Upcoming events that ACTOR members are presenting at:
Past events that ACTOR members have organized, attended, and/or presented at:
We have the pleasure to announce that the 4th edition of the International Conference on Timbre will be held in Montreal from July 2 to 4, 2026, hosted by the University of Montreal in collaboration with the research partnership ACTOR (Analysis, Creation and Teaching of ORchestration), and with the support of Montreal-based music research centres CIRMMT (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology) and RCMS (Regroupement inter-universitaire de recherche et création - musiques et sociétés).
The Timbre and Orchestration Analysis Workgroup will be meeting on December 9th.
It is official! We are pleased to confirm that the Y7 workshop will take place at the Haute école de musique in Geneva, Switzerland, 7-9 July 2025.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION DEFENSE
(MUSIC THEORY – GENDER AND WOMEN’S STUDIES)
Rachel Hottle
Elizabeth Cotten, Joni Mitchell, and the Guitar/Body Interface
The Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration (ACTOR) project is pleased to announce that third edition of the Timbre & Orchestration Summer School will be held at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, June 03-07, 2025
Doctoral thesis defense in composition and sound creation
From acoustics to virtual reality: Development of an idiomatic composition practice for the virtual orchestra
Eliazer Kramer
ACTOR is pleased to announce the ninth ACTOR / CIRMMT Student Symposium, held as a hybrid event on Friday, May 16th, 11:30pm-1:30pm.
A special final CORE symposium and concert event is being organized by the University of California, San Diego in collaboration with the Talea Ensemble from New York City April 25-28 in La Jolla, CA.
The Marvin Duchow Music Library and Prof. Stephen McAdams invite you to a book launch celebrating his new publication, Perception and Cognition of Music: The Sorbonne Lectures (Oxford University Press, 2024).
The event will be held in the Music Library on Friday, April 11, 2025, from 6pm to 8pm. Registration/RSVP
The third round of the CORE project at McGill in 2024-25 included the original quartet plus electronics. The final concert/presentation will take place in the Schulich School of Music's Music Multimedia Room at 527 Sherbrooke Street West at 4:00pm on Thursday, April 10, 2025.
Composing, performing and analyzing contemporary orchestration” seminar concert
This concert will present works created by graduate students in composition, performance and musicology, as part of the interdisciplinary seminar “Composing, performing and analyzing contemporary orchestration” given by Jimmie LeBlanc, Kit Soden and Caroline Traube at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Music.
The Arts and Humanities Interdisciplinary Methodologies Workgroup will meet on Monday, March 24, at 10 a.m. Eastern time (11 a.m. Atlantic; 3 p.m. CET).
All ACTORians are welcome to attend and participate. We will discuss issues that arise in developing interdisciplinary projects, particularly the benefits and pitfalls of methodological appropriation.
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup will meet four times over the course of this semester. All are invited to attend any or all of the meetings, whether or not you have been in previous semantics meetings.
Colloquium on March 12.
Gianluca Grazioli (PhD candidate, Sound Recording), “Virtual Acoustics and Performance Spaces: The Impact of an Immersive Real-Time Auralization System on Music Performance”
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup will meet four times over the course of this semester. All are invited to attend any or all of the meetings, whether or not you have been in previous semantics meetings.
Colloquium on January 29.
Benjamin Lavastre, “Interactions Strategies in Mixed Compositions Between Acoustic Instruments and Digital Musical Instruments: Case Study with the Karlax.”
ACTOR's Training and Mentoring Committee is pleased to announce our annual Timbre Geeks Networking (TGN) event, which will be held online on January 17, 12:00-2:00.
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup will meet four times over the course of this semester. All are invited to attend any or all of the meetings, whether or not you have been in previous semantics meetings.
The ACTOR Project Training and Mentoring Committee is organizing the first Workshop on Orchestration Pedagogy. The event will focus on various approaches to teaching orchestration through demonstrations, discussions, and the examination of orchestration syllabi.
Colloquium on November 27.
Viktor Lazarov, “Creating and Analysing Baroque Performance Practice on the Piano,” Lecture-recital
Valérian Fraisse FROM SOUND ART TO SOUNDSCAPE: A research-creation approach for designing and evaluating public space sound installations
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup will meet four times over the course of this semester. All are invited to attend any or all of the meetings, whether or not you have been in previous semantics meetings.
Colloquium on November 20.
Louis-Michel Tougas (Composition), “Issues and Cognitive Limits of Polyrhythm: A Multidisciplinary Approach”
Theodora Nestorova (Applied Performance Science), “Vocal Vibrato Variability: Novel Analytical Tools & Diagnostic-Pedagogical Approaches in Diverse Genres”
The intention of the workshop named "Cimbalom on the Stage" is to introduce the cimbalom as a fully fledged concert instrument whose specific sounds and far-reaching possibilities are increasingly coming to be appreciated in the world of both traditional and contemporary music. Daniel Skála, one of the most striking cimbalom players in the world today, along with leading player of the young generation Matěj Číp, will introduce the cimbalom in its paramount performance form.
Following Nina Eidsheim’s Distinguished Lecture "Metaphor as material practice" on November 11, 2024, this joint CIRMMT/ACTOR workshop will focus on vocal and instrumental timbre in relation to the metaphors used to describe them and to the concept of materiality in contemporary music.
Colloquium on November 20.
Jade Roth, “Orchestration Semantics: How Tailleferre’s Orchestration Conjures Imagery in the Ballade (1920)”
Functional orchestration is an approach to orchestration (orchestration practice as well as music theory and orchestration analysis) that attempts to link orchestration techniques with perceptual effects by considering their musical and perceptual goals (functions).
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup will meet four times over the course of this semester. All are invited to attend any or all of the meetings, whether or not you have been in previous semantics meetings.
