Aleksandra Słyż (* 1995, Poland)

Aleksandra Słyż is a Polish composer, musician and sound engineer. She holds degrees from the University of A. Mickiewicz in Poznań, the Poznań Academy of Music, and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. In her musical compositions, Słyż explores the relationships between acoustic and synthetic sounds. This process is often rooted in natural tuning systems, through which she constructs rich, complex drone structures that highlight the power of microtonal, electroacoustic tensions.

Interactive sonification systems are another large part of her artistic practice. Between 2017 and 2022 Słyż conducted artistic research involving practical experiments on movement sonification and various types of interaction.Her works have been presented at the most important European music festivals and in various major venues including Rewire Festival; CTM; Aarhus Festival; Unsound; Fiber Festival; NODE; Warsaw Autumn; Kyiv Music Fest; ORF musikprotokoll; The Royal Concertgebouw; Fylkingen; Ancienne Belgique; The National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Kunsthalle Helsinki; Meet Factory; Dom im Berg; MONOM; Kunsthal Gent.

SOFTNESS, FLASHES, FLOATING RAGE (2022, stereo, 26 min)
from the album A VIBRANT TOUCH

Recorded between January 2020 and October 2021 in Poznań and Stockholm.
Marcus Warnheim: alto saxophone | Kosma Műller: violin | Kamil Babka: viola | Anna Szmatoła: cello | Aleksandra Słyż: modular synthesizers

source: private material from the composer

Annette Vande Gorne (* 1946, Charleroi, Belgien)

After her classical training at the Royal Conservatories of Mons and Brussels and her studies with Jean Absil, Annette Vande Gorne came across acousmatic music during an internship in France. Immediately convinced by the works of François Bayle and Pierre Henry of the revolutionary nature of this art form (disruption of perception, renewal of composition through spectromorphological writing and aural guidance, historical importance of movement), she completed several internships to acquire the basics and then studied musicology (ULB, Brussels) and electroacoustic composition with Guy Reibel and Pierre Schaeffer at the Conservatoire national supérieur in Paris. Annette still holds courses in writing acousmatic music, including in Vienna in cooperation with The Acousmatic Project.

VOX ALIA II — CATHÉDRALES (2021, 10 channel, 11 min)
Five short sections — Alleluia; Danse sacrée [Sacred Dance]; Requiem; Transe [Trance]; Figures tutélaires [Tutelary Figures] — unify through processing, mixing and spatial settings in relation to the theme, voices from all cultures or civilisations of the world, voices that are above all sacred, with the exception of the last section, which is an augmented variation of Parola volante, the last part of Vox Alia I — Affetti.

In these troubled times of division, fear, mourning and the withdrawal of people and nations, I felt the need to express a desire for unity, sacredness and generosity through the most human of media: the voice.

source: private material from the composer

Beatriz Ferreyra (* 1937, Argentina)

studied piano in Buenos Aires. After a stay in the USA, she studied composition in Paris, where she also got to know electroacoustic music in the GRM environment.
In 1975 she became a member of the Groupe de Musique Experimental in Bourges. She has composed electronic and film music and is also active in music therapy.

L’AUTRE RIVE (2007, stereo, 18 min)
“Inspired by Bardo Todol, this work was realized with percussion instruments and acoustic sounds. I would like to thank the percussionist Richard Aratian from the bottom of my heart for his inexhaustible patience, his ingenuity and his good humor during our recordings.”

source: CD

Bebe Barron (1925–2008), Louis Barron (1920–1989)

are pioneers of American electronic music. In New York they had one of the first tape recorders and collaborated with artists from the American avant-garde (Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, John Cage) in the 1940s and 50s.
Louis Barron developed electronic devices and machines for generating sound, while Bebe Barron composed and mounted the results on tape. Their music for the SciFi film Forbidden Planet, which is considered the first electronic soundtrack in film history (1956), is famous worldwide. It was even proposed for an Oscar, but the musicians’ union insisted at the time that it couldn’t be called music. Hence it was called “electronic tonalities”…

FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956, stereo, 39 min)
Forbidden Planet is in many ways a pioneer of science fiction cinema. Outside of this genre, the film was groundbreaking as it was the first film of any genre to use an entirely electronic score, created by Bebe and Louis Barron. However, the pair received no mention or credit as composers, as the Hollywood musicians’ union of the time managed to enforce that it was “only” electronic sounds and not music.

Their soundtrack was later included in The Wire’s legendary “100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)” list.

source: CD
special thanks to: Adam Barron

Bernard Parmegiani (1927–2013, Paris)

is one of the most important representatives of French electro-acoustic music alongside Francois Bayle and Pierre Henry. He worked as a television technician, as a sound engineer and created signations, such as the theme song for the announcements at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. A true example of his works is De Natura Sonorum, in which he combines and fuses instrumental sounds with electronic sounds.

LA CRÉATION DU MONDE (1982–84, 4 channel, 98 min)
The Creation
The process mapped out here is not the one described in the Book of Genesis. Scientific and parascientific works suggested the main stages to me. The word that describe the phenomena of astrophysics are sufficiently suggestive to stir the musical imagination and to sustain a cosmogonic reverie like this.

