Simon Steen-Andersen is a Berlin-based composer, performer and installation artist, working in the field between instrumental music, electronics, video and performance within settings ranging from symphony orchestra and chamber music (with and without multimedia) to stagings, solo performances and installations. The works often concentrate on integrating concrete elements in the music and emphasizing the physical and choreographic aspects of instrumental performance. The setups often include amplified acoustic instruments in combination with sampler, video, simple everyday objects or homemade constructions.

Simon Løffler, born in Denmark/Copenhagen in 1981, works with novel instrumental constructions, from the mechanical to the animalistic to the hyper primitive, and a lot of other stuff. Recent work has been focused on integrating human performers and animal replicas. 

Løffler studied Composition with Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen and Niels Rosing-Schow at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Further studies with Wolfgang Heiniger at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin, and Simon Steen-Andersen at The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. 

Additionally he studied in the one-year program A.PASS (advanced performance and scenography studies), in Brussels. 

Since 2017 he has been a lecturer in Composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

For the impuls Academy 2019 Steen-Andersen and Simon Løffler offer a Special Program not only for composers, but also musicians, performers, sound- and multimedia-artists, organized as Workshop and Laboratory for experimentation as well as realization of individual (and possibly also group-) projects. Artistic approaches integrating aspects such as visual, performative, installative, … , or also electronically driven ones, will be paid particular attention and open up new perspectives also for the core of the composition-process itself. Besides the role-model of a composer in a traditional sense might be questioned and composers find themselves again as part of a collegue´s work and its realization. Thus also the topic of collaboration and teamworking will be touched, last but not least by sharing time, space, infrastructure, ideas and know-how amongst others.

The program is designed as group activity leading towards a final presentation of the process and works developed. Thus daily presence is obligatory, especially for the group sessions (10 am -1 pm), which pass over to general working-sessions until 7 pm. The workshop will be open to a maximum of 11 participants. Where needed and possible, additional musicians with focus on saxophonists can be included for specific tasks.

Taking part in this workshop implies a big engagement and might make it impossible to actively participate in most of the other projects of the Academy. This also implies that participants (except for musicians) will not be granted the same amount of invidiual lessons with other tutors as regular participants, but only one more individual lesson.

How to apply:

Announce your interest to the impuls office as soon as possible and then send (pdf) ideas, sketches, concepts or also already completed works (be it new or older ones) as well as a short (max. 1 page) motivation letter why to participate in this workshop to office(at)impuls(dot)cc. Deadline: October 31st, 2018. By the end of December you will be given notification at the latest about the final selection of participants.

The Workshop will take place at Forum Stadtpark Graz (main floor) – check infos on venue here and ask the impuls office for pictures, floor plans and some general technical information if really of interest at this stage.

A final presentation is scheduled for February 19th within the impuls Festival. Depending on the works still, the presentation will continue for another two days.

Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Composer. improviser, electronic musician, turntablist (performing also as JSX) …: Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, born in Venezuela, residing in Vienna for many years already, is characterized by a great deal of openness not only stylistically, but also in terms of his affinity to other artistic disciplines and wide range of the various genres in music. He writes for classical instrumentation and formations such as Klangforum Wien or Mahler Chamber Orchestra and soloists like Patricia Kopatchinskaja, but also cooperates with artists working in video and film, new medias, choreography and performance as well as in the subcultural area and science, hereby creating interdisciplinary works beyong classical conception (check f.e. OPERA OF ENTROPY or WORK). Jorge Sánchez-Chiong can be found in prestigious festivals and apart from classical stages and in off-spaces alike, that vary essentially in concern of conditions for production, audiences, general context, …, as well as specific content.

