[Jeu de temps / Times Play 2024]

Artists and Submissions

25^th Jeu de temps / Times Play

Artists

Submissions

Jonathan ALEXANDRINE — storm (6:01)

For this 97-track composition, I experimented with a personal approach for atmospheric surround electronic music using recordings from the Doepfer modular system and some Ableton processing in post-production. Each part of the composition transitions seamlessly into the next, resulting in a logical journey. I believe that surround music is the future of electronic dance music — especially in live events such as raves, festivals, concerts, exhibitions, etc. — and it is time to innovate toward that direction.

Jules BASTIN-FONTAINE — Composition pour hautbois, distorsion et sons fixés (9:00 / 2024)

Composition pour hautbois, distorsion et sons fixés is a study on insistance. It was recorded and premiered by the oboist Léanne Teran-Paul.

Jules Bastin-Fontaine is a Montréal-based composer and tuba player. During his collegiate studies in tuba, he studied composition with Yannick Plamondon in Quebec City. In 2022, at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, he completed undergraduate degrees in both disciplines in the classes of Jimmie LeBlanc (composition) and Pierre Beaudry (tuba). He is now pursuing a master’s degree in instrumental composition with Maxime McKinley and an undergraduate degree in electroacoustic composition with Louis Dufort. His music has won two prizes in the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers and has been performed by the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+) and Ensemble Paramirabo, among others.

Michaël BOUDREAU — La brise du temps à l’ère de l’austérité (1:03:41 / 2017)

La brise du temps à l’ère de l’austérité is an experimental album and poetic essay on the creative process from anarchist and therapeutic perspectives. The project emerged from pivotal encounters during Michaël Boudreau’s studies in Digital Music at the University de Montréal. Frederick Dallaire, his experimental cinema teacher, posed a question to the class: Why add another drop to the media ocean of the 21^st century? This question lay dormant until Nicolas Bernier, his audio creation professor, harshly critiqued one of Michael’s compositions. Michael then decided to recycle that piece as the foundation of his experimental album, endeavouring to provide an answer the question: “Why create art?”

Nicolas BOURGEOIS — Nœuds au ventre (video — 9:47 / 2024)

Guttural automatisms and humanoid magnifications. The concept of individuation by Carl Jung refers to the process of integrating conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche to achieve psychological unity and self-realization. Through confrontation with the Shadow, it is possible to gain a fuller understanding of repressed aspects of the self. Thus, Noeuds au ventre [Knots in the Stomach] moves away from the tangible to focus more on the impulsive. This performance is a sensation, an exploration of the body’s intuitive pathways as an exploitable tool. Through meditation, an internal search for ways to deconstruct the body to retain only the anatomical signals it communicates. Taking inspiration from the art of Japanese bondage, or shibari (縛り), the intention is to offer a slowing down, a turning inward. In the intertwining of ropes, an invitation to contemplation.

Nicolas Bourgeois is an electroacoustic artist with a practice rooted in the performing arts who strives to bring forth queer realities through live pieces that redefine the relationship between movement and the audiovisual landscapes presented. Using the body as the primary object of creation, they explore how it can transform and interact with its environment. Bourgeois’ creative process, situated at the intersection of sound experimentation and contemporary dance, gives rise to works that are both deviant and intimate, utilizing sensors integrated into musical algorithmic systems. Originally from the Magdalen Islands (QC), Nicolas has been studying electroacoustics at Université de Montréal (Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang) since 2022.

Sabrina CARON — Tangled Memories (video — 1:41 / 2024)

Tangled Memories is a short piece that illustrates the torment of a distant memory, altered by time. The piece evokes a past event that has become entangled in the threads of memory, blurring its narrative. This piece was created during a series of improvisations with feedback created with effects pedals and a mixer. The voice, looped in real time using an effects pedal, is a central element of the piece, repeating fragments of memory. Recorded in one take, Tangled Memoriesretains the raw authenticity of its creation. No post-production manipulation has been added, preserving the integrity of the original improvisation. Each note, each texture, is the product of a moment of spontaneous creation. The absence of low frequencies gives it an ethereal effect, like a memory impossible to catch.

Charlie COOPER — teeth hammered teeth (7:34 / 2023)

teeth hammered teeth is part of a series of performances with live electronics processing field recordings, EMF radio signals, vocalizations and synthesizers through a snare drum and several small amplifiers. The body of the snare drum is a site for resonance and feedback. This is a studio version of the work.

Charlie Cooper is a musician who works across live performance, installation and sound design. His performances and recordings often combine electroacoustics with video and text. Charlie is an active cross-disciplinary collaborator, regularly working with dance, theatre, sound and digital media artists.

Saadi DAFTARI — Stretched Bodies (video — 4:38 / 2023)

Stretched Bodies is a quasi-narrative videomusic that spans across the multiple meanings that its title implies. That is, a body stretched out across different locations and times, charged with tension and contradiction, and a body stretched out in comfort, free of any tension and distress, but one that could also be lifeless. It is informed by the conditions of the unhomed and migration. It examines questions pertaining to the trauma of leaving home behind, the violence of displacement and rupture, the fragmentation of identity and the realities of the double consciousness, of being here and there at once. How can these bodies in movement unsettle borders and deliver knowledge across them? How much of their stories echo in our history? Stretched Bodies superimposes multiple worlds onto one another to construct a poetic mosaic of a fleeting story. A placeless and timeless story that peeks out at a sombre and not-so-poetic reality.