1. Black Light – The dreamer of the world plunges down unendingly into his own depths as he strives toward the point from which he originated.
2. Metamorphosis of the Void – Something changes into form, heat, light, movement, anarchic corpusular vibrations.
3. Sign of Life – A planet, our planet, emerges and a ‘life logic’ organizes itself around.

The original 4-channel version we can listen to in its full lengths here has been rediscovered recently and carefully restored.

source: private material
special thanks to MAISON ONA, Paris

Caroline Profanter (* 1985, Bozen)

She is part of the team of Q-O2 workspace for experimental music and sound art in Brussels since 2017. Profanter works in the fields of electroacoustic and acousmatic music as a composer and performer. She creates imaginary soundscapes and sonic narratives on the perceptional threshold of familiarity; using recorded sounds and noises taken from the context of the everyday, interweaved with electronically generated sound material often including feedback-systems and amplified objects, as well as multichannel speaker configurations. She collaborates frequently with other musicians and artists, and creates sound design for film and radio.

MAGNETISMEN (2017, stereo, 7 min)
Magnetisms – Electromagnetic waves surround us. They are omni-present, but we don’t hear them, usually. For this work I recorded those crackling, noisy, but also melodic sounds with the help of special microphones, and created a noisy little symphony out of it.

source: private material from the composer

Christian Tschinkel (* 1973, Leoben)

Music theorist, composer and sound director of acousmatic music. After studying psychology, musicology, and electroacoustic music, he mainly deals with theoretical, practical, and speculative areas of acousmatics (“Acousmonautics”). In 2017, he founded his own experimental space, the AKUSMONAUTIKUM, to embark on a “search for the fantastic” in a multi-channel setting. He repeatedly reflects on his work in theoretical writings and has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2021.

DANSE ACOUSMONAUTIQUE (2021, stereo, 29 min)
“Acousmonautics” are the extended musical conception of acousmatic in terms of pop and trans art. Danse Acousmonautique is thus an acousmatic piece that deals with dance. More precisely, it is realized as “SciFi-Butoh”, whose original Japanese form is known as the dance of darkness. Darkness stands for the physical absence of light as well as for psychological abysses – both themes that can be fathomed by listening. SciFi-Butoh leads through dance into utopian body worlds. Acousmonautics navigate. Est-ce que ça fait danse? – Does this make dance?

source: private material from the composer

Christine Groult (* 1950, Caen, France)

Already as a child she made field recordings with a portable tape recorder. She began her education at the GRM Paris and was studying musicology at the Sorbonne. She later ran a studio in Chalon-sur Chaon and is exclusively active in electro-acoustic music and sound installation.

EAUX MÊLÉES (2021, stereo, 30 min)
Various Waters

Commissioned by Logelloù, a centre for exploration and creation in Penvénan in the Côtes-d’Armor. Creation in September 2021 on the remarkable site of Yaudet on the edge of the Léguer estuary.

An acousmatic journey impregnated with the smell of the estuary and its mixed waters, that of the mud, the primordial matter. The intimate union of land and sea characterises the atmosphere of the Armor coast. It is impossible to distinguish clearly the limit between land and sea, between solid and fluid elements. The rocks, the sea, the river, the foreshore, the grasslands are all connected. The sea enters the land through the estuaries.
With sounds by Noëlle Deffontaines, Benjamin Dousteyssier (saxophone), Christine Groult, Marc Namblard, Lê Quan Ninh (bass drum), Ana Speyart (sludge).

source: private material by the composer

Daniel Lercher (* 1983, Judenburg)

The musician/composer Daniel Lercher is one of the busiest live electronic musicians on the international improvisation scene. His concerts and tours have taken him to Scandinavia, Iceland, South America, India and Australia. He likes to work in small formations with other musicians (Henrik Nørstebø, Agnes Hvizdalek, Katharina Klement, Peter Kutin, etc.), occasionally with dance (Tara Silverthorn, Asher O’Gorman, etc.) In his electro-acoustic compositions, which have been released on several vinyl records and CDs, he often uses field recordings or material that is used specifically for sound and analysis.

Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø (* 1986, Trondheim, Norway)

Musician and sound artist based in Berlin and Trondheim, focusing on trombone performance and a wide range of compositional and cross disciplinary projects. He chose the brass tubes already at the age of eight, and has done extensive research into both the boisterous and brassy side of the instrument, as well as its counterpoint in microscopic sound possibilities, utilizing de-selection as a central process.

TH_X (2014, stereo, 36 min)
a contemplative improvisation by Henrik Nørstebø trombone and Daniel Lercher´s live electronics.

source: CD

François Bayle (* 1932, Madagaskar)

lives in Paris and is one of the most important exponents of French electroacoustic “acousmatic” music, both as a composer and as a theorist. From 1966 to 1997 he headed the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, a department of French radio that operated an experimental studio, developed software and organized concerts. In 1974 he founded his own loudspeaker orchestra for this purpose, the “Acousmonium”, with which countless electronic works are performed to this day.

