MTI Research Group News

John Young's Le Chant en dehors at Electroacoustic Spring, Crete

2026-06-01T09:35:33.633+00:00

John Young's work Le Chant en dehors was programmed at the 2026 Electroacoustic Spring, an annual international music festival and conference bringing together cutting-edge academic research, sound art, and electronic performances. Hosted by the Music Technology & Acoustics Lab at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Rethymno, Greece, the 2026 edition took place on 29-30 May.

Philharmonia's Hear and Now 2026 at DMU

2026-06-01T09:23:28.557+00:00

MTIRG again supported the Philharmonia's Leicester Hear and Now project.
Led by Tim Steiner, musicians from the Philharmonia, Leicestershire Music and Leicester Musical Memory Box/Geet Sangeet worked alongside people living with dementia to design, create and perform an hour-long show at The Venue@DMU with song, poetry and dance. The ensemble of musicians included a full complement of strings, bassoon, two harps, keyboard and mridangam and the voices of 35 young and elderly participants.

Following two weekends of preparation, the 2026 show was presented on 16 May. It was based on the theme of food, including lively renditions of songs such as 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' and 'Khaike Paan Banaras Wala', as well as an experimental percussion accompaniment to a walk-through video featuring Leicester's 'Golden Mile' and a live musicalised demonstration of roti making.

Participants in the 2026 Leicester Hear and Now show

New Single by Harry Pentony

2026-05-15T16:57:14.302+00:00

Harry Pentony, our Technical Instructor in Audio & Events and a graduate of DMU’s Audio Recording Technology BSc programme, has just released a new single The Darkest Night. This heartfelt pop-rock ballad is available on all streaming platforms: https://ffm.to/thedarkestnightlisten
Harry is an active independent pop rock/indie artist who has been performing live since the age of 11, progressing through original rock bands and touring across the UK before stepping out as a solo artist to develop his own sound and identity. Over the 18 months he has released four original tracks, with two selected as BBC Introducing East Midlands “Track of the Week”, alongside being named Radio Wigwam’s “Future Hits Artist of the Month” and receiving a Best Indie Act nomination.

Recent live highlights include performing at The Ned Hotel in central London in February 2026 (invited by BBC Radio 1 presenter Jodie Bryant), a halftime feature airtime at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, and supporting Tom Walker in front of a crowd of 1,200 people. You can also catch him performing on the Main Stage at this year’s Leicester Riverside Festival at 2:30pm on Sunday 7th June free entry.

Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presents work at the ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ festival in Corfu

2026-05-07T14:52:00.002+00:00

On 8 May, MTI Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presented the latest piece in his radio series, ‘Aplican Términos y Condicciones’ (Terms and Conditions Apply) recomposing dozens of hours of Mexican radio broadcasts at the annual ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ festival at the Ionian University of Corfu where he is Visiting Professor. It includes a video translation. He is also working with a group of advanced undergraduate students making a collaborative piece ‘Κέρκυρα Ρέμιξ’ (Corfu Remix) which will be premiered at the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Days in November, also in Corfu.

Festival URL: https://avarts.ionio.gr/festival/2026/en/akoysmata

Concert URL: https://avarts.ionio.gr/festival/2026/en/events/859

Sonic Arts Forum held at DMU 18 April 2026

2026-04-29T21:08:54.635+00:00

The Sonic Arts Forum, a national/international UK workshop for electroacoustic and experiemental sonic arts was held at DMU on Saturday 18 April.

The event, organised by Leeds-based composer Coryn Smethurst, has run for over 20 years at many different UK venues and is an opportunity for creative people working with sound and technology as a significant element in their practice to introduce their work and receive feedback from an audience in a friendly, supportive environment.
This was the first time it has been hosted by DMU, giving participants the opportunity to hear their work in the PACE Studio 1 immersive audio space, including a number of ambisonic and audiovisual works.