Saadi Daftari [he/his] is a researcher and a sound / video artist whose work, informed by extra-musical reflections, examines how sound art can stimulate perception of sonic production qualities that then compel inquiry into an understanding of the environment through attentive listening to the revealing aspects of sound and perception of their relation to the unseen, the non-represented and the unheard. In addition to exploring these themes through electroacoustic compositions and sound installations, Saadi extends these notions into his videomusic composition to construct an audiovisual universe where sound and image work in tandem to deliver a fuller sensorial experience that examines contemporary social struggles. Saadi holds a master’s degree in science and a graduate degree in digital music, and is currently completing a master’s in music composition and sonic creation under the supervision of Nicolas Bernier at the Université de Montréal. His research-creation is partially funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Graeme DYCK — Hypnagogia (10:07 / 2023)

Hypnagogia brings the listener an imagined transition from waking to sleep, leading through liminal permeations of external night-time soundscapes and inner fantasy worlds. The composition was assembled from field recordings made in Saskatchewan, and features an original text.

Graeme Dyck is a Saskatchewan sound artist, writer and scholar whose practice disregards disciplinary and mediatic boundaries. They have undertaken interdisciplinary work between music, mathematics and philosophy, and won Canadian competitions for fiction and nonfiction. Graeme holds a BMus, a BSc in Mathematics and a certificate in jazz from the University of Saskatchewan, and has recently finished an MA in electroacoustic composition and sonic art at the University of Birmingham (UK).

Juro Kim FELIZ — Kina-i-ngátan (8:30 / 2023)

The Filipino word “kinaingatan” refers to a prized object, warranting care and attention. As an audio essay in 6.1 surround, Kina-i-ngátan highlights reflections of Goombine (Richard Scott-Moore, Yuin Nation) on cultural stewardship. In 2022, Toronto’s Tranzac Club discovered stashed Aboriginal artifacts in their storage rooms. Goombine spearheaded a ceremony to return them to Australia, while Musicworks later published this story on musical repatriation among Canada’s music venues in its Fall 2022 issue. Colonized cultures end up erased or transformed under times of duress. As Goombine’s voice traverse national borders, he admonishes to pass on one’s legacies. Remembering Trinh Minh-ha’s idea of “speaking nearby” instead of “speaking about/for,” his voice “sits nearby” soundscapes and optional trumpet music to force listeners in exercising lateral listening. Commissioned by New Music Concerts, Kina-i-ngátan is made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Toronto-based composer Juro Kim Feliz has premiered works across Asia, North America and Europe. Finishing studies at the University of the Philippines and McGill University, he writes music that “thrives in the sustained tension, like the kinetic energy emanating from the corners of a frame, the opposing forces holding up a house” (Musicworks, 2022). Awards include the Goethe Southeast Asian Young Composer Award (2009) and Highly Commended distinctions at the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (2018, 2024). Serving as Composer-in-Residence of Toronto’s New Music Concerts (2022–23), Feliz also completed residencies at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2018), Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (2019), the Canadian Music Centre Ontario Library Residency (2018–19), and Willapa Bay AiR (2023). He has released music with MusiKolektibo, Ravello Records, Ablaze Records, alongside synth-pop music as Grumpy Kitty Boy. His music is published in Babelscores.

james FORD, Robinson LANGEARD — Changest (5:43 / 2024)

Changest is an electroacoustic piece created from musical improvisations conducted at Concordia University between Robinson Langeard and James Ford. The former operated a patch using routed control voltage from his KORG synthesizer that modulates the playing of James’ flute.

james ford is a piano student who searches for interesting interactions between acoustic instruments and electronics.

Mélanie FRISOLI — About Strings (12:25 / 2024)

About Strings is based on the superimposition of two trivial sound recordings: one of a strange instrument, the ukelin, and one of a “monochord” from a laboratory. These recordings have been preserved in their entirety, with their defects, and serve as the guiding threads of the piece. Around these plucked and sparse notes, several universes weave and explore space in various forms: in its relationship to time, in its physical and acoustic perception, in a metaphorical dimension (imaginary spaces), etc. About Strings also takes an interest in music played outside public performance and poses some questions: what becomes of music when no one is there to hear it? Can it be considered music when there is neither the intention of play nor the ambition to please or embody?

Originally from northeastern France, a formerly prosperous industrial region, Mélanie Frisoli has been composing for almost twenty years. During these years, she has travelled the world performing on stage and recording albums (she has six releases on different independent labels created between 2003 and 2016). First and foremost a guitarist and author, a free electron within the “new French scene”, she has been awarded several prizes, including the SACEM prize in the Printemps de Bourges. She has also written three books of “false poetry”. Her passion for words has gradually transformed into a passion for sound and its abstractions. In Montréal since 2015 she has immersed herself in audio production techniques, enabling her to carry out various sound-based projects. Surrounded by such talented teachers as Robert Normandeau, Nicolas Bernier, etc., she has embarked on a career in acousmatic music coloured with a penchant for soundscapes, whether real or imaginary, as well as a growing interest in multiphonic diffusion.

Pablo GEERAERT — AMA Lga (7:36 / 2023)

AMA Lga is a work composed specifically for TOTEM Contemporain’s first electroacoustic competition. It is a relatively short piece that tries to put forward the variety of timbres and sound objects that are offered by the TOTEM instruments. Rather than limiting itself to a specific musical discourse, AMA Lga finds its coherence within a multitude of influences: sometimes acousmatic, sometimes ambient, and it even slightly explores noise and beat elements. Very few sounds outside of the TOTEM library were used — the raw recordings are regularly juxtaposed or confronted to their treated versions. The timbral contrast is constant and allows to easily switch from a certain musical discourse to another. The piece was barely planned out in advance — the exercise solely focused on a desire to have fun with a quantity of extremely rich and diverse sounds.

Pablo Geeraert is a Belgian composer born in Brussels and currently based in Montréal. He explores composition as a means to discover and experience the complex yet exciting dimensions that music can offer. Influenced and fascinated by a wide variety of sonic discourses, his music tries to blend them into kinetic and evolving narratives, focusing on sculpting a contrast between the sound materials to evoke images and reactions. Interested in multidisciplinary practices, the aspects found in other arts such as dance and the visual medias also fuel his inspiration and motivation to broaden his understanding of music. Having recently graduated with BFAs in Music Production (BIMM Berlin) and in Electroacoustic Studies (Concordia University), he is about to enter a master’s degree in Electroacoustic Composition at the Conservatoire de Montréal to further discover and define his artistic identity.