THÉÂTRE D’OMBRES (1988, stereo, 40 min)
A magic catches us right at the beginning – the beginning of … Derrière l’image (“Behind the Image”), with an impression of gentle acceleration. The sound is hollow, hissing and quietly roaring at the same time. It is the carrier of this wonderful movement that seems to order all the different elements of the environment and allow them to blossom. Everything becomes light, everything unfolds of its own accord. Even the loudest disorder – trampling, drumming, various intrusions – dissolves into delight. However, this constant departure into “the land where one never arrives” leads us to a second part, … Ombre blanches (“White Shadows”). Maybe this is the “land” – a kingdom of the air! A new space opens up, as if in reverse, vast and mysterious, sprawling and light: with shaggy serenity. The human voice gives it a different content: shimmering motifs, fragile choirs, halo contours, fluting, lascivious or rapid sounds.

source: private material from the composer

Gerhard Laber (* 1946, Salzburg)

Coming from the jazz scene as a percussionist and drummer, his musical path increasingly developed in the direction of experimental and concept-related improvisational music. Today the focus of his work is in the field of sound and noise art. The unconventional handling of his instruments and sound bodies expand traditional sound ideas and thus create new musical listening experiences.
1979–2007 he was a teacher for percussive instrumentation at the Upper Austrian State Music School, 2007–2012 lecturer for rhythm for classical musicians in Mühldorf am Inn.

HÖRBILDER (2020, stereo, 21 min)
Audio Pictures
Audio picture #1 – Cosmos Rot – Towards the end almost nothing

source: original material by the composer

Gilbert Handler (* 1972, Klosterneuburg, near Vienna)

The vocal wonder from the Vienna Woods. His voice ranges from shrill treble to rich baritone; his stylistic range from “Wienerlied” (traditional Viennese folksong) to Rock’n’Roll. In addition, he studied computer music as well as theatre studies and art history at the University of Vienna. Since 1999, he has composed and performed in dance and theatre productions, e. g. at the Volkstheater Vienna, Theater Phönix in Linz, Schauspielhaus Graz, Kampnagel Hamburg, Schaubühne Berlin, Schauspielhaus Dresden and for festivals in Zurich, Skopje, Cairo and Nairobi. Compositions for films (e. g. Day and Night by Sabine Derflinger) and radio plays (e. g. Käfergräber by Thomas Arzt / Andreas Jungwirth). Since 2002 close collaboration with Günther Rabl in the project Die Relativitätstherapie (“The Therapy of Relativity”).

MAMAS T’NAI (2016, stereo, 5 min)

A vocalise based on fancy words marking high noon in the Temple.

source: private material from the composer

Gottfried Martin (1944–2011, Vienna)

a violist, visual artist and composer. Martin first studied violin and viola at the Vienna Music Academy and completed private studies in painting, graphics and sculpture. As a violist he worked in the orchestras of the Volks- und Staatsoper and became a member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1974, later becoming chairman of the works council. In addition, his passion was computer music. In Vienna he founded the Society for Electronic Music (GEM) and initiated the festival Acustica. In 1991/92 he directed the project Austrian Soundscape, a sound installation in the Austrian pavilion at the EXPO 1992 in Seville, in which works by himself, Dieter Kaufmann and Günther Rabl were played for six months.

A CLASSIC AUSTRIAN SOUNDSCAPE (1992, stereo, 71 min)
specially composed for the sound-installation in the Austrian pavillon at the EXPO’92 Sevilla.
“In the acoustic images of this CD I tried to tell little stories, farytales, give riddles. The socalled ‘classical’ themes are only a hook to help our memory, a rainbow-bridge for our phantasy, maybe just a mask to view things of our day with yesterdays eyes; or maybe hear with yesterday ears todays sounds ?”

source: private material from the composer

Günther Rabl (* 1953, Linz)

Composer and software developer, self-taught on the double bass, participation in improvisation and jazz ensembles (among others with Friedrich Gulda and Ursula Anders). Since 1980 he has turned to tape composition and computer music, numerous works that have been performed at international concerts and festivals. Since 1983 he has been developing software for sound processing and composition. 1990–2007 Lectures in Theory of Electroacoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since 1992 he has been building up his own loudspeaker orchestra for performances and installations. 2000 Founding of his own label canto crudo, publication of his own works as well as archive stocks (Dieter Feichtner, Friedrich Gulda) and rarities on CD.
2010 Foundation of the Electric Orpheus Academy; 2022 Foundation of Temple of Sound.

FUNKENFLUG (1993, 8 channel, 19 min)
Trail of Sparks forms the second part of the large-scale work Katharsis. After the thundering waterfall of the first part, a quiet crackling remains, which is attained through a system of extreme distortions of the rushing water. Out of the crackling, further distortions set off individual ‘sparks’ that occasionally hit imaginary metal objects (physical models of prepared strings). It is 19 minutes of low sounding uneventfulness in which an accord of several objects becomes an experience.

