Simon Emmerson (electroacoustic musician)
Encyclopedia
Simon Emmerson is an electroacoustic music
composer working mostly with live electronics. He was born in Wolverhampton
, UK, on 15 September 1950.
Since November 2004 Emmerson has been Professor in Music Technology and Innovation at De Montfort University
, Leicester, following twenty eight years as Director of the Electroacoustic Music studios at City University, London. His catalogue now spans thirty five years, including commissions for Intermodulation, Singcircle, Option Band, Lontano
, Jane Manning
, Philip Mead, Jane Chapman amongst many others. He has also completed purely electroacoustic commissions from the IMEB (Bourges), the GRM (Paris) and the Inventionen Festival (Berlin). He was a first prize winner at the Bourges Electroacoustic Awards in 1985 for his work Time Past IV (soprano and tape). He contributed to and edited The Language of Electroacoustic Music in 1986 (still in print) and Music, Electronic Media and Culture (Ashgate, 2000). His book Living Electronic Music was published by Ashgate in 2007, also two solo CDs from Sargasso in 2007 and 2008. He was founder Secretary of EMAS
(The Electroacoustic Music Association of Great Britain) in 1979, and served on the Board of Sonic Arts Network
from its inception until 2004. In 2008, he was invited to join the Board of Trustees of its successor organisation 'Sound and Music'. In 2009-2010 he was DAAD Edgar Varese Visiting Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin.
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
composer working mostly with live electronics. He was born in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, UK, on 15 September 1950.
Since November 2004 Emmerson has been Professor in Music Technology and Innovation at De Montfort University
De Montfort University
De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...
, Leicester, following twenty eight years as Director of the Electroacoustic Music studios at City University, London. His catalogue now spans thirty five years, including commissions for Intermodulation, Singcircle, Option Band, Lontano
Odaline de la Martinez
Odaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of , a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zealander flautist , and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts ...
, Jane Manning
Jane Manning
Jane Manning OBE is an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music. She has been described by one critic as "the irrepressible, incomparable, unstoppable Ms...
, Philip Mead, Jane Chapman amongst many others. He has also completed purely electroacoustic commissions from the IMEB (Bourges), the GRM (Paris) and the Inventionen Festival (Berlin). He was a first prize winner at the Bourges Electroacoustic Awards in 1985 for his work Time Past IV (soprano and tape). He contributed to and edited The Language of Electroacoustic Music in 1986 (still in print) and Music, Electronic Media and Culture (Ashgate, 2000). His book Living Electronic Music was published by Ashgate in 2007, also two solo CDs from Sargasso in 2007 and 2008. He was founder Secretary of EMAS
EMAS
EMAS may be:* EMAS , a global offshore contractor and provider of integrated offshore solutions to the oil and gas industry and operating brand for Ezra Holdings....
(The Electroacoustic Music Association of Great Britain) in 1979, and served on the Board of Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects...
from its inception until 2004. In 2008, he was invited to join the Board of Trustees of its successor organisation 'Sound and Music'. In 2009-2010 he was DAAD Edgar Varese Visiting Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin.
Recordings
- [1] Dreams, Memories and Landscapes (Continuum CCD1056) (1993)
- [2] Digswell Duets (Emanem 4052) (2001)
- [3] Cultures électroniques 15 (Le chant du monde LCD 278074/75) (2001)
- [4] Spaces and Places (Sargasso SCD28055) (2007)
- [5] Points and Pathways (Sargasso SCD28060) (2008)
Publications
- The Language of Electroacoustic Music (editor and contributor) (Macmillan, 1986 now Macmillan-Palgrave)
- Music, Electronic Media and Culture (editor and contributor) (Ashgate, 2000)
- Living Electronic Music (Ashgate, 2007)
- ‘‘Live’ versus ‘real-time’’, Contemporary Music Review 10(2) (1994): pp. 95-101
- ‘‘Local/field’: towards a typology of live electroacoustic music’, International Computer Music Conference Aarhus, September 1994 (Proceedings: San Francisco: ICMA, 1994: pp. 31–34), reprinted in Journal of Electroacoustic Music (Sonic Arts Network 1996) 9: pp. 10–13
- ‘Acoustic/Electroacoustic: the Relationship with Instruments’, Journal of New Music Research 27(1-2) (1998), pp. 146–164
- ‘Aural landscape: musical space’, Organised Sound 3(2) (1998): pp. 135–140
- Co-author (with Denis Smalley): New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians entry ‘Electroacoustic Music’ (London: Macmillan, 2000)
- ‘New spaces/new places: a Sound House for the performance of electroacoustic music and sonic art’, Organised Sound 6(2) (2001) pp. 103–105
- ‘From Dance! To “Dance”: Distance and Digits’, Computer Music Journal, 25(1) (2001), pp. 13–20
- ‘In what form can live electronic music live on?’ Organised Sound, 11(3) (2006), pp. 209-219
- ‘Combining the acoustic and the digital: music for instruments and computers or pre-recorded sound’, in Roger T. Dean (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music, OUP, 2009, pp. 167-188
- ‘Music Imagination Technology’ (Keynote Address), Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference Huddersfield, July-August 2011, San Francisco: ICMA, pp. 365-372
- Netaudio London & Sound and Music present: Perspectives on Digital Music - 12 interviews with leading practitioners. Simon Emmerson - ‘The future of live computer music’. Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78z1_8J8oVE
Selected works
- Spirit of '76 (flute, accelerating delay) (1976)
- Lol Coxhill & Simon Emmerson: Digswell Duets (soprano saxophone, electronics) (1978) [2]
- Ophelia's Dream (voices, live electronics) (1978-79) [1]
- Time Past IV (soprano, electroacoustic sound) (1984) [1, 3]
- Piano Piece IV (piano, electroacoustic sound) (1985) [1]
- Shades (of Night and Day) (piano, live electronics) (1989) [1]
- Pathways (flute, cello, sitar, tablas, keyboard, electronics) (1989) [5]
- Sentences (soprano, live electronics) (1991) [4]
- Points of Departure (harpsichord, live electronics) (1993) [5]
- Points of Continuation (electroacoustic sound) (1997) [5]
- Points of Return (kayagum, live electronics) (1998) [5]
- Fields of Attraction (string quartet, live electronics) (1997) [4]
- Frictions (electroacoustic sound) (1999)
- Five Spaces (electric cello, sound projection) (1999) [4]
- Time-Space (baroque flute, harpsichord, live electronics) (2001) [5]
- Arenas (piano, brass quintet, live electronics) (2003) [4]
- Resonances (electroacoustic sound) (2007)
- Stringscape (violin, electronics) (2010)
- Memory Machine (multichannel electroacoustic sound) (2010)