BEAST:FEaST 2016

Electronic sound has the potential to cross over the boundary between the physical and the virtual. Field recordings can confront us with hyper-realistic soundscapes, transporting us to other places and times. Synthesis can draw us into the most abstract and impressionistic realms of the imaginary.

Join us as we map this terrain between the Real and Unreal in BEAST:FEaST 2016, our annual festival of music and ideas. Featured artists include World Soundscape project director and granular synthesis pioneer Barry Truax, Mexican composer Sergio Luque, whose extended non-standard synthesis approaches have established him as the heir apparent to Xenakis' stochastic sound generation techniques, and BEAST founder / former director Jonty Harrison, who returns to bring us his latest extended opus based on field recordings from around the world. Also featuring music and performances by Carl Stone, Natasha Barrett, John Young, Hans Tutschku, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, Leah Reid, Till Bovermann and many others.

All events are ticketed unless otherwise mentioned.

Thursday 28 April

19:30

Our festival opener includes music by Truax, Luque, Lopez-Lezcano and others.

Venue: The Dome, Bramall Music Building

Friday 29 April

10:00

The first of several sessions of talks and demos, free and open to the public. Come and hear festival members discuss their music and ideas!

Venue: The Dome, Bramall Music Building

Admission: Free

13:10

• Barber lunchtime concert

Till Bovermann and colleagues perform using their amazing custom-made PushPull instruments (pictured), and Jan Trützschler returns to Birmingham to present his improvised Post Code 3 Beta.

Venue: Barber Concert Hall

Admission: Free

14:30

More ideas and discussion with festival artists.

Venue: The Dome, Bramall Music Building

19:00

The first of two evening concerts including works for video and live performance alongside fixed media works. Highlights include music by Natasha Barrett, Sergio Luque and Theodoros Lotis.

Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building

20:30

Live computer music pioneer Carl Stone performs his Chinjuuya (珍獣屋), composed especially for BEAST, alongside the premiere of a new commission by featured artist Barry Truax, and music by Savannah Agger and others.

Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building

Saturday 30 April

11:00

More ideas and discussion with festival artists.

Venue: The Dome, Bramall Music Building

14:00

BEAST founder Jonty Harrison returns to give the Birmingham premiere of his concert-length work Going / Places.

Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building

16:00

Highlights include music by Adrian Moore, Hans Tutschku, and Annie Mahtani.

Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building

20:00

The festival's closing concert features Barry Truax’s Earth and Steel, Sergio Luque’s Surveillance, and Columbian composer Jorge Garcia’s beautiful Huzun.

Venue: Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building

Admission

• 3 day pass: £30 on door, £25 advance, £12 students
• Individual concert: £10 on door, £7 advance, £3 students
• Day pass (Friday or Saturday): £16 on door, £12 advance, £5 students

Please purchase tickets in advance via www.beast.bham.ac.uk to avoid disappointment.