Participants:
Tom Williams – Clouds and Clocks
Matt Brombley – Collaborative improvisation
Salma Ahmad Caller – Counter Sonic archives
Jonty Harrison & Pete Stollery – Aides… mémoires… project
Holly Gowland – Natural vs artificial
Sibylle Pomorin – Colour sound flow
Tristan Kersten – Process based composition
Bruno Quast – Acousmatic film sound design
Andrey Chugunov – Astrophysical sonification
John Biddulph – Digital and analogue microtonality

Book chapter, published score, conference lecture and a premiere from Edward Clijsen

2026-04-29T21:08:15.473+00:00

PhD candidate Edward Clijsen has a chapter in a new book Innovation in Music: Innovative Creative Practice, just published by Routledge. The book’s contents have been developed from selected papers given at the Innovation in Music 2024 conference in Oslo.

Clijsen’s chapter, titled “Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Preliminary Practical Explorations of Formalised Approaches to Microtonal Composition”, discusses the outcomes and implications arising out the compositional process for an early version of his piece Geïsoleerd (2024) which represented an exploration of methods for intuitive utilisation of microtonally-informed extended techniques on the Kingma System alto flute, to provide insight on the location of new affective potentials. The score for Geïsoleerd is now also available via Tetractys Publishing.

Clijsen also delivered a lecture at the recent Hyperchromatic Music Festival at Goldsmiths, entitled: “Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Reflections on Recent Practical Explorations of a Formalised Approach to Microtonal Composition”. The lecture reflected on the development of a formalised approach to microtonal composition by tracing its development through the portfolio of works encompassed within his PhD.

The festival's Saturday evening concert also premiered Clijsen’s Äußern (2024) for “19-div” and “Quarter-Tone” Microtonal Trumpets in 38-/48-divisions of the octave, written in collaboration with, and performed by, Stephen Altoft of Microtonal Projects.

MTIRG Symposium April 2026

2026-04-27T22:58:00.002+00:00

Members of the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Group met for a one-day symposium on 17 April.

Presenters included
Robert Chafer: Foundations, Potentials, and Practice of Mixed Reality Spatial Audio Composition.
Edward Clijsen: Redividing the Octave for Expanded Tonal Spaces: Reflections on Recent Practical Explorations of a Formalised Approach to Microtonal Composition.
Matthew London: The Integrated Soundtrack: An Analytical Exploration of the Soundtrack Elements of Music, Sound Design, and Dialogue Within Horror Cinema.
Samvaran Rai: Is dramaturgy an invisible locus of control? An enquiry on dramaturgy and what it could mean for ambiguity in electroacoustic music.
Joanna Cogle: Hypersourced Scoring Practice And Expanding The Integrated Soundtrack In Contemporary Media Scoring.
Conor Snape: Navigating the Oddverse: Adaptive Audio and Interactive World Design.

Symposium participants: Front row (L-R) Pawel Wietrzykowski, Matthew London, Samvaran Rai,
Bret Battey. Back row (L-R) Edward Clijsen, James Andean, Simon Atkinson, Robert Chafer,
Joanna Cogle, Conor Snape, John Young

Jake Parry @ IRCAM Forum, Paris

2026-03-25T20:04:00.001+00:00

PhD candidate Jake Parry has recently returned from Paris, where he gave a paper at the prestigious IRCAM Forum, with the support of the M4C Doctoral Training Partnership.

Parry's PhD project on spatial audio is interrogating the ideological and conceptual foundations of immersion. Against a backdrop of rapid technological development in spatial audio, Parry's paper addressed convergences between art and product, examining how immersive strategies circulate between experimental practice and commercial design.

Using gambling media as a case study, it highlighted problematic features of the immersive paradigm—illustrating how sound in this context is carefully engineered to regulate attention, sustain engagement and elicit compulsive behaviours, while simultaneously obscuring the extractive mechanics that drive commercial profit.