For the impuls special "Another Stage" this given range offers a substantial basis and questions the production conditions of classical music life, that by itself is affected by shortage of resources and financial funds as well as a general opening and shift in contemporary music and composition, not to forget the blurring of the classical allocation of roles of composer and interpreter.
"Another Stage" therefor thematizes music beyond classical mainstream production, discusses questions of distribution, presentation and interaction, questions the potential and specifics of "other" spaces (such as galleries and clubs, radio and online-platforms, public and private space just to name a few) and hereby also explores the comprehensive impact,  that arises by the inner musical fields opening up to f.e. intermedia works, new and mixed media, sound art, performance, improvisation – all of that also to be seen as a potential philosophical or political statement as well. "Another Stage" thwarts the rituals of classical music life, questions well-established expectations and habitutes, and meets the challange of new audiences, new spaces, new locations, new artistic approaches.
Through daily input by Jorge Sánchez-Chiong (lectures on transdisciplinarity, new media amongst others) linked of course also to discussions and exchange within the group (10 am to 1 pm: daily, mandatory meetings for all partcipants of this special / afternoons reserved for developement of concepts and projects / starting with approximately 16.2.: first presentations of projects) the special "Another Stage" offers the basis for the practical and processual work on individual projects, maybe also group-projects. The sharing of know-how, cooperation, feedback, dialogue as well as mutual assistance exercised in the group (be it in technical or theoretical terms or by sharing room and infrastructure in general) thereby also builds essential parameters of the general working approach.

"Another Stage" addresses not only composers and musicians, but also artists of other disciplines. Composer and musicans must first register and be accepted as participants of the impuls Academy, artists of other disciplines can only be included as participants of the  Academy if chosen for this special of course (in case of acceptance the same conditions and costs apply like for composers and musicians).
The special is open for a maximum of 12 participants (however application as a group is possible as well – also in that case conditions and costs arise individually).
"Another Stage" is one of the very intense programs and daily presence is mandatory. Composers therefor only get one more individual lesson with another tutor and also musicians must be aware that the participation in other offers at the Academy will be limited also due to the mere fact of lack in time.

How to apply:
If interested in this special please announce your interest by sending a short e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc (concern: Another Stage) and send - as soon as possible, but not later than November 10th, 2018 - the following material to office(at)impuls(dot)cc:
- letter of motivation why you would like to participate especially in this special
– 1 already realized, representative work of yours in the field of inter-/transdisciplinarity
- biography

The applications will be dealt with accordingly to the time of submission, notification of acceptance will be given by December 1st at the latest.
Participants selected may, but must not bring along concepts they would possibly like to work on/realize during the Academy. Concepts and ideas might as well develope on spot however as well.

Percussionists have always dealt with a specific material area, that is close to acoustic realities – quite in contrast to for example strings, that rather serve the desideratum of a counterworld. The acoustic every day world has for a long time been (specially before the invention of the combustion and electro engines) one of isolated sounds. Thus one might well define the task of percussionists to go after the reformation of percussive acoustic every day experiences.

The Workshop thus will circle around the central question, how percussion could be defined in the 21st century and which current forms and materials coin composition for percussion instruments nowadays. Does the function of percussionists change in the 21st century? There is quite some new ideas about sound that developed during the last decades, which of course also lead to new demands in respect of percussion techniques and technical skills in general. How could different percussion music thus look beyond the organization of percussive selective sounds? At the same time, the "extension" suggested in the title should not be so much aimed at the expansion into the performative or multimedia, but rather at the concrete handling of materials and forms in the tonal and the associated formal processes.
Composers and percussionists are encouraged to join in these processes together in order to present the results at the end of the workshop. Composers however should also be able to present their pieces / studies as performers themselves if desired. The 3 to 4-hour daily work is supervised individually or in groups / teams by Christian Dierstein and Michael Maierhof. There is a large number of percussion instruments available, but very specific instruments or sound stimulators should be brought along by the participants themselves. And of course we will also seek and develop more "instruments" in the work process in Graz checking out hardware store, but also junkyard, etc., not least because the purchase budget is limited.

How to apply:

If interested, already registered and accepted composers of the impuls Academy 2019 can apply for this special program. Please name your interest beforehand and send a concept and two already written compositions (not necessarily with percussion instruments) in pdf format to office@impuls.cc no later than November 1^st, 2018, subject: Extended Percussion Composition. Christian Dierstein and Michael Maierhof will then select up to 10 composers until mid-November. There will also be percussionists involved in the project (they are welcome to announce their special interest in the program as well, but must not necessarily do so).

Please note that participation in "Extended Percussion Composition" requires a permanent presence at the Academy, not least because a final presentation of the results is planned. It is also considered to be one of the more intensive special programs, so that the participating composers therefore receive a correspondingly reduced number of individual lessons with other composition tutors (only one more individual lesson is granted).

Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Algorithms that Matter (ALMAT) focuses on the experimentation with algorithms and their embedding in sound works. Rather than conceiving algorithms as established building blocks or the a priori formalisation of a compositional idea, we look at them as performing entities whose consequences are irreducible to models. Algorithms “matter” in the sense that matter and meaning cannot be distinguished, neither can artists and their computational tools. Algorithms actively produce spaces and temporalities which become entangled with their physical embeddings.

The 2019 edition of the workshop focuses on the development of a site-specific sound installation. The installation will explore the interactions of algorithmic and physical spaces and their dynamic and mutable properties. Participants will work on the premise that spaces and our perception of them change depending on presence, absence, the movement of visitors, the time of the day, the rhythm of the surroundings as well as the sonic and algorithmic interventions we bring into them.

This workshop seeks to attract computer music practitioners, sound artists and composers by offering a platform for exchange and reflection about their personal approaches towards algorithmic experimentation. The participants are invited to develop their various approaches within an atmosphere of collaboration, where special emphasis will be given to the translation of environmental data (such as sensor input from the surroundings and visitors) through computer music systems developed and assembled by the participants and tutors. One question we want to pursue is how behaviours can be composed that transition from "technical and artificial" to "organic and alive", particularly through the articulation of spatiality.

The workshop starts with an internal presentation of the participants for the other participants and tutors. An initial sound situation using a large number of small reconfigurable speakers forms the starting point for in-situ work. This structure will then be available for decomposition and rearrangement by the participants. The space will become a public exhibition halfway through the workshop, making it possible to observe and adapt to the interactions with the audience, a central question in the making of sound installations.
The workshop will be held with technical infrastructure provided by the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM), including an 48-channel sound system and a selection of sensors.
The workshop ALMAT was developed by David Pirrò and Hanns Holger Rutz (both IEM Graz) and will be held together with the special support by Robin Minard.

How to apply:
1.) First, you must register and be accepted as a participant of the impuls Academy 2019.
2.) Along with your application, you must submit a statement concerning your specific interest in participating in the ALMAT Workshop or send this by e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc.
3.) In addition, please send a description of your personal work in relation to the workshop's theme stating your previous experiences and describing employed computational approaches, their aesthetic motivation, and a proposal for working within the installation setting (up to 500 words), as well as a Curriculum Vitae (up to 500 words). Please send both parts to office(at)impuls(dot)cc by October 1st, 2018 at the latest - deadline prolonged to November 11th for a few places still available.
4.) The selection of participants will be announced by the beginning of November 2018.
5.) Please be aware that the participation at ALMAT requires a daily presence and will be considered as one of the very intense special programs. This implies that ALMAT participants will not be granted the same amount of individual lessons with other tutors as regular participants, but only one more lesson.

This special 5-day program is intended as an active collaboration between musicians and composers. Emphasis is on the process of the program, where specifically a close communication between performer and composer is explored and developed on several levels. Principle points of focus:

1. active collaborative exploration of the piano

2. experimentation with the potential of a single sound, gesture, action or idea

3. precise notation and communication

4. composition and performance of new piece.

A maximum of 6 pianists and 12 composers are invited to take part, each pianist will thus be working in a team with 2 composers.

The groups will meet a number of times - this program is therefore a rather intense one, counting on everyone´s active participation.

The composers will explore and expand their prepared sketches, or simply start from scratch and develop new ones, during the process of exchange and collaboration with the performers.

Group tutti meetings will start and end the course and a composer workshop is also planned during the workshop period.

The resulting miniature compositions of ca. 2-5 minutes will be performed in a concert on the final day of this program.

How to apply:

1.) Composers and instrumentalists must be registered and accepted as participants of the impuls Academy 2019 to be considered. 

2.) Composers must then register for this program: please send an e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc to announce your participation. Also pianists are asked to name their special interest in this program to be considered for selection.

3.) Composers submit 1 recent chamber music or solo score and a short cv and a recording of one solo or chamber music piece, please note, not necessarily for piano. Recording is prefered as a soundcloud link. No download of files possible. Scores please as a PDF. Deadline: October 20th, 2018.

4.) Composers will be selected and given notification by November 30th at the latest.

5.) Selected composers prepare and bring along a short sketch of under a minute for piano, with a clear focus on a single sound, action, or musical (or non-musical...) gesture.

6.) The impuls Academy requires that all participants attend the piano preparation workshop with Andreas Orasch which will be scheduled at the very beginning of the Academy.

