Newsletter no. 49
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ACTOR OUTCOMES
TOR Spotlight
Short geometric pieces
The latest research-creation project report from the Gilbert Nouno at the HEM Geneva, Petites pièces géométriques, is now available on the TOR. This module explores the artistic use of sound-beam technology to shape and manipulate how sound is propagated within a given space. Read more
The Line : An etude of juxtaposed timbral approaches
A new individual project report is now available on the TOR. ACTOR student member Joshua Bucchi shares the creative motivations behind The Line (2020), composed during CORE Round 1 at Université de Montréal. Read more
Experimentation as a Central Element in Music Composition
The report of ACTOR student member Nicolás Medero on his research-creation project at Université de Strasbourg is now available on the TOR! The report details his innovative use of transducers to excite percussion instruments, offering a compelling approach to embodying electroacoustic music performance. Read more
Speech as a Model for Orchestration
In his individual project report Speech as Model for Orchestration, ACTOR student member Louis-Michel Tougas examines an approach to orchestration modeled after speech, as employed in his piece Phonotactics for piano and electronics. Follow the link to read the full report on the TOR.
Creations & Productions
Photo by Elam Rotem
“Time passes Time” by Omni Abram
ACTOR Student member Omri Abram's piece Time passes Time for large ensemble was featured in a concert in Porto, Portugal, on June 1st 2025, as part of the World New Music Days. It will be performed by Remix Ensemble conducted by Ilan Volkov at the Casa da Música.
The piece is an examination of movement and stasis: can the two coexist at the same time? What musical textures does this entail? Timbre is a central tool and compositional preoccupation throughout, in particular through the use of extended playing techniques and unusual instrumental combinations to create new, ambiguous timbral-textural entities that depart from traditional orchestration groupings.
The title of the piece is taken from a poem by Anne Carson, in her tantalizing book red doc. Here are a few lines: “Time Passes Time does not pass. Time all but passes. Time usually passes. Time passing and gazing. Time has no gaze. Time as perseverance. Time as hunger. Time in a natural way...”
Concert details: https://www.misomusic.me/wnmd2025-calendar/20250601-2
Publication
New research involving ACTOR members has been published.
Orchestral Issues
Circuit: Musiques contemporaines has published a thematic issue on orchestral challenges in volume 35(1) with articles by several ACTOR members: Victor Cordero & Kit Soden, Lena Heng, and Julie Delisle. Read more
Luciano Berio and the Voice - Experiments, Poetry, Interpretation
On the occasion of the centenary of Luciano Berio's birth, Pierre Michel and Olivier Class are pleased to announce the publication of their collective work Berio et la voix - Expérimentations, poésies interprétation (Berio and the Voice - Experiments, Poetry, Interpretation).
Luciano Berio's (1925-2003) vocal music is explored in this book through various musicological and analytical approaches, drawing on testimonials from performers. While the collaboration between the composer and his first wife Cathy Berberian is well known, many topics still deserved to be addressed concerning vocal writing itself, aesthetics, links with poetry, and musical interpretation.
This book includes articles by ACTOR members Pierre Michel, Phillip Lalitte, and ACTOR student member Mengqi Wang.
Presentation
ScenIA Workshop
On March 26 the ScenIA Workshop – Interacting with AI in Improvised Music, organized by Gilbert Nouno, Christophe Fellay, Nathalie Hérold, took place at the HEM Geneva in collaboration with IReMus/Sorbonne University and EDHEA.
The program included presentations by
Workshop Report: Timbre et Orchestration au tournant des XIXe et XXe siècles
The workshop Timbre et Orchestration au tournant des XIXe et XXe siècles (Timbre and Orchestration at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries) took place on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at the Maison de la recherche (Amphi Molinié, Sorbonne University). Organized by Jean-Jacques Velly and Nathalie Hérold (Sorbonne University/IReMus), the event focused on the historical and analytical dimensions of timbre and orchestration at the fin de siècle.
