Newsletter no. 21
Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration Project
September, 2022
Editor’s Note:
Hello Everyone! We are excited to be back for another exciting year of research in timbre and orchestration. We are transitioning back to in-person activities within ACTOR Central and we can't be happier!
During the brief summer pause we said goodbye to our outgoing ACTOR postdocs Matthew Zeller and Lindsey Reymore, who have done so much for ACTOR these past two years. We thank you greatly for the amazing work you have done and we wish you much success in the next stage of your professional lives. Receiving the baton are two new postdocs, Ben Duinker, from the University of Toronto, and Andrés Gutiérrez, from the University of California San Diego. Kit Soden will continue working with ACTOR central in a limited capacity as webmaster as he will join the Université de Montréal as a postdoctoral researcher.
Thank you for reading! We look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Best,
Andrés Gutiérrez, ACTOR Output Innovation Postdoc"
CREATIONS AND PRODUCTIONS
The Lincolnshire Poacher
Guillaume Bourgogne has conducted the premiere of The Lincolnshire Poacher by Mauro Lanza, for ensemble and electronics at the Festival Ensemble(s), Théâtre de l'échangeur (Bagnolet, France). September 11, 2022.
PUBLICATIONS
The Angel of Death
The Angel of Death lives again! The seminal collaboration between the composer Roger Reynolds, psychologists Stephen McAdams, Emmanuel Bigand, and Sandrine Vieillard, and musicologists Philippe Lalitte and François Madurell was originally published as an e-book by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou in 2005, edited by Stephen McAdams and Marc Battier. With the demise of Flash and its retirement from IRCAM's catalogue, this amazing research-creation adventure became invisible. No more! With the expert help of MA student Corinne Darche, it has been translated to javascript and is available to all on a new website. Many great timbral and orchestrational musical moments and scientifico-musicological reflections to be had. Enjoy!
Volume!
New Issue (#19) of Volume ! (online review, also as a paper publication), The French journal of popular music studies, edited by Jacopo Costa, Elsa Grassy, Pierre Michel and Niccolo Palazzetti.
With a paper by Pierre Michel, Jacopo Costa and Philippe Lalitte : "Hatfield and the North (1974) : une synthèse en équilibre", p. 11-38. Read more
MAP Project's Interactive Report - Peer-reviewed
An updated and peer-reviewed version of the Musicians Auditory Perception (MAP) Interactive Project Report (including both written as well as musical material) is available now on the TOR. Read more
Masque de Fer
Masque de Fer is a research-creation collaboration (funded byACTOR’s Student Collaborative Grant) by Martin Daigle (McGill University) and Gabriel Couturier (Université de Montréal), which explores and expands on drum kit instrumentation. The goal of this project was to create a resource for composers and performers who wish to explore new sound production methods on a modern drum kit. This peer-reviewed online resource contains a write-up explaining the project, first-person point-of-view videos, as well as photos. The second part of this collaboration resulted in the creation of a new piece for drum kit which features techniques in the online resource. This piece was premiered at the School of Music, Theater, and Art in Örebro University, Sweden on March 17, 2022, and is also available in the module.
New Amazing Moments in Timbre essay by Linglan Zhu
“The opening section of the ensemble piece Pour l’image by Philippe Hurel is underpinned by a series of orchestration approaches that work in concert to generate a large-scale musical transition. The first prominent transition happens in the first 15 measures, traversing from a complex timbral agglomerate to a transparent polyphonic texture. The second transition happens in mm. 22-45 where a harmonically and timbrally dissonant texture gradually condenses into a passage of consonant chordal echoes.” Read more
Cognitive Computation and Systems - Special Issue
Zijin Li & Stephen McAdams (Guest editors), special issue of the journal Cognitive Computation and Systems on "Music Perception and Cognition in Music Technology" including an article by ACTOR member Xin Wang. Read more
Lifetime Achievement Award + Election to the Royal Society of Canada
Congratulations to our Director, Stephen McAdams, recipient of the 2022 SMPC Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the field of music perception and cognition! The award was presented during the last meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition in Portland, OR, August 4-7.
And to top things off, Stephen McAdams has also been elected Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada. This is the highest recognition granted to the individual in the arts and social sciences by the RSC. Read more
ACTOR postdoctoral fellow joins Arizona State music faculty
Previous ACTOR postdoc Lindsey Reymore has joined the faculty at Arizona State University as an Assistant Professor of Music Theory. Lindsey looks forward to integrating the study of timbre and orchestration into core and upper level theory curricula as well as to continuing her research collaborations with ACTOR members. Read more
ACTOR members awarded SSHRC Insight grant
Jimmie LeBlanc has obtained a SSHRC Insight Development research-creation grant with co-candidate Serge Cardinal and collaborator Jonathan Goldman. The title of the project is: Compositional perspectives on musical semiotics, based on the theoretical and practical integration of Deleuzian semiotics of cinema
The project is not directly focused on orchestration, however, timbre and orchestration are certainly present in this research on musical semiotics.