DER ARME SPIELMANN (1995, 5 channel, 11 min)
The poor Gleeman is a sideline of the work on Katharsis and can also be used as an alternative final part instead of the Great Fugue. The piece is indeed an idyll. An introductory chord dissolves over the course of ten minutes into a peaceful rippling. Against this background the “poor gleeman” goes about his self-absorbed activity. Here we are dealing with a virtual string instrument that is “played” by the rhythmic aspects of the rippling in the background.

“… what he played was an incoherent sequence of tones, without measures and melody.
He was totally absorbed in his work: the lips trembled, the eyes were fixedly aimed at the sheet of music in front of him – yes, a true sheet of music! …”
(from Franz Grillparzer: Der Arme Spielmann)

source: private material from the composer

Günther Rabl (* 1953, Linz)

Composer and software developer, self-taught on the double bass, participation in improvisation and jazz ensembles (among others with Friedrich Gulda and Ursula Anders). Since 1980 he has turned to tape composition and computer music, numerous works that have been performed at international concerts and festivals. Since 1983 he has been developing software for sound processing and composition. 1990–2007 Lectures in Theory of Electroacoustics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since 1992 he has been building up his own loudspeaker orchestra for performances and installations. 2000 Founding of his own label canto crudo, publication of his own works as well as archive stocks (Dieter Feichtner, Friedrich Gulda) and rarities on CD.
2010 Foundation of the Electric Orpheus Academy; 2022 Foundation of Temple of Sound.

FUNKENFLUG (1993, 8 channel, 19 min)
Trail of Sparks forms the second part of the large-scale work Katharsis. After the thundering waterfall of the first part, a quiet crackling remains, which is attained through a system of extreme distortions of the rushing water. Out of the crackling, further distortions set off individual ‘sparks’ that occasionally hit imaginary metal objects (physical models of prepared strings). It is 19 minutes of low sounding uneventfulness in which an accord of several objects becomes an experience.

DER ARME SPIELMANN (1995, 5 channel, 11 min)
The poor Gleeman is a sideline of the work on Katharsis and can also be used as an alternative final part instead of the Great Fugue. The piece is indeed an idyll. An introductory chord dissolves over the course of ten minutes into a peaceful rippling. Against this background the “poor gleeman” goes about his self-absorbed activity. Here we are dealing with a virtual string instrument that is “played” by the rhythmic aspects of the rippling in the background.

“… what he played was an incoherent sequence of tones, without measures and melody.
He was totally absorbed in his work: the lips trembled, the eyes were fixedly aimed at the sheet of music in front of him – yes, a true sheet of music! …”
(from Franz Grillparzer: Der Arme Spielmann)

source: private material from the composer

Guy Fleming (*1964, Sydney)

is a trained geologist, astronomer, organist and last but not least a photographer. In his home country he is known as a photographer – above all for his work on the decay of a disused waste incineration plant A Study in Decay. In addition, he also dealt with the diverse acoustics of the ruins and created a highly acclaimed piece Confined Entropy from sound recordings.

GEIGER BEATS (2016/20, stereo, 22 min)
The piece deals with the rhythms produced by a Geiger counter when measuring radioactive material.

source: private material by the composer

Halim El-Dabh (1921, Kairo – 2017, USA)

The composer and ethnomusicologist Halim El-Dabh was born in Cairo in 1921. He is a pioneer of electronic music and made his first sound experiments as early as 1944. In 1950 he went to the U.S., researched Native American music, and studied composition with Aaron Copland and Irving Fine at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts. In the late 1950s, El-Dabh worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York. He composed electronic music, operas, symphonies, chamber works, and ballet music. His ethnomusicological research has led to the influence of Arabic, African, and even ancient Egyptian elements on his music. From 1969 to 1991, he was a professor at Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music in Ohio.

CROSSING INTO THE ELECTROMAGNETIC (1944–2000, stereo, 37 min)
Crossing into the Electromagnetic showcases El-Dabh’s skills and pioneering work in the field of electronic music. It is an example of his early experiments with the manipulation of sound, which he began in 1944 at a radio station in Cairo. The work builds a bridge between different cultural traditions and modern technology. It has influenced many subsequent artists and composers who have also explored the possibilities of electronic and electro-acoustic music. The title captures the essence of his work, which consists of crossing boundaries and exploring new musical territories.

source: peer to peer

Karlheinz Essl (* 1960, Vienna)

Composer, improviser, media artist, software designer. Studied composition with Friedrich Cerha and musicology in Vienna. Composer-in-residence at the Darmstadt Summer Courses and at IRCAM in Paris. Since 2007 professorship for electroacoustic composition at the University of Music in Vienna. In addition to instrumental works and compositions with live electronics, he also develops generative composition software, improvisation concepts, sound installations and performances.