7.) Please note, the majority of pianos available will be upright pianos, as grand pianos are limited (as are pianos with a sostenuto pedal). In all cases the composer and pianist are obliged to insure no harm be done to the pianos through the use of preparation or inside-piano techniques. 

8.) Please be aware that taking part in this special as composer is equivalent to one individual lesson with a composition tutor.

New or already existing works, sketches or concepts can be submitted by composition participants of the impuls Academy 2019 for this special program. The instrumentation possibilities range from accordion solo to accordion quartet as well as duets to quartet for accordion in combination with clarinet, flute, saxophone and/or oboe. Pieces selected will then be analyzed and worked on in close collaboration with the musicians and under the coaching of Bernhard Gander and Krassimir Sterev, questions on general composition, notation, sonority, instrumental techniques respectively specifics as well as interpretation amongst others will be discussed, the pieces hereby further developed ... and finally brought to a performance.

How to apply:

1.) The composers and musicians must first be registered and accepted as participants in the impuls Academy 2019.

2.) We then ask the interested composers to sign up for this special program beforehand under office(at)impuls(dot)cc (instrumentalists can, but do not have to sign up for it seperately).

3.) Interested composers then submit their sketches, concepts or compositions by October 31st, 2018 at the latest (as pdf to: office (at) impuls (dot) cc).

4.) By the end of November at the latest, notification will be fiven on selection of composers. If there is sketches or concepts amongst them, composers agree to develop them further on until the Academy actually starts (Bernhard Gander will be already available for compositional questions from December onwards).

The participation of the composers in this program corresponds to the offer of an individual lesson with a composition tutor.

Guitarist Mats Scheidegger and composer Dmitri Kourliandski propose to all composition students to compose micro-pieces (from extremely short to very short pieces / one or more) for guitar solo (classical and/or e-guitar) directly during the Academy. Mats Scheidegger will give a special lecture / master class for composers to introduce guitar techniques and Dmitri Kourliandski will introduce the concept of the Micro-music lab beforehand. Composers are then asked to start composing their micro-pieces, meet again for feedback and first prima vista readings, continue to work and hereby develop the pieces together with the guitarists under the guidance of the tutors where needed, and come together again for a final meeting with everyone involved. The micro-pieces will then be presented at a special concert occasion by the guitar participants. At this performance the micro-pieces will hereby form a composite- (macro-) piece.

Conditions:
Composer participants of the impuls Academy 2019, who are interested to take part in this special, are asked to sign up in advance by sending a short e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc, concern: Guitar Micro-music lab. Guitarists are welcome to name their interest as well, but donnot need to sign up individually. Composers are then asked to join the first meeting for introduction and further planning.

Taking part in this special as composer is equivalent to one individual lesson with a composition tutor.

Conditions:

1.) You have to register and be accepted as participant for the impuls Academy 2019 first and announce your interest in this special program to the impuls office.

2.) The works can but must not necessarily be written for this specific occasion. Also sketches or even part of works can be handed in. Of course your work also does not have to include all instruments mentioned in paragraph 3.), but can be written for a smaller instrumentation. However it needs to convey the character of an ensemble piece - thus no small (chamber) music pieces will be accepted.

3.) The instruments available for the reading sessions are as follows (one musician per instrument only, except for violin where two musicians are available!): flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin (2 musicians in this specific case), viola, cello, double bass, harp, accordion, piano, percussion

4) As to percussion: only a small percussion set will be made available by Klangforum Wien and impuls. In case your piece should really require any other percussion instruments, you need to supply them yourself; same holds true for specific sound objects or other devices.

5.) Please also note that neither electronic equipment nor amplification is available.

6.) Scores (printed or well readable hand writing) must be sent as pdf to office(at)impuls(dot)cc until November 15th, 2018 at the latest.

7.) A commission consisting of members of Klangforum Wien will then choose some of the works handed in. The composers selected will be given notification by the end of 2018 at the latest and might be asked to also deliver the parts until January 15th 2019 as pdf per e-mail. In any case the composers selected will have to bring along both score and parts to impuls then and agree that also copies will be made available to the other participants attending.

8.) Selected composers also agree that their selected work is to be discussed with one of the composition tutors in the frame of an individual lesson beforehand at the Academy in order to prepare the reading sessions properly and also develope questions for both musicians of Klangforum Wien and the conductor Ilan Volkov. The tutor will be assigned by impuls.