ACTOR's webmaster wins FRQSC fellowship
The Fonds de recherche du Québec has awarded Kit Soden (former McGill University postdoc) with a two-year research-creation postdoc at the Université de Montréal to research the role of timbre and orchestration in opera. He will be working with ACTOR member, and Canada Research Chair in Opera Creation, Prof. Ana Sokolovic.
Developing a Stylistically and Demographically Diverse Corpus of Timbral Features in 1990s Popular Music
11 November
New Orleans
Members of the ACTOR project Timbre in Popular Song (TiPS) will present a lightning talk at the Music Informatics Interest Group meeting of the Society for Music Theory in New Orleans on 11 November 2022: "Developing a Stylistically and Demographically Diverse Corpus of Timbral Features in 1990s Popular Music" by (in alphabetical order) Nicole Biamonte, Ben Duinker, Lindsey Reymore, Jade Roth, Nicholas Shea, Jeremy Tatar, Leigh VanHandel, Christopher William White, and Matthew Zeller.
Unraveling timbre in the music of the marriage ceremony of the Chewa and Bemba in Zambia
30 September
12:00-1:15pm (EDT)
Online
SAVE THE DATE! The Sub-Saharan African and Afro-Diasporic subgroup of the Diversity working group are pleased to formally announce the Speaker Series: Afrological Perspectives on Timbre and Orchestration. The series, spearheaded by Jason Winikoff, Joshua Rosner, and Jay Marchand Knight, will take place over the 2022-23 academic year and will launch with a talk by Dr. Bibian Kalinde entitled, “Unraveling timbre in the music of the marriage ceremony of the Chewa and Bemba in Zambia.” Other invited guests include Kevin Holt, Andile Khumalo, Joel Larue Smith, Marvin McNeill, and Stephanie Shonekan. Bibian Kalinde’s talk will take place on Friday 30 September 2022 from 12:00pm-1:15pm Eastern (6:00pm-7:15pm in Zambia) and will be given over Zoom. Information about links to attend the event will be sent out closer to the date of the event.
Dōshite?
Four Canadian performances of Dōshite? by Bob Pritchard (for piano, Sleeve-Hand Responsive User Garment, Max/MSP/Jitter, and media) are planned for this fall, with three performances by Megumi Masaki and one by Danielle Lee.
Bestiarium Musicale & Talea
18 September
Festival Musica - Strasbourg
Guillaume Bourgogne will conduct the premiere of Bestiarium Musicale (Musical Bestiary) by Noriko Baba for ensemble and Talea by Gérard Grisey, with Ensemble Cairn September 18, 2022 at Festival Musica (Strasbourg, France). Read More
Project Updates
CORE Documentary
We are delighted to announce the release of a documentary on the first round of the Composer-performer Orchestration Research Ensemble (CORE) project from 2018-2020. The film was produced by Aliza Thibodeau. Enjoy!
Tracking and Smart Textiles Environment Project
The interactive light spine from Bob Pritchard's Tracking and Smart Textiles Environment (TaSTE) project is being used in a new dance film of the work Ecdysis, currently in production.
Doctoral Fieldwork
Student member and co-founder of the Sub-Saharan African & Afro-Diasporic Music sub-workgroup Jason Winikoff is completing his 11 months of field research in Zambia. This fieldwork was for his doctoral dissertation in ethnomusicology which examines the role of timbre (and orchestration) in Zambian Luvale makishi masquerade theatre. In addition to working on many other timbre- and orchestration-related studies, this fieldwork involved research for two timbre-semantics projects. He is also hoping to apply for collaborative student project grants to further develop certain sections of his dissertation. The field research took place from October 2, 2021 to August 31, 2022. This was Jason's 5th extended research trip to Zambia.
In the photograph: Members of the Likumbi Lya Mize Western Province Mongu Group. (top row, left-right) Musole Chipango, Kashewa Kapalu, Douglas Mwila, Chihungwa Kapalu, Chinyama Kasanga, (bottom row, left-right) Kasanga Nsamba, Jason Winikoff
Y4 Workshop
Back in person!
Last July, from the 9th through the 11th, the Director of ACTOR Prof. Stephen McAdams welcomed all members for the Y4 Workshop, which concluded the fourth year of activities of the project. The event was warmly hosted by our fellow ACTORians over at the University of Calgary and involved over 35 participants in person and approximately 20 virtually via Zoom.
We were thrilled to see our colleagues face to face again after 2 years of virtual workshops. 12 working group sessions were organized, including an insightful roundtable discussion organized by our host, which was followed by a brilliant concert featuring our members Hans Tutschku, Martin Ritter, and Hector Pinzon. While building the ACTOR community, members had an opportunity to get updates on various projects, network, and form new collaborations.
