In Conversation: Unravelling the Electrosonic Tapestry

24 Nov 2016 - 6:00pm
First Draft Coffee, Filmbase, Temple Bar

In Conversation: Unravelling the Electronic Tapestry

with Barbara Dignam

Free admission

Musicologist Barbara Dignam presents a discussion about the many facets of electroacoustic music in Ireland. The talk will be based on her recent article for the AIC New Music Journal, looking at the works of Softday, Jennifer Walshe, Karen Power, Linda Buckley, Fergal Dowling and Jonathan Nangle: a “representative sample of six diverse compositional threads, and it is hoped that it will see the beginning of a wider consideration of the rich musical dialogues that are taking place.” 

Come take part in these musical dialogues yourself at First Draft Coffee. Barbara will also be joined by some of the featured composers, who will also pose and answer questions on their work, and on electroacoustic music.

Admission is free, but space is limited, so arrive early.

In Conversation is a series of talks and discussion events hosted by the AIC, as part of their dedication to creating new media for discussion and presentation of new music. In Conversation provides opportunities for composers, performers, presenters and the public to get together to discuss aspects of new music openly over a decent coffee. Events will include talks and presentations by guest composers and performers, panel discussions, listening sessions and opportunities for students and researchers in new music to present their work. 

Part of the Irish Composers on Irish Music series, which also features articles and reviews on the AIC New Music Journal at www.aicnewmusicjournal.com.

About Barbara Dignam

Barbara Jillian Dignam currently lectures in music at Maynooth University. Her research interests lie in the broad areas of contemporary musicology and analysis, interdisciplinary studies and arts education. Extracts from her PhD thesis, Suspended Animation: A Critical Analysis and Aesthetic Interpretation of Roger Doyle’s Babel (2010), featured in Irish Musical Studies Vol.11 (2014). Integral to her research on this work was the development of a five-stage combinative methodology for the analysis of electroacoustic music. Barbara also contributed several entries to the Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013), co-edited the inaugural volume of Maynooth Musicology in 2008, and more recently, she contributed an article exploring current trends in electroacoustic composition in Ireland to the AIC journal. She has also published on the topic of peer-assessment in AISHE-J Higher Education Journal (2016).

Other research has centred on the relationships between composers, musicologists and listeners of contemporary music, and in 2013 she hosted a one-day symposium Sonic Symbiosis: the relationship between composer and musicologist at Maynooth University. Barbara is currently exploring intertextual narrative, intermedial networking and social engagement in electroacoustic music.

Barbara has presented on her work at Society for Musicology in Ireland conferences and at several international conferences, including the First International Conference on Irish Music and Musicians (University of Durham, 2010), the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference at NYU (2011), KeeleMAC and ICMSN Glasgow (both 2015). Barbara is a member of the SMI Council, is Chair of the Brian Boydell Centenary Conference (June 2017) and was awarded a PGDip in Higher Education in 2015.