GESUALDO-FRAGMENTE (2023, stereo, 29 min)
Gesualdo Fragments (fixed media version)
Electronic sound performance in 12 parts; scattered reflections on Carlo Gesualdo, Principe da Venosa

“Carlo Gesualdo has fascinated me for a long time. I was never particularly interested in his crazy life, but I was interested in his music, which brilliantly defies all the compositional conventions of his time. The chromatic voice leading with surprising twists and turns and the harmonies stretched to breaking point make you feel – to quote Stefan George (or Schönberg) – ‘air from another planet’. My Gesualdo Fragments reflect Carlo’s inner turmoil. Two compositions from his last book of madrigals form the sound material: one as a vocal piece, the other in a transcription I made for lute – Gesualdo’s favorite instrument. There is also a poem by Torquato Tasso from the first madrigal, recited by Nava Hemyari.”

source: private material from the composer
drawing based on a foto by Maria Frodl

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007, Kürten, Germany)

Was already considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century during his lifetime. He was a role model for generations of younger composers. In the beginning he dealt intensively with electronic sound generation and tape composition. In contrast to many other composers of his time, for whom it was only an intermediate point of passage, he stayed with it for a long time and worked in the studios himself. The resulting works are among the most important of the international repertoire.

TELEMUSIK (1966, 5-channel > stereo mix, 18 min)
Stockhausen composed this exemplary piece at the invitation of the Japanese broadcaster NHK. He uses recordings of traditional folk music from all over the world together with electronic sounds that are intermodulated in many layers.
The piece was originally conceptualized for 5 audio tracks, but today only this stereo version exists.

source: CD
special thanks to Stockhausen Verlag

Katharina Klement (* 1963, Graz)

The composer works as a “composer-performer” in the field of composed and improvised, electronic and instrumental music. Her activities also include numerous cross-linking projects within the areas of music, text and video. She has always been particularly interested in the piano, especially the extended playing techniques. International collaboration with various ensembles and artists. Since 2006 she has been a lecturer in the course for computer music and electronic media at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.

13 MINIATUREN (1996, stereo, 60 min)
for 8-channel tape and piano (stereo mix)
This composition consists of 13 acoustic chapters in which each block is set up piece by piece, some loosely tied together, and some narrate a continuing story. For this tape composition only recorded sounds in their original form are used. The piono, which is partially prepared for this piece, is only one voice in the makeup of the ensemble.

source: private material from the composer
drawing based on a foto by Rania Moslam

Louise Rossiter (* 1986, Basingstoke)

Louise Rossiter is an Electroacoustic composer based in Leicester, UK. Her works aim to provide a highly immersive sonic experience which are in some way,unpredictable. Previous projects have focused on silence, contrasting real and imaginary places and enigmatic sound. She completed a PhD at De Montfort University and her research interests include expectation in acousmatic music, silence and music, acoustic ecology, multi-channel composition and spatialisation. Louise has also had works awarded in several international competitions, including in the Destellos International Composition Competition, Musica Nova (Prague), Franz Liszt Stipendium (Weimar), Electronic Music Week (Shanghai) and in 2012 was awarded first prize in the prestigious L’espace du son international spatialisation competition. In 2021, she was awarded the Prix Russolo for Synapse.

HOMO MACHINA (2018, stereo, 10 min)
Introduction / Lungs / Heart / Brain / Digestion / Homo Machina

Neuronen attempts to achieve through sound, what Fritz Kahn’s infographics do visually – that is, the understanding, or at least, some comprehension of an extremely complicated process. The image that provided the visual stimulus for this piece compares the nervous system of the human body to the mechanisms of a door bell – in particular, the comparison between impulse – reflex responses. Neuronen is the second piece from the Industriepalast Suite and was released in November 2019. It was premiered at Sound Junction, University of Sheffield in November 2019 and awarded an honorary mention at the Musica Nova International Composition Competition.

NEURONEN (2019, stereo, 10 min)
Neuronen attempts to achieve through sound, what Fritz Kahn’s infographics do visually – that is, the understanding, or at least, some comprehension of an extremely complicated process. The image that provided the visual stimulus for this piece compares the nervous system of the human body to the mechanisms of a door bell – in particular, the comparison between impulse – reflex responses. Neuronen is the second piece from the Industriepalast Suite and was released in November 2019 and was premiered at Sound Junction, University of Sheffield in November 2019. It was awarded an honorary mention at the Musica Nova International Composition Competition.

I/O (2024, stereo, 9 min)
I/O represents the final work of the Industriepalast Suite. The work is based upon an infographic by Fritz Kahn entitled, SoundPerception (1929). The image portrays soundwaves, being transmitted from the distant piano which are then likened to a radio transmission. The ear acts as an antenna, and the brain acts as a radio receiver to reassemble the waves into recognisable musical patterns. I/O was written for and premiered as part of ZIMMT’s Sens Festival in December 2023.

source: private material from the composer

Louise Rossiter (* 1986, Basingstoke)

Louise Rossiter is an Electroacoustic composer based in Leicester, UK. Her works aim to provide a highly immersive sonic experience which are in some way,unpredictable. Previous projects have focused on silence, contrasting real and imaginary places and enigmatic sound. She completed a PhD at De Montfort University and her research interests include expectation in acousmatic music, silence and music, acoustic ecology, multi-channel composition and spatialisation. Louise has also had works awarded in several international competitions, including in the Destellos International Composition Competition, Musica Nova (Prague), Franz Liszt Stipendium (Weimar), Electronic Music Week (Shanghai) and in 2012 was awarded first prize in the prestigious L’espace du son international spatialisation competition. In 2021, she was awarded the Prix Russolo for Synapse.

