being performed, the piece re-composes itself, as the model is being re-trained to embed new “memories” of the performance gestures. This work is supported by the Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington, as well as eScience Institute with support from the Washington Research Foundation. The piece is realized in 3rd order Ambisonics spatial sound format and employs custom motion sensors developed by the composer.

CIME Chile - CECH

Composer: Nogasu Rausa (Chile)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

We find ourselves in a space between sonic evocation and inner portrait, between suspended listening and emotional residue, where an atmosphere saturated with timbral suggestions is established, shaped through tools drawn from the electroacoustic and acousmatic realms. The title itself offers a clue: there is dissolution, a loss of form, a search for sound as a state rather than as a sign. In this sense, the work aligns with the tradition of musique concrète initiated by Pierre Schaeffer, where sound is valued for its morphology and internal behaviour more than for its cause or reference. Yet, resonances of composers such as Francis Dhomont and Luc Ferrari can also be heard, in the way fragments of the recognisable (such as human voices) are interwoven with purely textural elements, creating an ambiguous, personal, almost confessional sonic narrative. This manipulation does not aim to conceal, but rather to highlight the instability of expression. The words, at times audible, suggest a fractured narrative, a thought in flight, an interior monologue. From a technical standpoint, the piece confidently explores the possibilities of stereo spatialisation - not as a spectacular device, but as a means of distributing the emotional weight of sound across the auditory field. There is a restrained use of spectral modulations, granulations, and layers of filtered noise, which are blended with treated phonographic materials, maintaining a balance between density and emptiness. Timbral forms reminiscent of works by Natasha Barrett or Denis Smalley, and the aesthetic of temporal dissolution so present in Eliane Radigue’s work, may be felt as underlying references. However, this piece maintains a distinct voice, combining those influences with a restrained, deeply subjective expressivity.

Composer: Carlos Garrido /anniexit (Chile)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

Wave Interference constructs a sonic landscape shaped by the interplay of frequencies, digital pulses, and spectral shifts. Rather than adhering to a traditional narrative structure, the piece unfolds as a continuous stream in which sound becomes space. Listeners are invited into an experience of active listening, where each detail emerges within an immersive, ever-evolving sonic environment.

Composer: Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez (Chile)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

Performer: The Dolmen Music Choir

This piece reworks “Geografía” (2012), the piece is focused on both background and lead vocal tracks, placed as rhythmic cells and random, playful melodic lines, respectively. The aforementioned placement allows freedom for listeners and spatializers to tell the tale according to what the work suggests them in real time. It may also be considered as an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) proto exploration.

Composer: Marcelo Espìndola Sandoval (Chile)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

This work was made with audio samples collected from artifacts of different materials such as glass and wood, which are intervened or modified and mixed together generating new timbres. In the same way loops are made with the collected material, which were created randomly. The use of different sounds are intermingled suggesting new timbres by mixing wood and glass. The work fluctuates between processed sounds and silence, using the latter as a development material in the work.

Composer: Claudio Merlet (Chile)

Sound Diffusion: WEN Bihe (China)

Stellium is an electroacoustic work that explores the textures and resonances inherent to the piano, taking them beyond their traditional sound. The title, which in astrology refers to the grouping of three or more planets in the same sign or house, serves as a metaphor for the confluence of sounds and techniques that define the piece. Similar to how a stellium intensifies and colors astrological energy, the work seeks to concentrate and magnify the sound possibilities of the piano through the technique of glissando played directly on the keys and on the strings.