Two works by Trevor Wishart

In collaboration with the Université de Montréal and CIRMMT's Research Axis 4 (Expanded musical practice). This event is free and open to all CIRMMT members, although registration is required as seating space is limited.

Trevor Wishart will also present:

Registration

Space is limited [30]; register now to ensure your seat! Registration - Two works by Trevor WIshart

Description

CIRMMT Distinguished Lecturer Trevor Wishart will present two recent works for 8-channel sound-surround in the Université de Montréal's 32-speaker studio: 

  • The sonic opera Encounters in the Republic of Heaven (2010-11), a piece in four twenty-minute "Acts," crosses sonic art with storytelling, using the computer to extract the musical qualities of natural speech. It is based on recordings of speaking voices from the North East of England. 
  • The Secret Resonance of Things (2013-14) is a set of pieces exploring the musical possibilities of scientific data. The first, Supernova, converts the light spectrum of a supernova explosion (and the spectra of the new elements generated) into sound. The second, Signatures of Chaos, maps the emergence of chaos through the logistic equation, and the transition to turbulence in a rotating liquid via Taylor-Couette flow. The third piece draws on physical models of imaginary musical instruments.

The complete program notes for both works can be download in PDF here: Two works program notes

Trevor Wishart_portrait_krikriBiography of Trevor Wishart

Trevor Wishart, (b 1946), composer/performer from the North of England specialising in sound metamorphosis, and constructing the software to make it possible (Sound Loom / CDP). He has lived and worked as composer-in-residence in Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Sweden, and the USA. 

He creates music with his own voice, for professional groups, or in imaginary worlds conjured up in the studio. His aesthetic and technical ideas are described in the books On Sonic Art, Audible Design and Sound Composition (2012), and he is a principal author of the Composers Desktop Project sound-processing software. His most well-known works include The VOX Cycle, Red Bird, Tongues Of Fire, Two Women, Imago and Globalalia, and pieces have been commissioned by the Paris Biennale, Massachussets Council for the Arts and Humanities, the DAAD in Berlin, the French Ministry of Culture and the BBC Proms. In 2008 he was awarded the Giga-Herz Grand prize for his life’s work. Between 2006 and 2010 he was composer-in-residence in the North East of England (based at Durham University) creating the sound-surround Digital Opera Encounters in the Republic of Heaven, and during 2011, as Artist in Residence at the University of Oxford, began work on the project The Secret resonance of Things, transforming astronomical and mathematical data into musical material.

He has also been involved in community, environmental and educational projects, and his Sounds Fun books of musical games was republished in Japanese. 

For further information consult www.trevorwishart.co.uk.