Rob GILL — HPB9 - composition2 (19:12 / 2024)

The interactive installation High Park Branches was developed using openFrameworks, SuperCollider, Blender and a Kinect sensor. This piece is a recording of the installation in action. Random branches found in Toronto’s High Park were replicated as proportionally accurate 3D models that occupied a virtual space projected on a large screen. As participants drew closer to the screen, winds scattered the branches. Collisions between the branches triggered audio samples to generate this spontaneously formed audio composition. The final configurations of branches were made into paintings and prints as well. The branches are used as materials from which the character and quality of the park and surrounding area may be obtained as audio and visual artwork documents. The installation itself serves as a “branch player”. The system developed in the software to translate participants’ actions into forces that acted upon the branches employed self-organizing criticality.

Rob Gill has been working independently as a media artist for nearly three decades now. His projects embody a range of media such as audio art, programming, installation, 3D computer graphics and animation, and painting, all of which work together as a means to reveal, study and explore aspects of the human psyche, in particular, the creative process itself. After attending Queen’s University in Kingston for his BFA (specializing in painting), he spent an extended period of time in Muskoka (Ontario) developing and establishing a consistent and coherent artistic direction and body of work. Now moving between Toronto and Muskoka, he presents his work both online on his website and in live venues. His interactive work invites participation which is then translated through processes that employ dynamic systems, complex systems and the like to generate real-time 3D computer animation with accompanying audio from which final audio works, videos, paintings and prints are produced.

Véronique GIRARD — Voies mixtes | El viaje (10:14 / 2023)

Véronique Girard is a visual and sound artist, an educator and vocalist based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. She creates whimsical imageries that seek to reveal the authenticity of the body and the voice through activism and enchantment. Guided by movement, her practice unfolds at the intersection of music, performance and video art. In her projects, she creates an intimate sensory dialogue where the perception of time is suspended. By being actively involved in her community, she develops inclusive initiatives with open, nurturing and stimulating environments. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University, Véronique also recently completed the Digital Music programme at the Université de Montréal. Her work has been showcased at film festivals and concerts in Québec and internationally.

Nolan HILDEBRAND — generative open graphic score #1 (video — 6:00 / 2024)

generative open graphic score #1 is a work that uses Touchdesigner to build generative processes that create an open graphic score. In performance the digital score produces a plethora of graphic symbols, from simple ink blot-esque dots and abstract globular shapes to complex webs of broken grid patterns interacting with sharp and angular geometric shapes. The electroacoustic aspects of this work utilize mixer feedback. Mixer feedback is created when the inputs of the mixer are routed back into its outputs to create a (feedback) loop. Manipulating the mixer’s controls creates unpredictable electronic sounds ranging from simple and harmonious to chaotic and noisy. The setup for generative open graphic score #1 consists of an instrumentalist patched into a mixer with feedback loops being played by another performer. In this novel electroacoustic setup, the sounds and timbres of the two instruments can clash and contrast or synthesize and melt together.

Nolan Hildebrand is a composer and noise artist based in Toronto. Nolan’s music explores conceptual and physical extremities to create intense and engaging music. His musical output spans graphic scores, classical ensembles, electroacoustic and acousmatic music, and performance in an experimental solo noise project dubbed BLACK GALAXIE. Nolan’s music has been performed around the world including Darmstädter Ferienkurse, International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Forum Wallis, and Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend. He has had opportunities to work with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, ECM+ Ensemble, XelmYa Ensemble, Jonny Axelsson and Nick Photinos. Nolan completed his BMus in composition with Gordon Fitzell and Örjan Sandred at the University of Manitoba and an MMus in composition under the supervision of Eliot Britton at the University of Toronto, where he is currently pursuing a DMA with a focus on graphic notation and electroacoustic music under Kotoka Suzuki and Eliot Britton.

Mark HJORTHOY — Machines That Search for God (14:48 / 2024)

This is a composite piece created by manipulating field recordings and adding additional electronic sounds before effecting and mangling in software.

A producer, sound designer and experimental composer from Vancouver, Mark Hjorthoy has been making music most of his life, but has more recently found a home in electroacoustic and experimental composition, as well as other electronic genres such as idm, drone, trip hop and ambient.

Kimia KOOCHAKZADEH-YAZDI — Marsbar x Klub (6:28 / 2022)

Marsbar x Klub is the sounds of a displaced life of an Iranian composer. This work uses audio recordings done by NASA from Mars, as well as the singing of Mohammadreza Shajarian’s Call to Prayer.

Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi is a Persian composer based in Vancouver. Working with instrumental and electroacoustic media, she has actively collaborated on projects written for dance performance and film in addition to concert pieces. She seeks to incorporate into her music her experiences of the cultural contexts she has been living in so far. She was recently commissioned by Western Front to write for their 8.2 octophonic sound system, and her piece Displacement II for bass flute, bass clarinet and live electronics was premiered by Vancouver New Music in February 2019. Koochakzadeh-Yazdi is currently artist-in-residence at Media Arts Committee while studying composition at Simon Fraser University under Sabrina Schroeder, Owen Underhill and Mauricio Pauly.

Mathieu LACROIX — Corium I (12:35 / 2024)

Corium is a material that is created from a nuclear meltdown accident, such as during the Chernobyl accident. Its texture looks similar to molten lava, and it may be heated up to 2500 degrees Celsius. The radiation is so intense that even decades later it can distort photographes and instantly kill.

Composed with the support of Arts and Culture Norway.

