Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States

Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States
Name	Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States
Formation	1984
Type	Professional association
Headquarters	United States
Leader title	President

Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States is a professional association dedicated to the promotion, composition, performance, and study of electroacoustic music across the United States. Founded in the 1980s by composers, technologists, and educators, the society has become a nexus linking academic institutions, festivals, studios, and individual artists. It engages with a broad network that includes conservatories, research centers, orchestras, ensembles, and media arts organizations.

History

The organization emerged amid parallel developments at Columbia University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and California Institute of the Arts where early electronic studios fostered work by figures associated with Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, IRCAM, Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, and Bell Labs. Founding members included composers with ties to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan, Yale University, and Harvard University who had collaborated with studios such as Electronic Music Studios (EMS), SEAMUS, and the computer music communities around MAX/MSP and CSound. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s the society expanded connections to festivals and institutions such as MIDI Convention, Sonology, Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, New Music America, and Bang on a Can, reflecting influences from practitioners at SUNY Stony Brook, University of Washington, Indiana University, and Northwestern University.

Mission and Activities

The society's mission encompasses advocacy for composers and performers associated with studios like University of Illinois Electroacoustic Music Studio and venues such as Miller Theatre, Merkin Concert Hall, and Symphony Center. Activities include commissioning works for collaborations involving ensembles such as Bang on a Can All-Stars, International Contemporary Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, and Ensemble Modern, partnerships with media organizations like BBC Radiophonic Workshop alumni and contemporary labs at New York University, University of California, San Diego, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The society facilitates workshops referencing technologies developed at IRCAM, CCRMA, Bell Labs, and companies like Elektron, Ableton, Roland, and Yamaha.

Membership and Organization

Membership spans composers, performers, technicians, and scholars affiliated with institutions such as Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Institute, Royal College of Music, Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and university departments at Brown University, Duke University, Cornell University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers University. Governance models mirror professional bodies including American Composers Forum, ASCAP, BMI, American Musicological Society, and International Society for Contemporary Music. Committees coordinate with laboratories like Berklee College of Music's electronic programs, conservatory centers at New England Conservatory, and research groups at Carnegie Mellon University and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Annual Conferences and Festivals

Annual gatherings often occur in collaboration with festivals and institutions such as Festival Internacional de Musica Electroacústica de Bourges, ISCM World Music Days, NIME Conference, ICMC (International Computer Music Conference), ISEA, Mutek, CTM Festival, Sonar, and university-hosted festivals at University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Florida, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Illinois. Featured presenters have included artists associated with Laurie Anderson, Morton Subotnick, Suzanne Ciani, Truax, Pauline Oliveros, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Firebird Ensemble, and The Kitchen residencies. Conferences emphasize panels on practices linked to Max/MSP, SuperCollider, CSound, Pure Data, and interfaces inspired by projects at MIT Media Lab and Goldsmiths, University of London.

Publications and Recordings

The society supports periodicals, conference proceedings, and recordings circulated through labels and publishers like Wergo, Nonesuch Records, Mode Records, New World Records, Columbia Records, Deutsche Grammophon, BIS Records, EMI Classics, and academic presses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge. It has produced anthologies and compilations featuring works by artists connected to Pierre Schaeffer, Edgard Varèse, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, R. Murray Schafer, and contemporary figures on compilations alongside recordings from studios at CCRMA, SEAMUS International Electro-Acoustic Music Society outputs, and festival archives such as Bourges and ICMC releases.

Notable Members and Contributors

Prominent members and contributors have included composers, technologists, and performers affiliated with Milton Babbitt, Bebe Barron, David Tudor, Charles Dodge, Barry Truax, James Tenney, Annea Lockwood, Conlon Nancarrow, Alvin Lucier, George Lewis, Paul Lansky, La Monte Young, Maryanne Amacher, Jacob Druckman, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lou Harrison, Henry Brant, Donald Erb, Margaret Leng Tan, Cathy Berberian, Allan Kozinn, R. Murray Schafer and newer generations tied to Klaus Huber, Hildegard von Bingen scholarship projects and practitioners linked to contemporary centers like IRCAM and CCRMA.

Category:Electroacoustic music organizations Category:Music organizations based in the United States