Uncaged::Conlon Robot Keyboard Prize 2017

In 2017, for the first time, the UnCaged Toy Piano (US) and Conlon Foundation (NL)  will collaborate on a joint call for submissions for the 2017 Robot Keyboard Prize. For this year’s competition, we are seeking adventurous new works for Ranjit Bhatnagar’s midi-controlled Robot Toy Piano. Innovative ways of integrating electronics are encouraged, but not mandatory.

The prize for 1st place is a performance in the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Utrecht, Holland) in September 2017 and the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival (New York City, December 2017), plus $1000 of which $500 from the UnCaged Toy Piano and $500 from Conlon Foundation towards travel/accommodation costs, to enable the prize winner to attend the performance in Utrecht, NL. The prize for Honorable Mention is a performance in the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Utrecht, Holland) in September 2017 and the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival (New York City, December 2017).

Guidelines for the competition:

1. The competition is open to composers and sound artists of all ages and nationalities.

2. Works must be written for the Robot Toy Piano as a concert work (not installations).

3. Works may include one live performer on a conventional or unconventional instrument (i.e. orchestral, homemade, or mechanized instrument)     

4. The duration of the piece may be no longer than 15 minutes. 

The deadline for submissions is May 1st, 2017 and should include:

1. A short bio of the composer in pdf.

2. A score/information sheet with a detailed description of the work in pdf.

3. A downloadable audio and/or video preview of the work in .mp3 or .avi. or a link to a website where the file remains available until June 1st, 2017                                         

The decision of the jury will be made public no later than June 1st, 2017

  • The Robot Toy Piano

Built by New York-based sound artist, Ranjit Bhatnagar, the robot toy piano is a redesigned

player toy piano (PianoLodeon) that reads midi files. The range of the robot toy piano keyboard

is midi note 36-64 (C3-E5). The sounding pitch is a major third lower, due to the construction of the original Pianolodeon.                                                                                                                                      

Please check the UnCaged and Conlon websites for more detailed information about the instrument and updates.

Submissions and inquiries should be sent to:  uncagedconlon2017@gmail.com



Original post from :http://www.conlon.nl/news.php

Sonic Screens – Call For Multichannel Works

*Sonic Screens – environmental music listening sessions*

*Live mixing and spatialization by U.S.O. Project (Matteo Milani & Federico
Placidi)*

*
*

*Call for multichannel works*

*U.S.O. Project* is pleased to invite submissions of fixed media sound works
for the second edition of “Sonic Screens”, a journey among different
electroacoustic Soundscape compositions.

*Sonic Screens* is an annual event that will take place during two
acousmatic evenings in Milan during Fall 2011.

*Sonic Screens* aims to render the endless possibilities of life and its
surroundings experienceable in our conscious activity, trying to deal with
the possible infinites of the listening experience, both in their objective
and manufactured dimensions.

*“Listening to the environment, contextualizing it objectively and
creatively has always been a priority of the work of U.S.O. Project.
Free from any pseudo-environmental or socio-political implication, the
continuous work on sampling, processing and transfiguration of found sound
and carefully preserved in memory of a digital recorder, has always played a
central role in our compositional practices.
U.S.O. defines Soundscape as the expressive and narrative richness that
comes from the reciprocal and continuous interaction of multiple sound
sources from the real world, and other phenomena which are perceptible and
measurable only through proper and adequate transduction (electromagnetic
signals, for example).
A Soundscape is also an opportunity for reflection and imagination that has
little to share with the real world.
A Soundscape can be a place of the mind, a reminiscence of a future
experienced in dreams, lands far away in space and time.” – Matteo Milani &
Federico Placidi<http://www.soundesign.info/reviews/movement-of-acoustic-images-a-workshop-in-italy-on-field-recording>
*

*
*

Composers and sound artists are invited to submit multichannel works, up to
8 channels. The assignment of channels to speakers must be clearly indicated
in the submission. Works of any duration will be considered although pieces
of under 16 minutes will be given preference.

The performance will take advantage of Ambisonics sound diffusion practice,
creating an immersive and uninterrupted sound flow between different works
from selected international artists.