Martin Roger (Sorbonne University, ACTOR student member) presented La pureté du timbre dans l'orchestration de Claude Debussy : entre discours et pratique (The purity of timbre in Claude Debussy's orchestration: between discourse and practice).
Nathalie Hérold (Sorbonne University, IReMus, ACTOR member) followed with “Analyser le timbre dans la musique pour piano de Debussy : quelques remarques sur le prélude ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’” (Analyzing timbre in Debussy’s piano music: some remarks on the prelude ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’). Read more
Music, Cinema, and Aesthetic Figures
On June 5, a workshop entitled Music, Cinema, and Aesthetic Figures: Practical, Theoretical, and Philosophical Perspectives on Sound Creation was held in the hall R.515 of the Quebec National Library and Archives Grande Bibliothèque BAnQ from 9h to 17h.
Participants gathered for a rich day of exploration into sound creation, composition, and musical aesthetics, featuring insightful presentations by Pascale Criton, Jessica Pilon-Pinette, Simon Gregorcic, Simon Gervais, Serge Cardinal, and Jimmie LeBlanc. The event included two compelling concert-lectures: a performance of Trans, for two guitars, by Pascale Criton, and Moûsai, Jimmie LeBlanc’s latest string quartet. These performances beautifully complemented the scholarly discussions, offering a vibrant interplay between theory and artistic expression.
Performers from the Faculty of Music joined us for these performances: Trans was performed by Charles Hobson and José Francisco Guevara Martinez, and Moûsai by Mathilde Goyette-Forget (violin), Mathilde Légeret (violin), Axelle Tahiri (viola), and Lisa Tulliez-Gattegno (cello). Read more
AWARDS & HONOURS
Distinguished James McGill Professor Award
Congratulations to Stephen McAdams on Receiving the Distinguished James McGill Professor Award, which recognizes late-career researchers who have demonstrated exceptional research achievement over two terms as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair. Stephen held three tenures as a Tier 1 CRC in Music Perception and Cognition. This award acknowledges his enduring impact and ongoing interdisciplinary work across science, the humanities, and the arts. Read more
UPCOMING EVENTS
SOHO - Premiere
2 July | 7:30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
London, United Kingdom
On July 2, 2025, the London Philharmonic Orchestra will premiere SOHO, a new orchestral work by Jorge Ramos, composer from its 2024/25 Young Composers Programme, at Queen Elizabeth Hall. The performance will be conducted by Juya Shin and will feature William Wyld on amplified voice.
SOHO explores perception, time, and place through a collision of eras and aesthetics. Inspired by the eclectic energy of London’s SOHO district, the piece blends AI-generated harmonic progressions, computer-assisted orchestration built from live concert samples, and a hybrid artistic language. Vintage textures and noir atmospheres meet cutting-edge techniques, drawing influence from iconic local landmarks such as St Mary’s Church, Leicester Square Station, Ronnie Scott’s, and the Prince Charles Cinema. The result is a rich, immersive soundscape that evokes the layered, chaotic beauty of urban life. Read more
Announcing An Aria for the Mallard
July – October 2025
Gulbenkian CAM Garden
Lisbon, Portugal
A new multidisciplinary project by ACTOR collaborator Jorge Ramos, developed in partnership with the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, An Aria for the Mallard is an operatic sound installation centered on the mallard duck. Blending classical opera structures with field recording, sound synthesis, and real-time environmental data, the work reimagines composition as a collaboration with place.
Created in collaboration with neuroscientists from the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre & Gardens, visual artist Rosana Antolí, and soprano Claire Rocha Santos, the piece unfolds in three daily movements—from ambient soundscapes to birdsong transformations and a live operatic intervention.
At its heart is a steel sculpture that acts as both score and resonant body, creating a multispecies dialogue between human voice, environment, and technology.
An Aria for the Mallard will be on exhibition in the Gulbenkian CAM Garden in Lisbon, July–October 2025.
