AKOUSMA @ EMPAC

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 8PM

Theater

Dates + Tickets

An acousmatic music performance of work from the annual AKOUSMA festival in Montréal, Quebec, which is produced by Réseaux, a composer-run organization dedicated to presenting and commissioning electroacoustic music. Known as “cinema for the ear,” acousmatic music is a compositional form traditionally presented in the dark to help focus and intensify the audience’s sense of hearing. Dozens of loudspeakers were placed throughout EMPAC’s lobby and hallways. The performers manipulated their pieces in real-time, creating an all-encompassing aura as electronic sound moved throughout the building. Performers included Adam Basanta (Canada), Olivia Block (US), Gilles Gobeil (Canada), Seth Nehil (US), and Louis Dufort (Canada). Adam Basanta’s work traverses electroacoustic and instrumental composition, audiovisual installations, site-specific interventions, laptop performance, and dynamic light design; he explores notions of listening and audiovisual perception, the reanimation of quotidian objects, and the articulation of site and space. Olivia Block creates original sound compositions for concerts, site-specific multi-speaker installations, live cinema, and performance; compositions often include field recordings, chamber instruments, and electronic textures. Many of Gilles Gobeil’s pieces have been inspired by literary works and attempt to let us see through sound; he has won over 20 national and international awards and is a co-founder of Réseaux. Seth Nehil has crafted a unique and unusual sonic world, mixing acoustic and electronic sources, field recordings, granular synthesis, and voice; he has released over 15 albums and has collaborated with dance companies, performers, and video artists. Montréal composer Louis Dufort’s music ranges from a cathartic form of expressionism to a focus on the inner structure of sound matter; he is the artistic director of the AKOUSMA festival.