Prior to heading to the IRCAM Forum, Parry gave a paper at the School of Music, University of Birmingham.

Jake Parry at the IRCAM Forum 2026

Eddie Clijsen @ University of Montréal

2026-03-25T19:45:00.003+00:00

PhD candidate Eddie Clijsen has just returned from a six-week research/composition residency at the Faculty of Music at the University of Montréal, under supervision of Prof. Jimmie LeBlanc and with the support of the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. The residency continues a long-standing research connection between DMU's Music, Technology and Innovation Research Group and the Faculty of Music at the University of Montréal.

In Montréal Eddie completed Équinoxe—a multichannel acousmatic work exploring a formalised approach to polytemporal polymicrotonal composition. Équinoxe utilises multiple instances of microtonally-retuned and digitally-effected virtual pianos. The work was conceptualised, implemented and composed in the multichannel studio spaces in the Faculty of Music at the University of Montréal, specifically the Studio Hexa, Octo and Gris.

Eddie Clijsen in the University of Montreal multichannel studio

Saturday 28 March in PACE Studio 1: The Call of Flute: Shashank Subramanyam

2026-03-25T19:11:00.000+00:00

The Call of Flute: Shashank Subramanyam,
6pm - 7:30pm Studio 1, PACE Building, DMU Leicester

Booking link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-call-of-flute-with-shashank-subramanyam-tickets-1984567520878

One of the most extraordinary flautists of our time takes to the stage for an evening of Carnatic classical music at its most intimate and transporting. Carnatic music does not simply play to an audience. It draws them inward, through intricate melodic architecture, cascading rhythmic patterns and improvisations that feel both spontaneous and inevitable.

Shashank Subramanyam, Grammy-nominated and honoured by the French Government with the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, possesses a rare gift for making this ancient tradition feel vital and immediate. His bamboo flute singing in ragas that shift colour with every breath, he guides the audience through a journey that is as deeply felt as it is technically breathtaking.

Subramanyam's story is as remarkable as his music. A child prodigy who first stunned his family at nine months and performed publicly at six, he is today the youngest-ever recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi's senior award and has performed in over fifty countries. Joining him is his long-standing percussionist and trusted musical partner Parupalli S. Phalgun on mridangam, a maestro of rhythmic dexterity and deep Carnatic theory, who has toured over forty countries and whose contributions to fingering technique have reshaped the art of mridangam playing. Together, this is a partnership refined over more than two decades on the world's greatest stages.

Bret Battey's 'Estuaries 4' Selected for Bangkok Festival

2026-02-23T11:30:00.000+00:00

Prof Bret Battey's audiovisual composition Estuaries 4 has been selected for inclusion in the inaugural festival of the Thai Electroacoustic Music Society (TEAMS) at the Bangkok Kunsthale, April 17-19, 2026.

PhD Student Matthew London — Talk at University College Dublin, June 2026

2026-01-29T15:42:00.014+00:00

PhD student Matthew London has been accepted to present a 20-minute paper titled “The Non-Composer Influence: Speculating on the Poietic Processes Shaping Film Music and Sound” at the Music and Media: Directions and Aesthetics of the Digital Era conference at University College Dublin, 11 - 12 June 2026.

The paper explores how non-composer figures - such as directors, producers, sound designers, music supervisors, and re-recording mixers - contribute to shaping a film’s sonic identity. Adopting a speculative, poietic perspective, it examines how distributed creative decision-making challenges traditional models of authorship in film music and points toward multiple forms of integrated-soundtrack practices.

John Young's 'Three Spaces in Mid-Air' in Lugano

2026-01-11T11:39:00.001+00:00

John Young's acousmatic work Three Spaces in Mid-Air will feature at the Teatrostudio, Lugano Arte e Cultura in Lugano, Switzerland, on 12 January 2025 in a concert organised by the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana's Spazio 21 series.
The theme of the concert is 'silence'. https://electropresence.com/en/even/47910-ear-2025-26-ear-1

Three Spaces in Mid-Air was published on Young's solo CD Espaces lointains by empreintes DIGITALes in 2024, and was first prize winner of the 6th KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Montpellier, France, 2019).