Mathieu Lacroix is a French-Canadian composer working in Norway. He has studied and/or worked with composers such as Natasha Barrett, Hans Tutschku, Kaija Saariaho, Jaime Reis, Markus Reuter and others. He studied at NTNU (Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet) in Norway, IRCAM (France) and Musiques & Recherches (Belgium). His music has been performed around the world, including at festivals such as Mixtur, Meta.Morf and Manifeste. He is artistic co-director of Electroacoustic Trondheim (EA-T) and a member of the Electric Audio Unit with Natasha Barrett and Ernst van der Loo. In 2021, he completed a PhD thesis on synchronization strategies in mixed music. His music aims to make electronics and acoustic performers react to each other and interpret music together as a living ecosystem. He is an associate professor in composition and music production at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Stéphanie LANGEVIN — Croissances (video — 4:25 / 2024)

Étienne LAVALLÉE — Granby nature rayonnante (video — 3:55 / 2024)

Granby nature rayonnante lives through the images, sounds, and history of the city of Granby. With this work, I invite you to dive into the past and present that have shaped the landscapes of this region. I will take you to three crucial bodies of water: Lac Boivin, the Yamaska River, and the Choinière Reservoir. With a simple touch, you will be able to explore my city and create its landscapes. Granby reveals its radiant nature as it presented itself to me.

Étienne Lavallée shapes sound as a living material, blending timbres and textures to craft sensory worlds where music and image intertwine. Fascinated by the power of audiovisual experiences, he creates works that awaken a deep awareness of climate issues. A graduate in music composition for visual media (2023), he has composed soundtracks for documentaries, experimental films, fiction and independent video games. Currently pursuing a master’s degree, he is delving into the connections between space, environment and human impact. His installations and compositions transcend mere spectacle, offering audiences an immersive journey that redefines our bond with the world. Through his creations, Étienne invites reflection on the interplay between collective memory and nature, between impact and harmony, establishing a poetic and transformative dialogue between humanity and its environment.

Joel LAVOIE — Situations I (27:44 / 2024)

Situations 1 is the beginning of a quest to develop a relation to space, to others, to the inner self. Being in a sonic milieu that can only exist right now. An urban soundscape is used as a score from which the events are the basis to operate “drifts” to other evocative sonic material. In the installation, subtle generative synthesizer and resonators are triggered to underline certain characteristics of the soundscape, continually renewing the listening. The physical space is inhabited by speakers placed here and there on the ground and in periphery-like elements of a sonic milieu where the audience takes part, sitting, standing or lying down. This study takes part in the development of an installative practice exploring the importance of attention and auditory gaze in transforming the relationship between humanity and non-humans.

Joël Lavoie is a composer, sound artist based in Montréal / Tio’tia:ke, Canada. His musical explorations sails through the troubled water of the individual and collective subconscious. Outwitting the anecdotic nature of real soundscapes through complex and textured collages, the auditor finds himself amid a soft and intense universe drifting freely in the evocations of the subliminal. Exploring the themes of the souvenir, the elsewhere and introspection, he encourages us to take a pause, a reset, surrendering to a rediscovery of the self. He released the album |Absolument| (2015) on the Montréal-based label Kohlenstoff Records, Cabines (2018) on Jeunesse cosmique and Souvenir (2020) on Mikroclimat. Very active as a sound designer for performing arts, he has had the opportunity to perform in Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, Poland, France, UK and Mexico.

Malte LEANDER, Charles HARDING — Falling into Golden Wind (5:45 / 2023)

Falling into Golden Wind was written and conceived of on the small Finnish island Kökar in the Baltic Sea, when the group Trajectories (Charles Harding, Connor Cook and Malte Leander) undertook an artist residency in the fall of 2023. They explore a variety of recording set-ups and collaborative compositional techniques in their practice, experimenting with ideas of the non-anthropocentric positioning of the artist, present at the time of recording, composing and performing. This piece is based on the last remaining leaves on a birch tree, as the wind quieted down the day after one of the powerful autumn storms rolled through. The tonal elements were re-amped in these harsh environments, resulting in the strong wind masking and distorting the melodies.

Malte Leander is a Swedish composer and artist currently residing in Montréal, exploring the voice through text-sound composition and acoustic ecology in his artistic practice.

Charles Harding [he/him] is an emerging sound maker living in Tiohtiá:ke / Montréal and studying electroacoustic composition at Concordia University. His current focus spans various artistic disciplines, including algorithmic composition, soundscape design, creative coding, VR/AR and, more recently, interdisciplinary collaborations in weaving and sound with the textile artist Emily Blair. He has had opportunities to showcase research, projects and collaborations involving immersive and interactive audiovisual installations at the likes of ImageFest in Colombia and Visiones Sonoras in Mexico. Through his work with technology, he always seeks to build links to nature and organic material.

Michael LUKASZUK — Obsession (6:32 / 2024)

Obsession is an electroacoustic composition that blends algorithmic and acousmatic practices. The recorded source material comes from live guitar improvisations. These sounds are increasingly juxtaposed with synthesized material that ranges from FM approximations of a plucked string to more sophisticated AI-based “timbre transfers” in which the model is trained on sounds from the same recorded instrument. Through abstraction, hybridization and synthesis of actual and virtual instrument sounds, this piece contemplates the idea of “liveness” in fixed media. This is also supported by mixing “found sounds” made through performance with different guitar tropes (tapping, strumming effects, etc.) that are realized using algorithmic techniques.

Michael Lukaszuk is an electroacoustic music composer and researcher based in Umeå (Sweden). Much of his creative and scholarly output involves the use of algorithmic / generative procedures, improvisation and interdisciplinary collaboration in order to contemplate algorithmic media in culture and reflect on themes such as liveness and instrumentality. He regularly presents his work at electroacoustic music and media art events, including ICMC — International Computer Music Conference, SEAMUS — Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States, ISEA — International Symposium on Electronic Art, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and Now Hear This (New Music Edmonton). In 2015, he won First Prize in the Hugh Le Caine Awards from the SOCAN Foundation. He is currently based at Umeå University, where he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in New Media Art.