HOMO MACHINA (2018, stereo, 10 min)
Introduction / Lungs / Heart / Brain / Digestion / Homo Machina

Homo Machina is the first work composed as part of the suite Der Industriepalast. The piece is deeply influenced by the work of infographic pioneer, Fritz Kahn. Kahn’s most pivotal work was the life-sized poster “Der Mensch als Industriepalast” (Man as Industrial Palace) of 1926, which this piece is based upon. Therefore, by illustrating the body as a factory, Kahn was able to relate the body’s complex organic interior to the industrialized space so common in society during the 1920’s. As the work is intended as an introduction to a far longer suite, it is intended to provide an overview to the sounds that Kahn may have imagined as he was creating his remarkable graphics. It is therefore structured into six sections.

NEURONEN (2019, stereo, 10 min)
Neuronen attempts to achieve through sound, what Fritz Kahn’s infographics do visually – that is, the understanding, or at least, some comprehension of an extremely complicated process. The image that provided the visual stimulus for this piece compares the nervous system of the human body to the mechanisms of a door bell – in particular, the comparison between impulse – reflex responses. Neuronen is the second piece from the Industriepalast Suite and was released in November 2019. It was premiered at Sound Junction, University of Sheffield in November 2019 and awarded an honorary mention at the Musica Nova International Composition Competition.

I/O (2024, stereo, 9 min)
I/O represents the final work of the Industriepalast Suite. The work is based upon an infographic by Fritz Kahn entitled, SoundPerception (1929). The image portrays soundwaves, being transmitted from the distant piano which are then likened to a radio transmission. The ear acts as an antenna, and the brain acts as a radio receiver to reassemble the waves into recognisable musical patterns. I/O was written for and premiered as part of ZIMMT’s Sens Festival in December 2023.

source: private material from the composer

Louise Rossiter (* 1986, Basingstoke)

Louise Rossiter is an Electroacoustic composer based in Leicester, UK. Her works aim to provide a highly immersive sonic experience which are in some way,unpredictable. Previous projects have focused on silence, contrasting real and imaginary places and enigmatic sound. She completed a PhD at De Montfort University and her research interests include expectation in acousmatic music, silence and music, acoustic ecology, multi-channel composition and spatialisation. Louise has also had works awarded in several international competitions, including in the Destellos International Composition Competition, Musica Nova (Prague), Franz Liszt Stipendium (Weimar), Electronic Music Week (Shanghai) and in 2012 was awarded first prize in the prestigious L’espace du son international spatialisation competition. In 2021, she was awarded the Prix Russolo for Synapse.

HOMO MACHINA (2018, stereo, 10 min)
Introduction / Lungs / Heart / Brain / Digestion / Homo Machina

Homo Machina is the first work composed as part of the suite Der Industriepalast. The piece is deeply influenced by the work of infographic pioneer, Fritz Kahn. Kahn’s most pivotal work was the life-sized poster “Der Mensch als Industriepalast” (Man as Industrial Palace) of 1926, which this piece is based upon. Therefore, by illustrating the body as a factory, Kahn was able to relate the body’s complex organic interior to the industrialized space so common in society during the 1920’s. As the work is intended as an introduction to a far longer suite, it is intended to provide an overview to the sounds that Kahn may have imagined as he was creating his remarkable graphics. It is therefore structured into six sections.

NEURONEN (2019, stereo, 10 min)
Neuronen attempts to achieve through sound, what Fritz Kahn’s infographics do visually – that is, the understanding, or at least, some comprehension of an extremely complicated process. The image that provided the visual stimulus for this piece compares the nervous system of the human body to the mechanisms of a door bell – in particular, the comparison between impulse – reflex responses. Neuronen is the second piece from the Industriepalast Suite and was released in November 2019. It was premiered at Sound Junction, University of Sheffield in November 2019 and awarded an honorary mention at the Musica Nova International Composition Competition.

I/O (2024, stereo, 9 min)
I/O represents the final work of the Industriepalast Suite. The work is based upon an infographic by Fritz Kahn entitled, SoundPerception (1929). The image portrays soundwaves, being transmitted from the distant piano which are then likened to a radio transmission. The ear acts as an antenna, and the brain acts as a radio receiver to reassemble the waves into recognisable musical patterns. I/O was written for and premiered as part of ZIMMT’s Sens Festival in December 2023.

source: private material from the composer

Manuel Knapp (* 1978, Wolfsberg)

1997–2002 Studies of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2002–2004 Studied computer music at the Institute for Electroacoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Since 2002 freelance activity in the field of visual arts, music and film. His videos are often characterised by strict geometric sequences, mostly in black and white. As a musician, he sees himself more as a representative of “harsh noise”, a music scene that has developed in the large urban centres. But he also deals with field recordings, especially recordings of all kinds of noise in nature.

