Immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design and electroacoustic music
We frequently host concerts, screenings and talks showcasing the work of students, staff and international experts in the field. These concerts are open to the public and give our students the opportunity to be heard alongside world leading artists.
The Loudspeaker Orchestra shares immersive listening experiences in diverse venues, via curated concerts of sound arts and contemporary music.
Term 2
Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert: Panayiotis Kokoras
Date: Wednesday 26 February 2025
Venue: St Alfege Church
Time: 7pm
Entry: £5, booking is required
Exploring timbre as a key element of form, join us for an eclectic evening as Panayiotis Kokoras presents a programme of fixed, mixed media and audiovisual works. The concert will include multichannel compositions AI Phantasy (2020), Qualia (2017) and Sense (2013) for tape, amongst others.
Panayiotis Kokoras is an internationally award-winning composer and computer music innovator, and currently Regents Professor of composition and CEMI director (Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia) at the University of North Texas. Born in Greece, he underwent formal training in classical guitar and composition in Athens (Dip), Greece, and later in York, England (MA, PhD). He taught for many years at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Kokoras's sound compositions use sound as the only structural unit. His concept of "holophonic musical texture" describes his goal that each independent sound (phonos), contributes equally into the synthesis of the total (holos). In both instrumental and electroacoustic writing, his music calls upon a "virtuosity of sound," a hyper-idiomatic writing which emphasizes on the precise production of variable sound possibilities and the correct distinction between one timbre and another to convey the musical ideas and structure of the piece. His compositional oeuvre draws inspiration from his in-depth exploration of domains such as Sound Composition, Spatial Sound, Mixed Music, Electroacoustic Music, Holophonic Musical Texture, Extended Techniques, Fab Synthesis, Music Information Retrieval compositional strategies, Tactile Sound, Instrumental Prosthetics, Robotics, Sound and Consciousness. Kokoras's works have received significant recognition, with commissions and fellowships from renowned institutions and festivals including the Guggenheim Foundation (USA), Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard), IRCAM (France), MATA (New York), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), ZKM (Germany), and IMEB (France), among others. His compositions have graced over 1100 performances across the globe, amassing an impressive array of 95 awards and distinctions in international competitions. His compositions have consistently been chosen by juries from over 320 international calls for music. He stands as a founding member of the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association (HELMCA) and held positions including board member and president from 2004 to 2012. Presently, he assumes the role of President of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (ICEM). He also served as conference chair for the ICMC 2015 and SMC 2018 and regularly serves as jury member in composition competitions and conferences.
Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert: Ernest Berk: A Musical Outsider
Date: 26 March 2025
Time: 7pm
Venue: Bathway Theatre
Entry: £5, booking is required
In collabration with CeReNeM (University of Huddersfield)
Ernest Berk: A Musical Outsider is a multichannel concert showcasing the work of pioneering electronic music composer Ernest Berk. As part of the AHRC-funded project “Ernest Berk: An Expressionist Outsider” the project team have meticulously restored Berk’s lost recordings made between 1957 and 1983. The performance crafts a unique experience of England’s unsung electronic music history.
Ernest Berk was one of the most prolific composers of early electronic music in England, creating over 220 pieces across a career spanning three decades. Yet his contribution to electronic music is all but forgotten today. After fleeing Germany in the 1930s, Berk opened a dance and electronic music studio in Camden, London and dedicated himself to the composition of electronic music and musique concrète. His synthesis of musique concrète and contemporary dance made him one of the most visionary practitioners in a wave of pioneering English electronic music composers throughout the 1960s and 1970s that saw him working alongside Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, and Tristram Cary. Despite far-reaching influence within music and dance scenes of the time, Berk never achieved lasting recognition and his legacy as a composer, performer, and pedagogue has now all but slipped from the public consciousness. When he died in Berlin in 1993, he was destitute.