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Reviewed by:
  • The National Conference of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States
  • Cory Kasprzyk
SEAMUS 2012: The National Conference of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States. Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, 9-11 February 2012 Web: Full documentation of the event is archived at http://blogs.lawrence.edu/seamus2012/

[Editor's note: Selected reviews are posted on the Web at http://www.computermusicjournal.org (click on the Reviews tab). In some cases, they are either unpublished in the Journalitself or published in an abbreviated form in the Journal.]

Competently led by co-hosts Asha Srinivasan (Lawrence University) and Ed Martin (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) annual conference provided three packed days featuring 13 concerts, 3 paper sessions, and 5 installations. The participants included a varied community of composers and performers. The composers in attendance ranged from first-time attendees to well-known contributors to the field such as Jon Appleton, who was seen sporting an "Appleton" sweatshirt. Readers of the Computer Music Journal, likely familiar with SEAMUS, could anticipate yet another successful event that showcased the vibrant community of artists working within this medium.

Although most attendees arrived to mild weather, quaint Appleton, Wisconsin, presented a true Midwestern winter (i.e., heavy snow and wind) for the bulk of the event, forcing most of us inside to enjoy hot beverages from conference sponsor Copper Rock Coffee. The Lawrence Conservatory of Music, embedded within the University, proved to be a gracious, charitable host, yielding evident support from administration and faculty alike. Concerts were held within Harper Hall and Lawrence Memorial Chapel, all outfitted with loudspeakers donated by another conference sponsor, Genelec. Harper Hall offered an intimate setting with 5.1 diffusion, video, soloists, and chamber ensembles. Lawrence Memorial Chapel accommodated larger ensembles as well as eight-channel diffusion. Concerts were expertly planned and executed by the technical crew of composers on hand (Jason Bolte, Jay Batzner, Andrew Seager Cole, and John Chittum), whose tireless efforts were pivotal to this smoothly run conference.

The conference's five installations offered a great variety, including the Deep Listening Institute's Adaptive Use Musical Instruments (AUMI) Open Station. Representative Jaclyn Heyen demonstrated AUMI, opening the minds of many with this powerful and flexible tool. Additionally, a broad range of paper sessions took place, ranging from the discussion of workflow in common software packages (e.g., Max/MSP) to physical modeling.

The 13 programmed concerts represented the range of electroacoustic music available today, exploring a large variety of technical and aesthetic viewpoints. As description of each work is beyond the scope of this commentary, mention of highlights follows. The conference's co-hosts, Srinivasan and Martin, each presented compelling work for instruments and live electronics. Srinivasan's Keerthanata, skillfully performed by saxophonists Sara Kind and Jesse Dochnahl, expertly blended South Indian classical music with her own voice. Martin's Swirling Sky, performed by pianist Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi, extended the piano's harmonic possibilities, depicting individual moments and characters in a clear sky.

Other works incorporated chamber ensembles with fixed or live electronics. These included Douglas Geers' Tremor Transducer, which built to a blended, captivating texture as the piece ended, as well as Christopher Chandler's the resonance after. . . , which subtly utilized electronics to explore further the inherent features within his harmonies. The latter piece was this year's second-prize winner in the SEAMUS/ASCAP Student Commission Competition.

Works for stereo and multichannel fixed media also contributed to the varied selection present at the conference. Many pieces stood out, including Thomas Dempster's Contact Clusters, Andrew Babcock's Imbroglio, and Scott A. Wyatt's Arms of Peril. All three works presented an impressive sense of physicality that could not be overlooked. Rick Snow's Labyrinthwas deemed the unofficial crowd favorite in this medium, presenting metaphors to explore during many memorable gestures in what was a powerful work. Many other pieces included visual components, including Mikel Kuehn's and Jean Detheux's hauntingly beautiful . . . lilac shrieks and scarlet bellowings. . . .David Bird presented his inimitable work, Fields, virtually transporting the audience outdoors to [End Page 95]hear...

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