Landy invited talk and international jury member in Macau

2026-01-05T12:36:00.004+00:00

In mid November, Prof. Landy headed to the Academy of Music at the Macau University of Science and Technology where was asked to offer an invited extended lecture entitled ‘Innovative Music Making: Interesting or engaging? Why not both?’. He also served as international jury member at their Macao International Digital Intelligence Music Competition.

Landy Peformance and Talk, EMS 2025 Paris

2026-01-05T12:33:00.003+00:00

Prof. Landy presented a composition, Qing + Cha 磬 + 镲 Old / New 舊 / 新 (2023) and a talk at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (EMS) 2025 conference in Paris. The talk returns to a much-cited composition access tool he launched in a 1994 publication, suggesting its expansion based on the further developments, experiences and feedback from the interim thirty years. That talk is entitled ‘The Something to Hold on to Factor 2’. Both reflect the conference interest in cultural and intercultural approaches within the field.

The event took place Nov 19-21 at multiple venues in and near Paris. Landy is also Founding Co-director of EMS, the global subject research association in the field.

Landy Keynote at Bowed Electrons 25 Conference/Festival in Cape Town

2026-01-05T12:30:00.003+00:00

Emeritus Professor Leigh Landy presented a keynote talk (not for the first time at this event) at the Bowed Electrons conference/festival hosted by The South African College of Music/University of Cape Town, SAE Creative Media Institute, part of the international School of Audio Engineering and the Media Art unit at the University of the Arts, Karlsruhe (Germany). It took place at the SAE Institute in Cape Town.

Landy presented a work ‘Musical Bow Old/New’ commissioned by the festival last year in the final concert and offer a keynote, alas online, on the same day entitled ‘Making Sonic Creativity Relevant’. The event took place on 28-29 November 2025.

Best UK universities for music – DMU 19th in Guardian League Table

2025-12-18T16:38:00.000+00:00

The Guardian's League Table for the best universities to study music in the UK has placed DMU 19th out of 80 UK institutions.

With an overall score of 83.7/100 Music, Technology and Innovation at DMU is rated above institutions such as the University of Manchester, Queen's University, Royal Holloway, Trinity Laban, Leeds, Huddersfield, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle.

Have you seen my Gods? score by Samvaran Rai

2025-12-18T16:05:00.001+00:00

PhD student Samvaran Rai has recently completed a film score for a feature documentary Have you seen my Gods? by Amitabh Joshi, with the Vacant Light Production Company https://www.vacant-light.com/about

The film, in English and Nepali, had its world premiere in May at the Kathmandu Mountain International Film Festival, followed by a US premiere at the New Orleans Society of Visual Anthropology Film Festival 20 November 2025.

'Residency Prix CIME' to Stefano Catena

2025-12-18T15:52:00.002+00:00

Stefano Catena has been awarded the 'Residency Prix CIME' as part of the Prix CIME 2025 Electroacoustic Music Composition.

His work Travelling without Moving was selected as one of eight works among 175 compositions for a residency in renowned research centres such as Influx - Musiques et Recherches in Brussels, HDK in Zurich, Tempo Reale in Florence, and more.

The competition received 597 anonymous submissions from all around the world.

422 (70.7%) submissions in Section 1: Prix CIME – Open to all composers regardless of age

175 (29.3%) submissions in Section 2: Residency Prix CIME – Open to all composers born after 12/31/1990.

72.7% stereo, 13.1% octophonic, 6.9% ambisonics, and 7.3% other.