The annual workshop also included 5 selected student presentations, 12 lightning talks, and 2 collaborative student grant reports as well as brief reports from the Project Director, the Training and Mentoring Committee, and the Knowledge Mobilization Committee. The three newly-elected student representatives were introduced and the new edition of the Mentorship Program was launched.
We would like to thank all workgroup leaders for the time invested in the organization of each session, our students for their assistance in many areas, and our hosts and co-organizers of this event Laurie Radford, Jeffrey Boyd, and Friedemann Sallis along with their team of students and the technical team from UofC. A word of gratitude is also due to you, our members, for participating, researching, and helping us bring timbre and orchestration to the forefront of scholarship, practice and public awareness.
We are looking forward to seeing you all again next year!
Y4 workshop highlights
3 generations of ACTOR post-docs at the ACTOR Central transition meeting in Calgary (from front left around the table): Jason Noble 2018-20, Andrés Gutiérrez 2022-24, Stephen McAdams, Matthew Zeller 2020-22, André Oliveira, Lindsey Reymore 2020-22, Ben Duinker 2022-24, Kit Soden 2020-22.
ACTOR Educational Film Series
ACTOR Edufilms
First presented to us at the Y4 workshop in Calgary, the ACTOR educational film series will be launched soon! The brainchild of Matthew Zeller (ACTOR postdoc 2020–2022), this film series features an animated Stephen McAdams (see photo) with his lab partner Cameron Chameleon (created by Jason Noble, ACTOR postdoc 2018–2020) as they explore aspects of timbre, orchestration, and the research undertaken through ACTOR. The first three short films in this series will be released this fall and in early 2023, and we are currently soliciting ideas for future videos. Please get in touch with Ben Duinker (ACTOR postdoc 2022–2024) at benjamin.duinker@mail.mcgill.ca to discuss potential topics.
Jean-Michaël Lavoie
Since the age of 28, Jean-Michaël Lavoie enjoys an international career as a conductor. After his studies at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, he was appointed assistant conductor to the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris (2008-2010) and one of the resident conductors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2010). He deepened his musical training in Europe and United States with Pierre Boulez (Lucerne Festival Academy), Susanna Mälkki (Ensemble intercontemporain, LA PHIL) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (Orchestre de Paris).
For more than ten years, Jean-Michaël Lavoie has guest conducted the most important orchestras in Europe, among them the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, NFM Filharmonia Wroclawska.
He made his opera debuts at Teatro alla Scala, Milan (2011), co-conducting the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Quartett, at Opéra de Lyon (2013) and Opéra national de Bordeaux (2014).
He is a regular guest to ensembles specialized in contemporary music: Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Musikfabrik, Ensemble Resonanz, and the Ensemble of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec.
Winner of the Prix Opus 2020 New Artist of the Year, he recorded two piano recitals for La chaîne culturelle de Radio-Canada’s program Les Jeunes Artistes.
In January 2017, Jean-Michaël Lavoie succeeded Lorraine Vaillancourt at the Faculty of Music of Université de Montréal, where he teaches contemporary music and conducts concerts with the Ensemble de musique contemporaine de l’Université de Montréal.
Next season, Jean-Michaël Lavoie will make his debut at the Volksoper Wien and will return conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
ACTOR Strategic & Research-Creation Project Funding
The deadline for Round 1 of the Strategic and Research-Creation Project Funding 2022-2023 is 5:00pm (EDT) on September 15, 2022. Projects must involve at least two members in different ACTOR institutions. The Principal Investigator for any proposal must be a regular ACTOR member at an ACTOR academic partner institution or an ACTOR co-applicant (not collaborator) at a non partner institution. Collaborators at non-partner institutions are not eligible as principal investigators for these grants but may be collaborators on the project.
The purpose of the ACTOR Strategic Project Funding is to encourage innovative research and/or pilot projects by members of the ACTOR Partnership whereas the Research-Creation Project Funding is meant to support collaborative work in timbre and orchestration between composers, performers, and researchers within the framework of the ACTOR mandate. For more information and to access the application forms, visit the ACTOR website.
Satellite Meeting Funding
The purpose of the Satellite Meeting Funding is to increase ACTOR's visibility at international conferences by supporting the organization of adjunct meetings involving at least two ACTOR members. A maximum amount of $300 (CAD) will be provided. Applications will be accepted continuously, but must be submitted at least two months prior to the conference date. For more information on how to apply and to access the online application form, visit ACTOR Funding Opportunities.
Contributing to TOR
We encourage all ACTOR members to share their research (in progress or completed) with the ACTOR community via the Timbre and Orchestration Resource (TOR). This may include an article, blog, or video submission containing information on project ideas, experiments, external resources/tools, teaching materials, analysis, or anything related to timbre and orchestration that you deem relevant. We believe that only in doing so will we truly benefit from the expertise and feedback from the world-class team of scientists, artists, and humanists involved in ACTOR. If you have any questions about the submission process, please contact Kit Soden.
