The ZKM has announced the 15 winning works of its Short Cuts: Beauty competition (5 First Prizes, 5 Second Prizes, 5 Third Prizes) to be presented at the Chillout Lounge at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart starting on July 18, 2006 during the 2006 World New Music Days. Amongst the First Prizes: Corps et âme by Francis Dhomont.

From July 19 to 21, 2006, Francis Dhomont will give a workshop on “self-expression through sound” at the Université d’été de la radio in Arles (France).

Christian Calon and Robert Worby will be running courses in electroacoustic composition and improvisation at the CoMA (Contemporary Music-making for Amateurs)Summer School, in Doncaster (South Yorkshire, UK) from July 22 to 29, 2006.

Natasha Barrett was awarded the Nordisk Råds Musikkpris (Nordic Council Music Prize) on June 3, 2006 for her work … fetters…. Twelve composers and musicians from Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden were finalists. The jury states that Natasha Barrett “shows a clear consciousness of the capacity of silence to highlight the various interest-moments in the composition, in a shifting interplay between activity and calm, chaos and order. In addition, Barrett demonstrates an impressively skilful grasp of the unique technological potential of the medium.” The prize will be presented to her on November 1 in Copenhagen.

The winners of the 33rd Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art (France) are announced. Cantique #2, by Louis Dufort and Marie Chouinard, received a mention in the category “Trivium — work for multimedia” while their Cantique #3 was selected in the “Trivium — sound installation” category. Composers James Duhamel, Nicolas Bernier, Natasha Barrett, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Ludger Brümmer, and Roxanne Turcotte had their work selected in other categories.

Pete Stollery will be working on a new acousmatic piece in the studios of the GRM in late June 2006. Taking Claude Lelouch’s 1970s classic film C’était un rendez-vous (a 9-minute film of a Mercedes driving in Paris, as seen from its bumper) as a starting point, he will make a new piece using sounds recorded on the same route which the Mercedes took. Stollery is also working on two mixed works: Planar for trumpet for Mark O’Keeffe from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; the second, b3:dz, for organ Richard Turbet.