Some of the world’s leading experimental sound and music artists are converging on De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) for a prestigious four day international symposium which will see them putting on trailblazing public performances.
The Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2016) will see everyone from academics and sound engineers to performers and improvisers coming together to create innovative new sounds which people in Leicester will be the first to experience.
A previous performance at KISS by University of California Santa Cruz
Fitting in with the current #loveinternational campaign, which promotes DMU as an institution that welcomes and nurtures global talent, KISS2016 will emphasise the importance of “crossing borders” in both an international and disciplinary sense.
Artists, educators, professional performers, sound designers, and researchers from Austria, China, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, the UK and the USA will be at DMU to share their expertise through talks, demonstrations and live public performances.
DMU music technology students will also take part and gain vital work experience helping to run the event.
The conference has been organised by DMU’s Craig Vear, Professor of Digital Performance (Music) and head of the university’s Performance Research Group, along with Simon Smith, former technician for DMU’s Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre (MTIRC) and currently based at Anglia Ruskin University.
Craig, who has won an Olivier Award for his sound production work on the hugely successful London stage production of The Railway Children, said: “the KISS conference is the highlight in my year, I look forward to exchanging creative ideas with world leading experts, creators and designers. Hosting this event at DMU highlights the significance of music research at DMU and the importance of our International relationships”.
Kyma is a software used by Hollywood sound designers and professional game audio developers, as well as by avant-garde and experimental composers, sound artists, improvisers, live acoustic performers and pioneering club DJs to create live, interactive performances using sound.
The symposium is being organized by Symbolic Sound (the creators of Kyma) in partnership with DMU’s Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities; DMU Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre, and DMU Performance Research Group.
The theme of the event will be “emergence”.
Craig said: “Emergence is that elusive, inexplicable, seemingly magical moment that can occur when two or more people come together to work on a project, discuss an idea or play music together. At some point a “third voice” may emerge - a result or an idea that no one could have predicted and that no individual could have come up with working in isolation.”
The conference runs from Wednesday 7 September to Saturday 10 September. Live performances will take place each night in DMU’s PACE building and on the final Saturday evening there will be a club event at The Music Café, New Park Street, behind Tesco Narborough Road.
For more details about booking and live events visit Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2016)
Posted on Wednesday 3 August 2016