THELXIOPE (2022, stereo, 26 min)
A recording of wind sounds in the forest, on which you can hear the traffic of a neighboring highway from afar. Spherical sounds, which are here attributed to one of the ancient sirens, Thelxiope.

source: private material from the composer

Martina Cizek (1959–2019, Vienna)

She is not only a composer and musician in numerous ensembles of improvised and contemporary music, but is also active in the field of musical music with ethnic roots up to new folk music.
Additionally she also creates electroacoustic works and multimedia.

KNARZ (2006–09, stereo, 22 min)
or 22 “miniature doors”
This composition consists of the creaking of doors in a building over 300 years old.
When Martina Cizek picks up this type of sound, she approaches it with the ear and sense of form of a saxophonist – as a musician of an instrument that works just as well in the border area. Her 22 “miniatures” are, so to speak, a transformation of the basically dry sound type into the opulently musical.

source: private material
special thanks to Moritz Cizek

Matthias Makowsky (* 1978, Vienna)

is an artist, musician, composer, organizer and curator. His projects range from fields of visual to arts, concerts, performance, multimedia and installations. He studied computer music and electronic media at the MDW, Design, Architecture and Environment at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
Cooperation with artists and ensembles, and assistance in sound and light direction for theater events.

A SPACE ODYSSEY (2022, stereo, 8 min)

source: private material by the composer

Oliver Grimm (* 1977, Klagenfurt)

lives in Tokyo, married to the Koto-virtuoso Chieko Mori.
He studied computer music at the university of Vienna and was a member of FABRICA (Benetton Art Research Center) in Treviso from 2002-03. From 2007–10 he taught computer music at the Tokyo University of the Arts.

Chieko Mori (* 1976, Beppu, Japan)

Chieko Mori started to play the koto at the age of three. After graduation from Keio University, she began her music career in Europe. Her overseas performance activities span over 70 cities in 18 countries.
Since 2007, she has presided over KOTO STUDIO Jiyu-ryu (freedom and liberation from belonging) in Tokyo as the grand koto master, and focuses on training independent koto players through her own composition pieces. She is one of the few independent koto players who do not belong to any existing schools in the world of Japanese music.

BEPPU PROJECT (2006, stereo, 42 min)
Chieko Mori: bass koto
This production arose from an invitation of the ‘Beppu Project’ and an examination of the landscape in Beppu, Japan, which is shaped by onsen and jigoku (hot springs). Water, steam, bamboo, sand and the 17-string bass koto provide the material for the electroacoustic collages and compositions, which successively alternate with the studio recordings of improvisations.
Produced at Onpaku House, Beppu, Japan, 2006.
Bass koto recordings: Studio Take Five, Oita, Japan.

source: private material from the composer

Rainer Kremser (* 1963, Wien)

Diagnosed with an incurable progressive eye disease at the age of nine.
Studied classical guitar and the course for basic harmonic research at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Teaching activity at higher state schools until 2018. Freelance authoring activity for Edition Text & Kritik, Munich, among others. Member of various ensembles in the field of jazz and free improvised music, compositions for smaller ensembles and soloists. Since 2018 author and producer of his own radio plays, since 2020 increasingly using electro-acoustic and acousmatic techniques as well as using algorithmic design possibilities. 2020 and 2021 finalist in two categories each at the Berlin Radio Play Festival.

LIOHT (2023, 8 channel 19 min)
lioht (Old High German for light)

The material for this composition was mainly developed from sound recordings of the spoken text of the Latin Biblia Vulgata (Genesis 1.1 and Lux Eterna Book of Ezra 2,34) in several horizontal and vertical transformation steps. In the first part of the actual composition process, the temporal and tonal organization of the material thus obtained is derived from the chronology of the biblical creation myth. The second part deals with the projection of the compositional levels into the listening or performance space by assigning them to four surfaces, the four basic parameters of acoustic orientation – front / back, left / right – by means of the assignment to four pairs of loudspeakers, which are arranged correspondingly on the walls of the listening space. In this way, the possible movement of the listeners in the room creates an individual dynamic sound image, which, depending on the relative position to the sound surfaces delimiting the room, can differ drastically from a static listening experience with an unchangeable listening position. The initial idea of this multi-channel performance allows the listener to interact with the room acoustics.

source: private material from the composer

Richard Bruzek (* 1973, Wien)

An all-round artist in the field of music, light, video, sound engineering and stage construction. He participates in numerous theater productions, films, concerts, performances and festivals in Vienna and Lower Austria. His approach to music is basically intuitive-improvisational, his musical pieces mostly ephemeral, a work in progress. This is also the case with the piece presented here, which was created for this program.

