The Orford Arts Centre (Québec) announces its 3rd Sound Art Workshop as part of the International Music Academy. Held on August 4 to 16, 2008 the workshop, directed by Yves Daoust, is open to sound creators of all styles. This year Yves Daoust has invited guest composers Natasha Barrett, Alexandre Burton, Jean Landry, and Paul Rudy. This year, the registered participants will be able to collaborate with performers of the Contemporary Music Interpretation Workshop.

Jean-François Denis will participate to the RCMN’s Workshops Tour, and present a lecture entitled Technical, Practical, Historical and Philosophical Issues of Recorded New Music in the 21st Century. This tour will take place from February 17 to 24, 2008 in the cities of Halifax, Toronto, Victoria, and Vancouver (Canada).

The 11th Opus Prizes winners were announced yesterday, January 27, 2008, in Montréal. Amongst the 26 Opus Prizes… the “Disc of the Year — Musique actuelle, Electroacoustics” is petits Big Bangs by Marcelle Deschênes; the “Composer of the Year” was given to Serge Arcuri; the “Tribute Award” was given to Otto Joachim.

Fresh news on Paul Dolden’s activities. He just completed the piece Who Can Play the Fastest?, commissioned by the Stockholms Saxofonkvartett. He is also working on two other works: Who Has the Biggest Noise? — a commission by Swedish guitarist Stefan Östersjö —, and Who Has the Biggest Sound? (for “tape”). We’ll let you know about the respective places and dates of the premieres.

The V Electroacoustic Miniatures International Contest presented by the Ministry of Culture of the Junta de Andalucía (Spain) has rewarded Dominic Thibault for his piece Nuit noire, nuit grise. Of the 13 finalists, 4 other are Québécois or Canadians: David Berezan, James Duhamel, Thierry Gauthier, and Gilles Gobeil.

Irish composer Roger Doyle has just finished a 6-part series for RTÉ Lyric FM — Ireland’s National Radio Broadcaster — called “Electrolight,” on his personal journey through 60 years of electroacoustic music. (In RealPlayer format.)

1. The 1950s
2. The 1960s
3. The 1970s
4. The 1980s
5. The 1990s
6. 2000 onwards