“595 works by 205 composers from 35 different countries were created between 1970 and 2001 in the IMEB studios.” Thus the Institut de musique électroacoustique de Bourges (IMEB, ex-GMEB) finally announces the production of a 2CD box sets gathering 30 years of creation (1970-2000) in its studios at a rate of one work per year. For example, 1989 is represented by Jeu by Robert Normandeau; 1979 by Barry Truax; 1981 by Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux; and 1986 by Yves Daoust.

Robert Normandeau has completed a new work commissioned by Réseaux, Chorus, to be première at the event Rien à voir (12) in September 2002 in Montréal.

Arturo Parra is a Colombian composer and guitar player living in Québec for the past ten years. With his new release Parr(A)cousmatique, we are treated with a splendid bouquet of works for guitar and tape. Five acousmatic works, five passionate meetings with the acoustic guitar, played without acessories or special preparation. With musical propositions from Bejarano, Dhomont, Gobeil, Normandeau and Roy, Parra builds organic sonic weddings far away from the usual clichés of contemporary guitar.

Composer Robert Normandeau was awarded the “Masque” for best sound design, in a ceremony held February 3, 2002, for the play Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann, adapted and directed by Brigitte Haentjens. The composition was then completely reworked for the concert thanks to a commision by the IMEB in June 2000. The piece was premiered at the Synthèse festival held in Bourges (France) in June 2001. Malina appears on the composer’s most recent CD, Clair de terre, released on the empreintes DIGITALes label. The piece will be presented in concert during the “Voyages: Dublin-Montréal” event, coproduced by Concerts M and Réseaux, on March 14, 2002.

January 24 to 29, 2002, Robert Normandeau, with collegues Réjean Poirier and Jean Saulnier from the music faculty of the University of Montréal, gave both a concert and a conference at the national superior music and dance conservatory in Lyon (France). His pieces “Le renard et la rose” (Figures) and “Erinyes” (Clair de terre) were played at the concert. He also gave a lecture to the students about his composition Clair de terre. The composer then moved to Marseille where he worked with the “Holophon,” a sonic spatialisation system conceived at the GMEM (Marseille’s experimental music group). The GMEM commissioned a work by the composer.

“Clair de Terre is fundamentally entertaining, a rare comment for electroacoustic music.” (All Music Guide, USA) Just after releasing a compilation of his major works on the Rephlex label (UK), Robert Normandeau presents his 4th album, an homage to the 20th century and the two art forms born out of it, cinema and musique concrète. An intimate work, dealing with his acoustic preoccupations since the late 80’s, Clair de terre transposes film techniques into acousmatic mouvements and uses the very personnal sound bank constituted by the composer throughout the years. The other two tracks lights a new aspect of Normandeau’s work. Indeed, even if he composed soundtracks for numerous plays, it is the first time one of them appears on CD.