The title Karst Grotto — chosen for its onomatopoeic qualities and its direct references to landscape types, as well as geological spatial structures and processes — reflects the sound world of the work. Karst, a particular topography, is created by the dissolution of soluble rock types from their contact with acidic rain water. A microlevel chemical process characterizes the morphology of entire landscapes and results in complex networks of small-scale — micro-space — features and textures like fissures and rillenkarrens.

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Karst Grotto was realized at the studios of the Department of Music Technology and Acoustics Engineering of the Technological Educational Institute of Crete (Greece) and the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) of the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) in Zurich (Switzerland), between July 2016 and January 2017, and premiered on November 4, 2017 during the Sound Junction concert series in Sheffield (England, UK). Many thanks to Johannes Schütt for his guidance and support. Karst Grotto was awarded the 2nd prize in the electronic music category at Computer Space (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2018) and a Special Mention at the 10th Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition Métamorphoses (Belgium, 2018).

Composition

• July 2016 – January 2017, Department of Music Technology and Acoustics Engineering – Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Rethymno (Greece)
• July 2016 – January 2017, ICST – Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology – ZHdK – Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich (Switzerland)

Premiere

• November 4, 2017, Sound Junction Autumn 2017: Concert 2: Nikos Stavropoulos, Firth Hall — Firth Court — The University of Sheffield, Sheffield (England, UK)

Awards

• Prize, Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2018, Leuk (Switzerland)
• 2nd prize, Computer and Electronic Music, Computer Space 2018, Sofia (Bulgaria)
• Special Mention, 10th Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition Métamorphoses 2018, Ohain (Belgium)

Mastering

• February 19, 2019, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)