The material will be transcoded in real time to *2nd Order B-Format* (via *
ICST* Ambisonics Externals for
MaxMSP<http://www.icst.net/research/downloads/ambisonics-externals-for-maxmsp/>
).

The recordings of the concerts will be available for streaming and released
in binaural format for headphone use. The ownership of the tracks remains to
the authors.

*Submissions need to include:*

1. a stereo version of the piece
2. individual mono files for each channel
3. channel configuration
4. sample rate
5. program notes
6. brief biography

While the composers of the selected works are encouraged to attend the
event, attendance is not required for a work to be presented.

There is no registration fee.

The deadline for submission of works is October 31st, 2011.

*Material Submissions*

Please send download links to your work using one of the many file delivery
services (yousendit.com, sendspace.com, gigasize.com, wetransfer.com, etc)
in .zip or .rar format. Please do not email file attachments.

Electronic submissions should be sent to:

*[submissions at synesthesiarecordings dot com]*

For more information, email contact:

*[info at usoproject dot com]*

*Terms and Conditions*

Each participant may submit up to two works.

[Date and Venue To Be Announced]

[SchermiSonori2011-CallForWorks.pdf<http://www.synesthesiarecordings.com/docs/SchermiSonori2011-CallForWorks.pdf>
]

*“The essential difference between an electroacoustic composition that uses
pre-recorded environmental sound as its source material, and a work that can
be called a soundscape composition, is that in the former, the sound loses
all or most of its environmental context. In fact, even its original
identity is frequently lost through the extensive manipulation it has
undergone, and the listener may not recognise the source unless so informed
by the composer. In the soundscape composition, on the other hand, it is
precisely the environmental context that is preserved, enhanced and
exploited by the composer.” – Barry Truax*

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SOUND IN SPACE competition

SOUND IN SPACE COMPETITION
Deadline: September 1, 2011

CALL FOR WORKS
The Goethe-Institut Boston and the Consulate General of France Cultural Services, in partnership with Harvard University and Northeastern University is pleased to announce the SOUND IN SPACE competition, a call for electroacoustic works to be presented via Harvard University’s 32-speaker Hydra diffusion system during The Art of Interpretation Festival. Celebrating 60 Years of Electroacoustic Music Tradition in France and Germany, The Art of Interpretation Festival will take place from November 16–19, 2011, at the Fenway Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Art of Interpretation festival seeks original acousmatic works composed for fixed media for performance via loudspeakers in concert, without the live intervention of instrumentalists.

Composers enrolled in U.S. institutions are eligible to submit works.

An international jury will evaluate all works that are received prior to September 1, 2011 (not a postmark deadline). Six works will be selected for performance during the festival.

The Art of Interpretation festival features Harvard University’s Hydra diffusion system – a 32-channel loudspeaker orchestra.

WORKS
Composers may submit one acousmatic work lasting between 8 and 15 minutes. The format can be from 2 to 24 audio channels, and the work submitted may have been previously performed.

There is no entry fee.  Submitted works will not be returned.

Works may submitted via parcel post to:
Goethe-Institut Boston
Sound in Space competition
170 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02116-1420

TECHNICAL STANDARDS
Stereo works:
•    copy of the uncompressed WAV or AIFF file, 44.1 kHz, 16 or 24 bit on a DATA CD

Multichannel works:
•    copy of all mono WAV or AIFF files, 44.1 kHz, 16 or 24 bit on a DATA CD or DVD
•    scheme of channel routing
•    a stereo mix of all tracks combined for judging purposes

Submitted works that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be considered.

PRIZES
A selection of the six finalists will be announced by October 10, 2011.

The works of these six finalists will each be published on a Festival CD (more details to follow).

Composers, whose works are selected, are required to attend the entire festival from November 16–19, 2011. Should a composer be unable to attend, their work will not be presented.

The jury will award three prizes at the end of the festival, taking into account both the quality of the compositions and the concert interpretations. 1st prize: $1000, 2nd prize: $600, 3rd prize: $400.

The decisions of the jury are final.

For more information about the festival and competition please visit the Art of Interpretation website <http://www.music.neu.edu/aoi/>