Lauré LUSSIER — Le valseur de bois (53:00 / 2023)

The composition of this orchestral electroacoustic work was inspired by the murder mystery novel Le Valseur de Bois. The music depicts “impressions” of different parts and characters in the story, linked to one another by short transitions.

00:00 Slow Descent into Hell
06:46 Main Theme
08:43 Transition 1
11:11 Voices of the Nymphs underneath the Palace of the Righteous
16:16 Transition 2
16:59 Deep Thoughts
20:31 Act!
22:24 Transition 3
24:23 The Other and The Friend
28:14 The Other in the Underground Sweatshop
33:33 Transition 4
34:34 Caught and brought underneath the Palace of the Righteous
39:24 Transition 5
41:15 Requiem
43:58 Funeral March
47:33 Transition 6
51:01 Main Theme (End)

With an inimitable style and approach to music, Lauré Lussier’s experimental concert music is characterized by an amalgamation of tradition and innovation. Out of a conscientious fusion of experimental (electroacoustic) and concert (classical) music influences, compelling musical works of art with meticulously crafted immersive sonic atmospheres emerge. Listeners are carried on unique sensory and intense journeys. Lauré strives to create iconoclastic, surprising and riotous experimental concert music that is at once beautiful, intense, captivating and stunning, and shuns artistic approaches that can too easily be reduced to labels. Lauré Lussier holds two Bachelors of Arts in music, from McGill University and Université de Montréal.

sylvi MACCORMAC — Brother Bear: Russell Wallace Qekiyeksut (8:06 / 2024)

Stat’liam Lil’wat singer, drummer composer and producer Russell Wallace Qekiyeksut tells us of the impacts of music and colonialization upon family and community. sylvi macCormac composed this echo acoustic portrait with stories, the soundscape of the Coast Salish Territory (Canada) and excerpts of music produced by Russell Wallace Qekiyeksut over 40 years.

sylvi macCormac began composing Wheels Soundscapes: Voices of People with Dis Abilities at SFU and VAMS in 1998. She received an international Honourable Mention in France in 1999 for the composition Waves of Kokoro, screened the documentary Patience & Absurdity in London during the 2012 Paralympics, co-produced The Feather (songbook and CD) with Dave Symington at VAMS in 2016, and acted in the Canadian feature film Bella Ciao! in 2018 and the CBS series “Charmed” in 2021. With the assistance of Bryden Veinot (VAMS), macCormac composed the echo acoustic portrait Russell Wallace Qekiyeksut, which received the jef chippewa Award for Indigenous Cultural Background in JTTP 2024, coordinated by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC).

Philippe MACNAB-SÉGUIN — Gone for Eggs (23:30 / 2024)

“Just as life gestates in the egg, so in ancient healing rituals would initiates withdraw into a dark cave or hole to ‘incubate’ until a healing dream released them reborn into the upper world, in the same way the chick crawls out of the egg.”
— The Book of Symbols: Reflections on archetypal images, Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS).

Every night, we experience a small taste of death when we lose consciousness in the depths of sleep. Every morning, we are born anew. Gone for Eggs takes this fundamental experience as a starting point to explore the oscillation between day and night, consciousness and unconsciousness, life and death.

Texts: Philippe Macnab-Séguin and Nicholas Papaxanthos. Portions of The Book of Symbols (Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism) were included in movements iii, iv and vi with permission from Allison Langerak Tuzo, director of ARAS.

Philippe Macnab-Séguin is a composer of instrumental, electroacoustic and mixed music whose work aims to create a new musical language at the crossroads of popular and contemporary classical music, reflecting his eclectic musical background as a metal / punk / jazz electric guitarist, konnakol and Carnatic music lessons with Ghatam Karthick, barbershop singing and arranging, and his study of hyperglitch music production with the producer Woulg. He and producer Nicolas Gaumond form the prog-pop duo Greetings from the Hole. His in-depth study of aural sonology, the frequent presentations and workshops he gives on the subject, and his contact with Lasse Thoresen help ground his artistic research in clear perceptual principles. He has received over 20 scholarships and awards for his work, including the Prix d’Europe, a BMI award and four SOCAN Young Canadian Composers Awards, as well as funding from the SSHRC and FRQSC. He received his DMus in composition from McGill University under the supervision of Jean Lesage.

Hans MARTIN — Songe de Scipion (9:00 / 2024)

The Dream of Scipio, a famous passage from the works of Cicero, presents a fictional dialogue between Emilian Scipio, a Roman general, and his deceased grandfather, Scipio the African. In the course of this conversation, the ancestor explains the cosmic structure of the world and reveals the immortal nature of the soul.

Several authors, including Macrobius, Boethius and Petrarch, have commented on this Dream of Scipio, which is seen as a kind of counterpart to the “Legend of Er” described by Plato in the tenth book of The Republic. More broadly, the Pythagorean idea of the harmony of the spheres, at the origin of these ancient texts, has left its mark on musical, cosmological and mathematical thought throughout Western history.

Inspired by these ideas, this piece consists of nine sections, each representing a planet in the solar system described by Cicero. Each section lasts one minute, following a general movement from terrestrial to celestial.

Hans Martin holds a master’s degree in composition from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. During his training, he studied with Jimmie LeBlanc, Klaus Lang, Serge Provost and Michel Tétreault. Composing instrumental, electroacoustic and mixed works, he is interested in the experience of sound as an acoustic phenomenon. His research is influenced by musical forms stemming from the algorithmic tradition from the Middle Ages to the present day. Martin’s works have been performed by l’Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+), l’Orchestre de la Francophonie, l’ensemble Hanatsu Miroir, l’Ensemble aka, the students of Ensemble Klangforum Wien (ppcm), as well as several other student ensembles such as the symphony orchestra, the string orchestra and the ensemble de musique contemporaine of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, and the ensemble eroc at the Université de Montréal. Alongside his work as a composer, Martin has also contributed as a writer to the magazine Circuit.

