Announcements

SEAMUS 2006 National Conference

The Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States will be holding their 2006 National Conference at the University of Oregon School of Music on 30 March-1 April. The theme for this year's conference is Arena for Action and Performance, with an emphasis on the physicality of musical performance.

This event continues the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of SEAMUS, and will include world premieres of new electroacoustic works by Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 11 and 12.

More information is available at darkwing.uoregon.edu/~fmo/seamusindex.html.

Sound Symposium XIII

Sound Symposium XIII will be held in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, on 14-22 July 2006. The symposium is a festival of sound, music, theater, dance, art, and film and includes workshops, forums, jam sessions, installations, sound sculptures, and evening performances. Venues include theaters, parks, stairwells, beaches, boats, and bars. One of the signature events of the festival is the daily Harbour Symphony where ships visiting the harbor become a giant horn section taking advantage of the unique acoustics of the bowl-shaped St. John's Harbour.

Further information is at www.soundsymposium.com/about/events.html.

ISEA 2006 Symposium

The Inter-Society for Electronic Arts (ISEA) will hold their 2006 Symposium in San Jose, California, 5-13 August 2006. The ISEA Symposium, held every two years, supports interdisciplinary academic discourse and exchange among culturally diverse organizations and individuals working with art, science, and emerging technologies. Sound has been a strong theme in past events, especially at the most recent Symposium in Helsinki. This year, the Symposium is being held in conjunction with ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge, and comprises four themes: Interactive City, Community Domain, Pacific Rim, and Transvergence. It will include a high-speed networked music improvisation including musicians on at least three different continents around the globe.

The Web site for this symposium is isea2006.sjsu.edu.

ISCM World New Music Festival 2006

The World New Music Festival of the International Society for New Music (ISCM) will take place in Stuttgart, Germany, on 14-30 July, following the conclusion of the World Soccer Championship. The World New Music Festival is a festival of innovation, a podium for the current state of composition that is observed worldwide. In the 21st century, experimental interdisciplinary projects and the confrontation of new technologies are said to play a significant role. The organizers have titled the event "Grenzenlos" [Without Borders], emphasizing an artistic philosophy which gains force by questioning all certainties, whether of an aesthetic, technical, or cultural nature.

Detailed information at www.iscm.nl/wnmd2006.php.

Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival

The 15th annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival is scheduled for 6-8 April 2006 at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. The festival features an international selection of contemporary electroacoustic art and music. Papers, presentations, lecture demonstrations, and studio reports are presented during the three-day spring festival.

Further information is at emu.music.ufl.edu/femf.

International Festival of Electroacoustic Music in Havana

The National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music, the National Center for Concert Music, and the Cuban Institute of Music will hold their "Spring in Havana" festival of electroacoustic music on 6-8 March 2006. Concerts including works for tape only and mixed electroacoustic music, as well as workshops and lectures will be presented during the festival. Contact Lnme@cubarte.cult.cu for further information.

The Freesound Project

The Freesound Project aims to create a collaborative database of contributed audio samples released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. Users can browse the sounds in a variety of ways using keywords, cross-links, and a "sounds-like" interface, upload and download sounds from the database, and interact with fellow sound artists through forums.

One of the goals of the project is to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research. The Freesound Project is an initiative of the Music Technology Group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, which is one of the hosts of the 2005 "Free Sound" International Computer Music Conference, and the database of sounds will be used in performances and competitions...