Jean-Francois Charles

This Fall, I started teaching the third version of the course Digital Arts: an Introduction at the University of Iowa . Here are a couple of memories from the Spring 2018 edition of the Final Project presentation: See also the Digital Arts Creative Projects 2017 .

Tonight, the Nebula Ensemble with guest conductor Kornel Thomas are performing Gentiana , a new composition for trumpet, guitar, percussion, violin and cello. Concert is taking place at 7:30 p.m. at the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Denver. True-digital synth for string instruments I adapted Andrew Bentley 's true-digital synth original design to string instruments: Violinist Arlo Adams and cellist Julia Emery trying out the instruments during yesterday's rehearsal: Program Notes Gentiana evokes characteristics of the alpine flowering plants used to produce herbal medicine or distilled beverages. During the three sections of the composition, Esprit , Vertige , and Racines , the musicians connect traditional techniques to the physical nature of their tools.

On Thursday, June 28, Françoise Kubler and Armand Angster are going to première Nattie's Air , a composition for mezzo-soprano, bass clarinet, and cymbal with live electronics. The cymbal is similar to the instrument I used to perform Absalon Crash during the NIME 2018 conference . The concert is part of a three day festival: Ensemble Accroche Note's Rencontres d'été in Strasbourg, France. A recital for soprano, clarinet, and electronics Here is the program of this exciting concert: Luigi Nono : La Fabbrica Illuminata for soprano and fixed media (1964) Luis Naon : Ultimos Movimientos for soprano, clarinet and electronics (2013) Jean-François Charles: Nattie’s Air for soprano, bass clarinet and electronics (2018) – world première François Bousch : Dualité Miroirs for soprano, clarinet and fixed media (2012) Philippe Manoury : Illud Etiam for soprano, clarinet and electronics (2013)

Absalon Crash is a composition for cymbal & live electronics. I performed the piece during the NIME 2018 opening concert. With composer Alex Christie and Virginia Tech's L2Ork laptop orchestra , we had the pleasure to perform right before Ikue Mori 's 30 minute audio-video set! This piece consists in an interpretation of Mirrored Resonances , the theme of the NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) 2018 conference: the sounds build on the natural resonances of the cymbal, which are delayed, transposed, reversed – in a way, mirrored – by the effects pedal. Program notes Absalon Crash, a composition for cymbal and live electronics. Homage to Søren Absalon Larsen . A cymbal is equipped with a piezoelectric sensor and a transducer. They are connected through a custom-built effects pedal to form a feedback network. A performer acts on the system to explore different sonic worlds. The performer shapes the sound by using her/his hands on the cymbal to muffle or suppres...

I'm thrilled to take part in the NIME 2018 conference (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) next week at Virginia Tech . I'll be presenting a poster paper titled Using the Axoloti Embedded Sound Processing Platform to Foster Experimentation and Creativity . We wrote the paper with students from the New Musical Instruments class I taught in the Fall : musician and computer scientist Andrew Willette and composers Carlos Cotallo Solares and Carlos Toro Tobon. I'll be performing a new piece, as well. More on that later!

So glad after my most recent visit to the Record Collector store. Look what I found: an original Made in West Germany CD from the Art Ensemble of Chicago : The Third Decade. I remember when, middle ou high school student, I discovered the group's music with the Urban Bushmen CD, at the public library... The Third Decade is a great album; it also reminds me of my days in Lyon, when we attended so many ARFI shows ( Association à la Recherche d'un Folklore Imaginaire ).

What happens when a video/new media artist ( Daniel Fine ), a composer, an engineer ( Steve Baek ) and a ceramicist ( Andrew Casto ) break out of their silos and collaborate for a year? Come to Live Geometry , this Friday 4/20, 4:20 to 8:20 in the Arts Building West, University of Iowa. Presented as part of Dada Futures .