Jérémie MARTINEAU — La Haine (video — 6:20 / 2024)

With over 500 samples from your favourite movies and TV shows, La Haine decontextualizes the Hollywood sound to reveal its most normalized facets.

* Content inappropriate for children
* Photosensitivity warning

Jérémie Martineau is an audiovisual artist and researcher based in Montréal. His work develops a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together digital art and concert music while favouring the integration of acoustic, electronic, visual, spatial and scenographic dimensions in order to create an integrated whole. Following a desire to reform the concert experience, his compositional approach is based on immersion of both the spectator and the performer, but also within the compositional process itself. This immersive experience is achieved not only through the performers and the sounds produced, but through everything that is to be seen and felt. His work and research, co-directed by Jimmie LeBlanc and Myriam Boucher, have been presented notably at the University of Montréal, the Montréal Symphony House and the University of Greenwich. He won Third Prize in JTTP 2022, produced by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), for his work Distractions, Horizons.

Alex MATTERSON — Firmament (9:00 / 2024)

Firmament aims to represent just that, a massive wall holding up the heavens. The listener is but a tiny speck at the bottom of a massive wall, too momentous to be fully comprehended by the human eye. Even the massive walls buttressing the skies reveal tiny details when one examines them up close, small blemishes that are exposed upon closer inspection.

Alex Matterson is a composer, improviser and performer currently based in Victoria (Canada). In her work she explores a range of genres, from jazz to pop to Western art music. Her music seeks to reflect the experience of a monolithic structure: up close one can perceive an abundance of small details, while from further away these details can seem to blend into one uniform structure. Her music has been described as being like “a bird on an oil tanker” and its experience likened to “staring at a wall.”

Jesse Frank MATTHEWS — Chippawa Creek (boat dub) (4:12 / 2023)

This recording was made live in a small, borrowed aluminum boat while trolling the Chippawa Creek. The boat was prepared with basic battery powered gear, contact mics and a small Dictaphone. This is only a small portion of a multiple recordings made from the river on that beautiful July day in 2024.

Jesse Frank Matthews has been playing music since the age of 16 in bands. He attended NSCAD University in 2003 and graduated in 2008. It was during this period that visual art and music formed a sincere bond in his work. Jesse is always looking for something genuine, organic, jarring and engaging.

Joe MCDONALD — Wanderingz (5:36 / 2024)

This track was created in my studio for one of my electro projects called Mookydook. I am currently wrapping up the production for my debut album for this project. Because of the heavy use of guitars and banjos in my instrumentation and the implementation of hypnotic dance forms, I refer to my recent works as “flattop techno”.

Ottawa valley-bred singer/songwriter, producer and guitarist extraordinaire Joe McDonald effortlessly weaves melody, emotion and precise flatpick-style guitar together like flowers on a finely tailored cowboy shirt. Joe performs numerous shows a year as a solo artist and as a band leader, and is known for his warm rapport with audiences, diverse musicianship and accomplished songwriting and productions. He has performed at Ottawa’s Bluesfest, Cityfolk, Marvfest and many other fairs, private events and club dates. Joe currently gigs in the Ottawa area and is working on a plethora of recording and writing projects.

Mikael MEUNIER-BISSON — musicfriend (8:18 / 2024)

Arising as the outcome of frank encounters between several frames, musicfriend is the culmination of many reorganizations. Infused with a suggestive and strongly accentuated materiality, the rhetoric of this project is strewn with doubts, trials and errors, in a continual vacillation between the referential, the dreamlike and the playful.

Mikael Meunier-Bisson is a Montréal-based experimental and electroacoustic music composer. Around 2020, his compositional focus shifted to explore the realms of ambient and textural music. This self-taught practice quickly became more intricate in recent years as he flirted with acousmatic techniques. His current work aims to transcend the “locality” of ambient music by engaging with the “global,” to explore tonality in an abstract way, and ultimately reach emotional resonance through combinations of methods that may still be unfamiliar to us. Since 2023, he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Musiques numériques at Université de Montréal. Composed under the teaching of Martin Bédard, his 2024 work, musicfriend, earned him second place in the 25^th edition of the Jeu de temps / Times Play competition, coordinated by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC).

Ryan PAYNE-LAURIN, Alex BRIAND — Vado, ma dove (8:08 / 2024)

Vado,ma dove is a richly layered electroacoustic composition designed for a 5-channel spatial audio environment, offering an immersive auditory experience. Created by Joel Samano-Ouellet, YunFan Jin, Amirreza Dolatabadi, Alex Briand and Ryan Payne-Laurin, each composer significantly contributed to both its creation and live performance, blending their unique styles into a cohesive piece. Recorded with an RME Fireface audio interface and PMC speakers, the composition integrates both fixed and live media. The fixed media, structured using Ableton Live with elements like vocals and synthesizers, set the stage for further sonic exploration. Live media elements, including guitar, synthesizer and sound manipulations with Native Instruments Kontakt and Teenage Engineering OP-1, add dynamic textures. Field recordings from a construction site and manipulated koto recordings in Ableton Live enrich the composition, adding depth and texture to this compelling electroacoustic work.

We are a quintet of emerging Canadian electroacoustic composers formed of Alex Briand, Amirreza Dolatabadi, Joel Samano-Ouellet, Ryan Payne-Laurin and Yunfan Jin. Currently studying at Concordia University, our collective work explores the innovative boundaries of sound, blending traditional and contemporary techniques to create immersive auditory experiences. The group is passionate about pushing the limits of electroacoustic music and are dedicated to contributing to the evolving landscape of this field.

