For a second consecutive year, the partnership between the Infinity Foundation – Experimental Practices in Art and the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music will present to the academic community at the NAM the research work of visiting artists and lecturers in some of the most current trends in the development of contemporary music – digital sound synthesis with physical modeling in the SuperCollider programming language, techniques and approaches to piano preparation, and the importance of physical gesture in the performance of electronic music.
Participants in the workshop "Collisions // Frictions: Physically-Based Sound Synthesis," led by Ricardo Maronia (lecturer at the Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Netherlands), will immerse themselves in sound synthesis and music creation through physical modeling. They will work hands-on with SuperCollider, a powerful open-source platform for computer music. Participants are expected to bring a laptop with SuperCollider installed (the software is free and can be downloaded from https://supercollider.github.io/) and headphones.
In the lecture "Extended piano," Darina Zharkova (also a lecturer at the Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Netherlands) will discuss approaches to working with prepared/extended piano in combination with electronics. Topics covered include performance techniques, preparation strategies, and the use of mechanical extensions.
Dario Lo Cichero (professor at the Music Conservatory in Palermo, Italy) will focus on the concept of "corporeality" in musical performance, reflecting on the paradox of Harry Partch – both an innovator in composition and the invention of new instruments – in his lecture "Exploring the concept of 'corporeality' in Harry Partch's writings and musical practice, as a challenge in performing electronic music today." Dario will expand on the connection between the performer's gesture and the sound result – important for audience reception and strongly expressed in the dawn of electronic music.