Announcements

[Editor’s Note: Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of events have been postponed or will be held virtually. For the latest information on the events listed below, please visit their respective websites.]

ICMC 2020

The 2020 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), hosted by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, and originally scheduled to take place 5–11 July 2020, has been postponed to July 2021. The theme of ICMC 2020 is “Virtuoso Computer: Redefining Limits,” inviting participants to reflect on notions of virtuosity in the context of computer music, questioning whether performers or computers ought to be considered virtuosic within computer music performance, and prompting discussion on the relationship between acoustic and electronic virtuosity. The theme also references Chilean composer José Vicente Asuar’s 1973 album El Computador Virtuoso, an early example of computer music originating from the conference’s host country.

ICMC 2020 will host a scientific program comprising presentations of presentations, poster presentations, and research demonstrations. Suggested topics of presented research include three-dimensional audio, acoustic ecology, algorithmic composition, analysis of electroacoustic music, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and music, distributed and telematic music, mathematical music theory, music information retrieval, and music perception and cognition. ICMC 2020’s artistic program will include electroacoustic works, audiovisual music, works for fixed media, works for dancers and electronics, and installations. The conference organizers have also called for works utilizing the reverberant space and virtual pipe organ of the neo-Romanesque church located within the host institution’s campus. Additionally, ICMC 2020 will host workshops on topics pertinent to computer music theory and practice.

Web: icmc2020.org

NIME 2020

The 20th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) will be held 21–25 July 2020, hosted virtually by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in Birmingham, UK. The annual conference brings together researchers, musicians, engineers, and other practitioners working in the confluence of interface design, human–computer interaction, and computer music. NIME 2020 will feature presentations of technical papers, demonstrations, musical performances, and workshops related to intersections of these research areas. The theme of NIME 2020 is “Accessibility of Musical Expression,” intended to address challenges to making musical expression accessible to all. As described by the organizers, this theme aims to provide a platform for researchers to explore accessibility and its different forms through music creation and education. Suggested research topics include musical interfaces designed by or with disabled or neurodiverse musicians, musical interfaces in education, accessible musical interfaces, new approaches to creation of custom-built instruments, strategies for improving the reach of accessible musical instruments, musical interfaces tailored to formally trained musicians, mobile music creation, sensor and actuator technologies, artificial intelligence and new interfaces for musical expression, and discussions about the cultural and social impact of new interfaces.

Web: nime2020.bcu.ac.uk

ISMIR 2020

The International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference (ISMIR) will hold its 21st edition 12–15 October 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The conference aims to provide a meeting place for the discussion of research related to musical information retrieval (MIR) and to foster the exchange of ideas across disciplines by bringing together researchers, developers, educators, librarians, students, and other professionals. To these ends, ISMIR 2020 will feature presentations of original research on topics such as fundamentals and methodology of MIR, domain knowledge related to MIR, computational analysis of musical features and structures, evaluation and reproducibility of MIR research, new data sets for MIR research, and philosophical and ethical discussions of MIR. The conference will also include an evening concert. A series of tutorial sessions related to MIR applications will precede the conference on 11 October. Additional ISMIR 2020 satellite events include a Women in Music Information Retrieval Workshop and a Workshop on Reading Music Systems, both on 10 October, a Digital Libraries for Musicology conference on 16 October, and a Hacking Audio and Music Research hackathon event 16–17 October.

Web: ismir.github.io/ISMIR2020

CMMR 2020

The 15th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (CMMR), originally scheduled for 2–6 November 2020, has been rescheduled to fall 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. CMMR is a series of international symposia aimed towards multidisciplinary research...