More info on the website: https://www.cime-icem.net

Simon Atkinson and Kerry Francksen present their new work at Sound/Image 2025 festival

2025-11-17T16:51:00.001+00:00

Simon Atkinson and Kerry Francksen presented their new work, 'Betwixt and Between II', at this month's Sound/Image 2025 festival hosted by University of Greenwich. The piece is for live movement, moving image and multi-channel electroacoustic music, and was made in response to the festival's 'reflecting forwards' call.

This exposition presented the next iteration of the artists' long-standing explorations into the delicate and complex relationships between live-digital dance performance and acousmatic sound. Their original 'Betwixt and Between' piece is now ten years old, however many of that work's underlying concepts still have resonance today: ideas of intimacy, fragility, connection and imagination. In an increasingly technologized world, an opportunity to reconnect with bodies, images and sound reflectively and deliberately feels significant. Challenging some of the normative traditions of combining movement, media and music, this interactive and intuitive work presents bodies, media and musical sound simultaneously as mutual sensuous entities.

John Young's 'Arioso' at Sonic Nomads, Seoul

2025-09-19T16:32:00.000+00:00

John Young's acousmatic work Arioso is included in the programme of the Sonic Nomads Festival, October 16-19 at the TILT Listening Space in Seoul, South Korea.

Hosted by Transients, a South Korean sound art collective, the festival focuses on field recording and soundscape compositions. Arioso frames field recordings by John in Oberlin (Ohio) and in Evington (Leicester) https://electrocd.com/en/piste/imed_24186-1.2--arioso and is found on the emprientes DIGITALes CD Espaces lointains.

Battey's 'Estuaries 4' in the La Hora Acusmatica online festival, Nov 7

2025-09-18T10:29:00.001+00:00

Prof Battey's audiovisual composition 'Estuaries 4' was selected for inclusion in the La Hora Acusmatica online festival, in its November 7, 2025 edition. (More info to come…)

Battey 'Estuaries 4' at Eastman School of Music, USA, Sep 25, 2025

2025-09-18T10:04:00.002+00:00

Prof Bret Battey's audiovisual composition 'Estuaries 4' will be screened September 25 as part of a concert at The Electroacoustic Music Studios @ Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.

Thursday, September 25, 2025 |
7:30 PM, Hatch Recital Hall

Program:

Kaija Saariaho: Vent Nocturne (2006)

Sombres miroirs

Soupirs de l’obscur

Ryan Hardcastle, viola

Hubert Howe: Inharmonic Fantasy No. 20 (2025)

World Premiere

Mikel Kuehn: Dancing in the Ether (2020)

Nattakon Lertwattanaruk: RedDeadRouletteReconstruction (2025)

American Premiere

Hubert Howe: Inharmonic Fantasy No. 6 (2017)

Dana Crytser, flute

Bret Battey: Estuaries 4 (2021)

This concert is free, open to the public, and will be diffused onto a 7.10.1 array (7 loudspeakers in the upper balcony, 10 on the lower level and a sub woofer)

Stefano Catena's new article in Organised Sound journal

2025-09-15T10:05:00.003+00:00

PhD student Stefano Catena's article 'Understanding and Analysing "Organised Space"' appears in the latest edition of Organised Sound, vol. 30 no. 2—an issue of the journal focused on the theme of 'Perspectives and Trajectories in Spatial Music and Sonic Art'.

Catena's article is in open access and available at this link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771825100423.

Edward Clijsen awarded Slovenian composition residency

2025-09-15T09:52:00.004+00:00

PhD Student Edward Clijsen will be a participant in the Slovenian Inštitut abeceda precept.concept.percept XVi residency programme in 2025-26.

The precept.concept.percept residency focuses on a collaborative creative process where performers and composers work closely together to prepare for a performance at the sixth Bled Contemporary Music Week (Bled, Slovenia, EU). Composers present, optimize, theorize, and develop new works, while performers form an ensemble to refine their practice and premiere these compositions.

Edward will collaborate closely with performers to compose a new work to be performed at the Sixth Annual Bled Contemporary Music Festival (June 2026) in Bled, Slovenia.