Festival Editions
50 Years Elektronmusikstudion EMS Stockholm
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin → MapTickets: 8 / 5 €, box office only
30
ThuOne of Europe’s foremost institutions of electronic music experimentation, the Elektronmusikstudion EMS in Stockholm celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014. Created in 1964 as a studio for research and development within the Swedish National Swedish Radio, today the EMS is run independently by the Director Mats Lindström. Lindström will give an introductory talk on the history and current experimentation taking place at this important centre for musical innovation, as well as direct the multichannel diffusion of several seminal works produced at the studio.
EMS aims to support the artistic development of electroacoustic music and its integration within other artistic areas; as such it has been involved in a wide range of musical scenes, including contemporary electronic dance music, noise, drone, sound installations, and text/sound compositions. Every year the EMS hosts different guest composers in residency as well as musicians and music practitioners from all over the world that travel to the studio to attend seminars, courses, and lectures. Over the years luminaries such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Philip Glass, and Morton Subotnick – best known for his "Silver Apples of the Moon", the first electronic work commissioned by a record company – have graced the studios halls, as have more recent visits from the likes of Mark Fell, Brian Williams a.k.a Lustmord, or Stephen O’Malley from Sunn O))) and KTL.
Lindstrom’s talk will elaborate on the studio’s extensive research, its productions and compositions, as well as the web of protagonists that have called the studio home over time. Lindström will also offer a background to several works he himself will specially diffuse, including a work by EMS founder Knut Wiggen (1927), as well as pieces by pioneering experimenters within Swedish electronic music Rune Lindblad (1923 – 1991) and Åke Hodell (1919 – 2000) will be diffused.
The same afternoon, Lindström will also direct a two-hour multichannel electroacoustic sound projection entitled "Images of the Dream and Death", composed by Swedish-Hungarian electroacoustic pioneer Akós Rózmann (1939 – 2005). Produced by Rózmann at the EMS between 1974 and 2001, the work was released in 2013 on Editions Mego sublabel Ideologic Organ, curated by Stephen O’Malley.
Detailed Programme Schedule
16:00 Talk 1 – Prehistory / history
16:30 Diffusion 1
- Knut Wiggen (NO, *1927) – "Etyd", 1972, 3:48 min
- Rune Lindblad (1923–2001, SE) – "Die stille Liebe", 1972, 9:38 min
- Rolf Enström (* 1951, SE) – "Tjidtjag och Tjidtjaggaise", 1985–86, 21:05 min
17:05 Talk 2 – Present / EMS today
17:20 Break
17:40 Diffusion 2
- Knut Wiggen (*1927, NO) – "Sommarmorgon" (Summer morning), 1972, 3:40 min
- Roberta Settels (*1929, US) – "Landscape with 3 Tape recorders", 1973, 8:34 min
- Åke Hodell (1918-2000, SE) – "220 Volt Buddha" (Bildspiel), 1971/1980 , 21:23 min
18:15 Talk 3 – Conclusion EMS today / future / questions
Mats Lindström[SE]
Mats Lindström is the studio director of the legendary Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm. His most recent work, МИГ (“MIG”), was released in 2012 on Ideologic Organ, the Editions Mego sublabel headed by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley.
Rune Lindblad[SE]
Rune Lindblad (1923 - 1991) was a Swedish visual artist and composer of musique concrète and electronic music.
Knut Wiggen[NO]
Knut Wiggen has always been devoted to understanding how music and technology complement each other in today's society.
Åke Hodell[SE]
Åke Hodell (1919 - 2000) was a Swedish experimental text-sound composer and writer who used his compositions to voice political dissent. His work, though congruent with electroacoustic and avant-garde movements, is most closely associated with the ethics and aesthetics of the Fluxus movement.