Mirrors, Reflections, and Illusions…
14 June | 7:30pm
Kultum
Graz, Austria
On June 14, 2025 Andrés Gutiérrez Martínez's duo for contrabass and contrabass clarinet Mirrors, Reflections, and Illusions...(2015) will be performed by contrabassist Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka and clarinetist Johannes Feuchter at Kultum in Graz, Austria. The duo will subsequently perform the piece in Vienna as part of the duo's brief tour. Read more
Sounds of Today
11-12 June
Mantua Conservatory
Mantua, Italy
On June 11-12 The first international conference "Sounds of Today, Contemporary Practices with and Beyond Instruments" will be hosted by the Mantua Conservatory L. Campiani, organized by the research group CCOrP (Contemporary Composition and Orchestration Practices) led by Maurizio Azzan, Zeno Baldi, and Ingrid Pustijanac.
The conference will include presentations by several ACTOR members.
Robert Hasegawa will give a presentation entitled Analyzing Contemporary Orchestration Practices, Nathalie Hérold's presentation is entitled Analyzing Timbre and Orchestration in Today’s Instrumental Music, and Andrés Gutiérrez Martínez will co-present with Chiara Percivati Mapping the Sound Space of Bass Clarinet Multiphonics. Read more
Workgroups
Timbre Semantics Workgroup
First of all, sincere apologies to those who attempted to join the Timbre Semantics Working Group meeting on May 12; I (i.e., Lindsey) made a scheduling error and missed the time (and since it was my Zoom room, unfortunately, no one was able to connect). Lena, Asterios, and I regrouped on May 14 to discuss plans for the Y7 workshop. We are currently not planning to have another meeting before the Y7 workshop, but rather we will communicate via email between now and then.
As we plan for our meeting at the Y7 workshop, we invite you to respond to the following open calls:
Submissions for additions to the Semantics Working Group Project report: If you have been working on or have completed a semantics-related project this year, particularly if you have shared it during a meeting or are collaborating with other ACTOR members, we want to include it in our workgroup report! Please send the title of your project, a list of authors with institutional affiliations, a 1–2 sentence summary of the project, and an update with the current status of the project. If the project has been published, include a citation to the article, chapter, etc. You do not need to be planning to attend the workshop to add your project to the report!
Lightning Talks, Y7 workshop: If you would like to share project results from the past year in a 5-minute lightning talk, let us know. Send the same information as in #1 with a note that you would like the project to be considered for a lightning talk. Lightning talks can be given in person or via Zoom. Note that space for lightning talks may be limited.
Ideas for the future: We will discuss future directions for the working group. Hopefully, our momentum will be supported with the TONE grant, but we will also talk more broadly about how to maintain and develop our community and to encourage collaboration in a post-ACTOR world. Workgroup leaders will be offering some specific themes and prompts for discussion, but if you have any thoughts, comments, or topics to propose for the agenda, we welcome your input. Please send us your ideas!
Submit responses to any/all of the above before June 20; earlier is helpful for our planning! Email submissions and/or comments, questions etc. to Lindsey Reymore at lreymore@asu.edu.
Project Updates
The San Diego CORE Project Symposium (April 25 – 27 2025)
Early in 2024, Rand Steiger— longtime friend and colleague—and I began casual discussions about whether we might, from our UC San Diego base, propose a “seventh-year occasion” that would bring together a substantial group of ACTOR participants, individuals actively involved with CORE in one way or another or those who could shed interesting light on its premises, activities, and outcomes. The aim would be to present and thus formally share what had been accomplished and how what had been could lead towards what could then be.
Many logistical and organizational issues needed to be addressed, and managed in such a way that assured fiscal viability, optimal participation, and a substantive outcome. As it actually happened in what felt like a surprisingly smooth fashion, there’s no need to recount the abundant barriers, perils, anxieties, or moments in which it seemed the whole enterprise would collapse.