Marie-Andrée PELLERIN — Close Conversations of Other Kinds (11:00 / 2022)

Close Conversations of Other Kinds is a sound art installation project comprising four sound compositions that explores the possibilities of conversations between different species through the concept of “flat ontologies”. It consists of four short sound compositions inspired by science fiction stories written specifically for this project by Monika Rinck, Christiane Vadnais and Élisabeth Vonarburg, as well as a short story by the author Ursula K. Le Guin. The stories have been translated into sound art compositions, some of which are abstract while others are narrative. The project also includes visual components: a large, tufted carpet and an artist’s publication comprising texts written by the authors. The project was first presented in 2022 at the Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana (Slovenia) as a 4-channel sound installation, and later at the Art Quarter Budapest in a stereo version through headphones placed on a carpet on which the public was invited to sit.

Marie-Andrée Pellerin is a multidisciplinary artist from Montréal based in Linz (Austria). Her artistic projects deal with language-related themes and are inspired by science fiction literature, acoustic territories and experimental phonetics. She works with video art, sound installation and performance, as well as textile art (tufting). She is currently working with the wind and air as a sonic medium, following a residency at Café Tissardmine, in the Moroccan desert. Her work has been presented in various art spaces such as Kunstforum (Vienna), Kunstraum Lakeside (Klagenfurt), BPS22 Museum (Charleroi), Škuc Gallery (Ljubljana), D21 Kunstraum (Leipzig), Scriptings (Berlin) and 5020 (Salzburg), as well as Ada X and CIRCA Art Actuel in Montréal. She has taken part in residencies in South Korea, Morocco, France and Mexico, among other countries. Pellerin is a doctoral candidate at the Art University of Linz, where she was also a guest lecturer in 2020–21, and is also involved in the artist-run space bb15.

David PIAZZA — L’arène aux songes (18:05 / 2023)

A singular space where things and colours dance on the periphery of reality. The transformation and resynthesis of a unique material over the duration of the piece evoke its reconstitution by the dreaming mind. Here, the dream is the image of a suspended world, motivating the musical impulse.

David Piazza is a composer and a student currently pursuing a bachelor’s in Digital Music at the Université de Montréal. His passion for fixed-media composition and real-time performance of electroacoustic works pushes him to envision ways in which both modes may converge so as to concurrently explore their potentials for musical expression.

Valentina PLATA — Madre (8:57 / 2024)

Madre [Mother] is an 8-channel soundscape composition encompassing field recordings from the Yucatán Peninsula, specifically within The Route of the Cenotes in Cancún and on the island of Cozumel. The piece starts slowly with a voice emerging from underwater, later to be joined by rhythmic creatures inside and outside a cenote, natural interconnected underground bodies of water; the listener passes through further bodies of water before surfacing. How can the human voice and natural environments create a relationship, a connection, a shared intimacy?

Valentina Plata [she/her] is a performer, composer and improviser with Mexican and Colombian roots, based in Tio’tia:ke / Montréal. Plata’s compositional process begins with the improvisational use of her voice, where tactile vocal processing techniques shapeshift its timbre and textures, which inform the narrative and gestural motions of her music. Currently, Plata is pursuing a degree in Electroacoustic Studies at Concordia University, contributing as a Research Assistant to projects like Reflective Interactive Scenario Enactments (led by Eldad Tsabary) and Meeting Through Materialities, Bodies and Words (led by Lilia Mestre).

Kasey POCIUS — eTu{d,b}e de Labo #1 (5:55 / 2023)

eTu{d,b}e de Labo #1 is the first in a series of fixed media works, exploring the possibilities of the eTube outside of a real-time context. The source material consists of improvisations of Tommy Davis on eTube with the SpireMuse software. The entirety of these improvisations is presented as a kaleidoscopic montage at the beginning of the piece, which is then used to feed the processing which slowly builds before eventually overtaking the acoustic sound of the tube, leaving nothing but a digital trace of the initial improvisation… Thank you to: Tommy Davis, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Philippe Macnab-Séguin, Yulin Yan and Nicola Giannini.

Originally from St. John’s (Newfoundland), Kasey Pocius is a gender-fluid intermedia artist located in Montréal who grew up experimenting with multimedia software while also pursuing classical training in both viola and piano. Outside of fixed electronic works, they have also pursued mixed-media performances with live electronics, both as a soloist and in comprovisatory collaborative environments. They are particularly interested in multi-channel spatialization and how this can be used in group improvisatory experiences. Kasey is a student researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL).

Parisa SABET SARVESTANI — Sepideh (Dawn) (video — 8:00 / 2023)

Sepideh is a multimedia composition for solo piano, video and audio playback inspired by the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran. The title itself carries a dual meaning, symbolizing both the dawn and an Iranian woman’s name. It’s worth noting that Sepideh is also the name of a young Iranian activist currently incarcerated. Sepideh portrays the collective transformation of humanity, as we seek to address the oppression and persecution of minorities on a global scale. My hope for this multimedia composition is to provide the audience with a transformative experience. As the virtual world of sounds and images unfolds during the performance, I hope it leaves a lasting impression on their perspectives.

Imagination, innovation and storytelling are at the centre of Parisa Sabet Sarvestani’s creative practice. With a musical language that is equally modern and accessible, inspired by her Iranian roots, Western education and passion for socially engaged arts, she aims to engage in cultural dialogue with diverse communities. Her sonic landscapes evoke emotions, conjure images and tell stories, often about pressing social issues. Her most recent interdisciplinary work, Silent, was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in Toronto. Sabet earned a Doctor of Musical Arts, a Master of Music in composition and a Master of Music Technology and Digital Media from the University of Toronto, with distinctions including the Mirkopoulos and Miller/Khoshkish fellowships, and the Tecumesh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award, the latter given to a musician on the cusp of making important contributions to the field. Among her teachers she counts Christos Hatzis, Keith Tedman, Kyong Mee Choi, Ka Nin Chan and Stacy Garrop.

