Dynamical Systems and Natural Environments

RNCM PRiSM & Nonclassical: Open Call for Composers and Sound Artists

19 January 2022

About the Open Call

RNCM PRiSM and Nonclassical are inviting UK-based composers and sound artists to apply for the opportunity to be commissioned a new work using PRiSM’s Artificial Intelligence facilities, to be devised for presentation at a Nonclassical event in autumn 2022.

The appointed composer / sound artist will work closely with the PRiSM team, and with Simon Knighton, a current RNCM PRiSM Doctoral Researcher and one of the Nonclassical Associate Composers 2021 / 22.

The commissioned new work will creatively engage with the notion of Dynamical Systems, incorporating materials generated using prism-samplernn software, and artistically exploring the intersection between music, nature, maths, and science.

It will be featured in a concert entitled Dynamical Systems / Natural Environments in Autumn 2022. The concert will be curated by Simon Knighton as part of the Nonclassical Associate Composer Scheme. It will take place in a venue in London, bringing together live musicians and electronics in a surround sound set-up.

Applications due 12pm, 4 February 2022.

For full details and how to apply:

https://www.nonclassical.co.uk/engage-1/opencall-2022 

Or view as a PDF here.

About Simon Knighton

Simon Knighton is a composer and sound artist whose work investigates the interplay of acoustic instrumentation and electronic music production.

His is interested in using acoustic and psychoacoustic phenomena to create methods of blurring the boundaries between different types of sound. His methods tend to push non-conventional aspects of music composition (such as spatialisation and the physicality of sound) to the fore, leading to work that sits on the boundary of concert, installation, ritual and theatre.

He enjoys working closely with musicians (and designing bespoke collaborative methods) in order to explore and sample instrumentation in fine detail. These pre-recorded samples then form a key part of the composition process, before being manipulated and fed back into performance to create dense, yet homogeneous sound worlds.

Simon’s ever-increasing fascination with Dynamical Systems began with his collaboration with mathematician Professor Lasse Rempe-Gillen (University of Liverpool). The collaboration was part of PRiSM 8-cubed 2020 project, resulting in a piece of composition entitled Dynamical Systems: Pendula (2020) for ensemble and electronics.

The piece was premiered by Riot Ensemble in 2021, which can be viewed here.

Read Simon’s recent interview with Nonclassical here to find out more about his work.