PAN O RAMA (2022/24, stereo 43 min)

source: private material from the composer

Kamp

The Kamp, the largest river system in the geologically oldest part of Austria, flows through a variety of landscapes and habitats – from its sources in the rugged granite country of the western Waldviertel to the wine-growing areas in the Danube region. For the second time, it will flow through the place where the Temple of Sound will be heard – in 2022 and 2023 directly behind the hall of the Temple in Rappottenstein, in 2024 through Gars, a few hundred meters next to the current sound installation. Recordings of its rushing water form the last 21 minutes, which bring the daily music program to a contemplative close until midnight.

source: original recordings of the river

Tommy Zwedberg (1946–2021, Stockholm)

After a few years as a trumpeter, he studied music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he also worked at the newly founded EMS (Electronic Music Studio). Later he had his own studio on a boat in the Baltic Sea. In addition to instrumental compositions and works for ballet, he also created a whole series of electro-acoustic pieces that are characterized by wit and intensity.

AND IT KILLED HIM TWICE (1995, stereo, 10 min)
The composer describes his aesthetic principle of unity through diverse variation in And it killed him twice:as follows: “The components are made up of fragmented gestures of recorder sounds which are patched together, reassembled – zooming in and out, keeping the components well apart and then uniting them in the 18 close-knit relationship where they actually belong. The process of coming closer, the relationship to a greater whole, the visibility and invisibility of the building blocks, emptiness and interchangeability. That is what this work is all about.”

source: CD

Tsvetan Dobrev (* 1956, Kazanlak, Bulgaria)

Growing up in simple circumstances in the mountains of Bulgaria, his musical talent was recognised at an early age. He received piano lessons and was financed to study composition. He composed works for chamber music, film and ballet and was something of a figurehead of contemporary Bulgarian music. When he performed an opulent work for ballet, wind instruments, percussion, folk instruments, vocals and electronics at the Palace of Culture in Sofia, he attracted 3000 visitors. This made the security forces so nervous that from then on contemporary music was only allowed in small ensembles. Dobrev then left the country and emigrated to France. He earned his living as a bar pianist in Montmartre and by teaching at a conservatory. Familiar with the basics of Bulgarian folk music, he also wrote his own harmony theory.

METAMORPHOSES (1982, stereo, 21 min)
Music to paintings by Bulgarian painter Hristo Simeonov.
One of the rare purely electronic works by Dobrev, produced in the well-equipped studio of Radio Sofia, which at that time was headed by Simo Lazarov, who had also mentored the young pop and electronic scene. The piece, related to pictures by Simeonov, has nine parts:

Calmly Cold – Sparkle – Life on the Continental Shelf – Transmigration – Focused on Photons – Following the Infinite Path – Invasion – Silence – Mirage.

source: private material from the composer

Veronika Mayer (* 1977, Vienna)

Composer, sound artist and musician. She studied piano, electroacoustic music and composition at the University of Music in Vienna. The altercation with material and space, the experience of spheres of sound, practicable inaudible sounds and noises, the subject of hearing itself are characteristic of her work.
She teaches at IEM in Graz as well as computer music at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (MDW).

ECO180i (2016, stereo, 10 min)
The portrait of a gas boiler: The expansion noises at the beginning, then the heating is switched on and again the crackling of the expansion noises.

source: private material from the composer

Vinzenz Schwab (* 1981, East Styria)

lives in Lower Austria. In his work, which revolves around the areas of electroacoustic composition, live electronics, film music and sound design, he deals with concrete sound material and explores its transformation possibilities. He has already published two albums and several online releases with his works, in which he also deals with other sound systems – in particular the “Lucy Harrison scale”.
In 2021 he received the Diagonale Prize for Sound Design.

BEVEL (2020, 8 channel, 12 min)
percussion & string instruments: Isabella Forciniti

Tuned according to the Lucy Harrison scale the composition Bevel moves across the room in a line of six loudspeakers. With zwo additional speakers a quadraphony is alternatively formed. Rhythmic and tonal structures of percussion recordings were interwoven, their rows permuted. Original sounds flash occasionally.

source: private material from the composer

Werner Jauk (* 1953, Kapfenberg)

Associate Professor of Music & Media Art at the Karl-Franzens-University and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Director of the Ars Electronica Research Institute “auditory culture” in Linz, studies in psychology and jazz guitar, post-graduate studies at IRCAM (Paris), initiator of the studio “grelle Musik” for experimental forms of acoustic and visual media arts in Graz.

DE-(KON)STRUKTION (2024, 4 channel, 12 min)
De-(con)struction is an algorithmically controlled construction as the destruction of a sound figure generated from interaction via the physical tension relieve of two interactors according to the concept of sound gesture / e-motion tracking. Beyond the idea that music formalizes physical tension-solving processes in its compositional rules, the construction uses algorithmic developments on a deliberate basis of “feasibility”. This ultimately distances itself from the basic concept of tension-solution in an artificially intelligent way. The “human” sound structure is thus destroyed from a stimulative index and imitative icon to a willful symbol, a “cultural asset”.

source: private material from the composer
drawing based on a foto by Doris Jauk-Hinz