Alejandro SAJGALIK — Novae I (10:48 / 2024)

For this electroacoustic sonata for dismantled organ and voice I breathe new life into a set of organ pipes recovered from a deconsecrated church in Québec. Freed from the weight of its past, the instrument and my voice intertwine in a counterpoint of fluid nervousness. Caught in the storm of time, I renew the sound material through my breath and my gestures to form lines of ecstatic life force. NOVAE I is an ode to the potential for re-enchantment.

Alejandro Sajgalik is a choreographer and composer based in Montréal. His work explores our metaphysical uprootedness and the bewitching power of technology. Coming from a background in architecture, he has begun creating stage works that combine dance, electroacoustic music and a dramaturgy inspired by epics and mysticism. In Montréal, he has presented his solos N’importe où hors du monde (2018), Cantos para los insaciables (2019) and Materia Prima (2022). Nova Express, a full-length work for six dancers and a dismantled organ, will premiere in November 2024 at Tangente. His work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Conseil des arts de Montréal. He is currently studying electroacoustic composition at the Conservatory of Music of Montréal with Louis Dufort.

Dominic SAMBUCCO — re.azioni (video — 5:48 / 2023)

re.azioni is an experimental short film created from archival footage of the Audiovisual Archive of the Democratic and Labour Movement (AAMOD [Italian: Archivio Audiovisivo del movimento operaio e democratico]). The film is based on a dialogue between two types of images: colourful nature documentaries and black-and-white shots of hands and faces. The film is about creation and perception, but leaves many paths of interpretation open. In addition to the meanings that any viewer might find, discover or perceive, it is an invitation to contemplation, listening and feeling. The film is divided into three parts, each depicting a primordial component of the Earth.

Dominic Sambucco is an Italian-Canadian sound artist, composer and film-maker. He holds a degree in electroacoustic composition from the Université de Montréal and a diploma in modern guitar from the Music Academy of Rimini. Through electroacoustic music and multimedia art projects, he consistently seeks to push the boundaries of conventional artistic expression. His æsthetic is inspired by nature and science, and is characterized by the innovative use of acoustic instruments and new technologies. He has collaborated with such prominent organizations as the Montegral Academy, Oscillator Ensemble, Sonitus and the AAMOD archive, while his work has been featured in various festivals such as Aeson, Ruina Sonora, University of Greenwich, Suns, Unarchive, Inniò and Ibrida. Sambucco has won first prizes in the GroundSwell Emerging Composer Competition and the SOCAN Emerging Screen Composers Awards.

Findlay SONTAG — Pushpull (7:35 / 2024)

Intrinsic motion
Outer world, inner sanctum
Form and void arise.

Pushpull was conceived as a meditation, structured around deep breathing, on the polarity between the inner self and external world. The listener is invited to consider where one ends and the other begins.

Findlay Sontag is a music producer, sound artist and experimental composer from Calgary, now living in Montréal. His electroacoustic work draws on a broad span of themes, techniques and musical influences, often exploring the blending of acoustic and electronic source materials, realism and surrealism, philosophy and spirituality. Prior to enrolling in the Electroacoustic Studies programme at Concordia University (Montréal), he spent several transient years doing seasonal forestry work in the remote Canadian wilderness and travelling abroad. The diversity of these experiences has informed the principal driving ambition behind his artistic practice, which aims to elicit an emotional response in the listener on a universal, human level that transcends language and cultural predispositions.

Haotian SUN — When the Stream Dries (6:52 / 2021)

“When the stream dries, I wait for the clouds to rise,” where the name of this piece is originated, is an imagery from my favourite ancient Chinese poem. It depicts the poet, who has wandered astray both literally in the woods and figuratively in his life, finding peace in chancing upon the beauty of the unexpected. The pandemic has left us disoriented in many ways. Bound by the restrictions on travelling, many of us have been confined to the walls of our homes, with the only means of outside connection through the windows of our computer and mobile phone screens. The loss of touch with society is an ambiguous loss that has been somewhat glossed over. We have so readily accepted the consequences of this deprivation and moved on without contemplating the impacts it has inflicted upon us.

Haotian Sun is a Queen’s University undergraduate student currently undertaking a specialization in Media and Performance Production. He has been doing music production for four years, writing his own pop and experimental music. He has also done song covers and helps others to make their original songs.

Dominic WALTHER BATTISTA — Unknown Territory (10:40 / 2023)

Unknown Territory depicts a world which humans have not known. An environment containing sounds which we are not able to associate with a source. All sounds recorded come from industrial and human activities, but were transformed to become unrecognizable living entities in a world long before the arrival of civilization.

Dominic Walther Battista, an experimental music composer and sound designer from Montréal, holds a bachelor’s degree in Electroacoustic music from Concordia University and has over eight years of classical piano training. In the last year, he served as a sound designer for the installation company Iregular, contributing to projects like Solstice and Our Common Home. His diverse portfolio includes sound design for various brands (Deloitte, Thomas Vanz, WOUQ, MAT&FAB, L’Éloi) and music production for groups like Xela Edna and too much everything. Recognized for his meticulous craftsmanship, he draws inspiration from paintings, shaping each sound with meticulous detail akin to sculpting. Awarded across Canada and internationally, his work spans acousmatic music and film festivals.

Eyden ZHAO — Composition 1B (8:06 / 2024)

Composition 1B is a 5-channel fixed media electroacoustic composition. Other than that, there is nothing I want to say — it is what it is.

Hanqing Zhao, known professionally as Eyden Zhao, is a composer-performer, creative director and music teacher living in Montréal. With an interest in creating pure experiences and expressions in the sonic world, Zhao has released a series of compositional projects and performs live electroacoustic music regularly around Montréal. Additionally, Zhao founded ENSEMBLE BEWELL, a group dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of electroacoustic artistry.