The ACTOR community has been formed as a guided process that is foundationally indebted to Stephen McAdams and other colleagues in Montréal who originally conceived and obtained approval from the Canadian SSHRC to fund a seven-year process of exploration that extended beyond the borders of their own nation. Consider for a moment the meaning of such enlightened and enlightening vision and generosity, especially in comparison with the current behaviour of its neighbour to the south.
Although, through these years, there have been valuable intersections and richly rewarding paths explored, much of it has been done virtually. The ACTOR community has been internet-beholden. Minimal tactility. So the presence for three days in Southern California of a core group of ACTORians who shared in ways not possible when physical distance is a limiting factor was – as hoped – rewarding in unanticipated ways. Participants took the occasion to clarify and deepen, to re-consider their ACTOR and CORE-related experiences. Formal presentations were dimensionalized by discussants, and in one-on-one or small group encounters during breaks. Questions that could have slipped by were clarified. Perspectival nuances offered were received, some embraced, all welcomed.
Six subject-matter Areas were central to the weekend:
Performance: Curator, Guillaume Bourgogne (Haute école de musique de Lausanne) with Bailey Wantuch (McGill University), Peter Ko (UC San Diego,) Berk Schneider (UC San Diego);
CORE Project: Curators, Caroline Traube (Université de Montréal) and Stephen McAdams (McGill University);
Computer processing and spatialization: Curator, Pierre Michaud (Université de Montréal);
Analysis: Curator, Robert Hasegawa (McGill University);
Semantics: Curator, Lindsey Reymore (Arizona State University);
Presentation of Performed Compositions: Curator, Roger Reynolds (UC San Diego).
Roger Reynolds (UC San Diego), Discussant Tiange Zhou (Beijing Normal University);
Rand Steiger (UC San Diego), Discussant Alex Stephenson (Illinois State University);
Roman Carvajal Pardo (HEM Genève), Discussant, Andrés Gutiérrez Martínez (McGill University);
Snežana Nešić (Université de Montréal /Dr. Hochs Conservatory), Discussant, Alex Taylor (Illinois State University);
Louis-Michel Tougas (McGill University), Discussant, Sang Song (UC San Diego);
Ni Zheng (UC San Diego), Discussant, Stephen De Filippo (UC San Diego)
The musical summit of the weekend was a superbly realized concert featuring Talea Ensemble of New York, conducted by James Baker. The ensemble’s Interim Executive Director, bassoonist Adrian Morejon, was also on hand to observe and contribute. The six composers listed above all received deeply gratifying realizations of their works on the part of an excellent, engaged group of performers. Click here to access the video recording.
The willingness of participants to contribute to the cost of their presence was notable, and, in its way, a tribute to the entire ACTOR initiative. The willingness of the unique international journal, Contemporary Music Review, and Editor Antares Boyle to publish a double special issue containing the proceedings of the San Diego weekend will assure that there is a permanent record of what was intended and what was achieved.
— Roger Reynolds
Keith Hamel
After an extraordinary 38-year career at the UBC School of Music, Dr. Keith Hamel—renowned composer, educator, and innovator in computer music—is retiring. As Chair and Professor of Composition, Dr. Hamel has left an indelible mark on Canadian music, mentoring generations of the country’s most accomplished composers and helping to redefine the role of technology in music creation.
His pioneering work in computer-assisted composition and interactive performance has been featured on acclaimed recordings by Centrediscs and Redshift Music Society, earning him international recognition and admiration. Yet for Dr. Hamel, it all began with a love of progressive rock—a spark that would lead him to explore new sonic frontiers and revolutionize music-making.Beyond the classroom and the concert hall, Dr. Hamel has also been instrumental in advancing interdisciplinary research in music technology. His involvement in ACTOR—from the development of the CORE to the successful organization of the Y6 workshop in Vancouver—has helped foster collaboration and innovation in timbre and orchestration research.
As he steps into retirement, we celebrate his immense contributions, his visionary spirit, and the profound impact he has had on students, colleagues, and the Canadian and international music landscape.