9.) The impuls Reading sessions with Klangforum Wien and Ilan Volkov will take place on Saturday, February 16th. In addition to that a lunch for further discussions is planned during the break that day. All impuls participants, be it composers or instrumentalists, are invited and welcome to attend the Reading sessions, profit from this program and participate in the discussions coming along with it.

Singers have their own position in the world of musicians. Compared to all others we have some advantages which enhance us in this prominent position: we can transport wonderful texts, the unity of instrument and musician is constitutional, our voices offer an endless palette of colours from pure beauty to crazy ugliness, we can shout, cry, scream, whistle, whine, laugh and jubilate.

And all this without an instrument in our hands. What practically means that we have two free hands! Many composers take this chance to equip us with a lot of extra stuff, instruments, toys and other props to expand the possibilities of sound.
At impuls 2019 we would like to create a beautiful concert setting which could look finally like a wonderful big playground - and in which a set of (new) pieces for different casts of voices will happen: duos, trios, quartets… up to six voices with extra "instruments".
As we have often a lack of male voices in our masterclasses we would like to invite the composers to write mostly for female or unisex voices. And we would like to ask you to bring special instruments to the Academy if you use those.

Conditions:
1.) Composers have to register and be accepted as participant for the impuls Academy 2019 first.
2.)  If you intend to participate (be it with a concept to be finalised during impuls or be it with an existing piece or piece written especially for this ocasion), please send a short message to office(at)impuls(dot)cc to announce your participation already early in advance. Please then hand in your concept or score per e-mail (as pdf) to office(at)impuls(dot)cc until December 1st, 2018 at the latest. Notification of selection will be given until January 10th (please note that we of course cannot guarantee that all selected concepts/pieces will also be performed in the end as this of course also depends on the process of production etc.).
3.) As to instrumentation: As we have often a lack of male voices in our masterclasses we would like to invite the composers to write mostly for female or unisex voices. Maximum of voices to be used is limited to 6. Special instruments, toys and other devises to be used by the singers must be brought along by the composers themselves.
4.) Pieces newly written are very welcome, but so are already existing ones. Also concepts to be finalised on spot can be handed in. Length: 2-10 minutes maximum. Pieces should be a cappella, but include any sort of props, toys, performance elements, or any other kinds of components beyond purely vocal music.
6.) Instrumentalists are welcome to announce their special interest in the program, but donnot necessarily have to register separately.
7.) If you need further information please contact the impuls office at office(at)impuls(dot)cc.

Anna D´Errico, pianist of Ensemble Interface, is offering a call for works written by participants of impuls 2019. Both pieces for piano solo and piano plus up to 3 additional instruments are welcome. In the latter case please note that only instruments the Academy offers classes for and works that do not need a conductor will be taken into consideration.
All composers are welcome to submit their works (both new and already existing ones; length can be up to 12 minutes). Please note that any piano preparation you might use must by no means damage the piano. Works that involve amplification / video / live-electronics can be taken into consideration only upon evaluation of the complexity of the technical requirements, and of whether they can fit with rehearsal conditions. impuls can in no case provide equipment for the rehearsal period, so the composer would have to bring it along or have it delivered to the office. The composer should also be responsible for the technical realization.
A selection will be made by Mrs. D´Errico, and selected pieces will be worked on together with the composers during the Academy. Some of the works might be considered for performance during impuls.
In addition to this, Mrs. D´Errico will also offer a Workshop-Forum open to all participants of impuls – both instrumentalists and composers – to discuss the pieces worked on, highlighting aspects of piano writing (such as sound possibilities, extended techniques, notation, strategies to communicate musical ideas in the score) and approaching issues of contemporary piano playing.

How to apply:
Please announce your interest in this Call and send the pieces as pdf to office(at)impuls(dot)cc (concern: pieces for Anna D´Errico). The pieces will be considered in order of application and should not arrive later than November 15th, 2018. Notification of selection will be given before middle of December 2018 in any case and a call for musicians needed will be started subsequently.
For the Workshop-Forum it is not necessary to sign up – please feel free to just come to the meeting directly.

All registered composer participants of the impuls Academy 2019 are welcome to hand in compositions (new or already existing ones, length up to a maximum of 8 minutes) for either two violas or viola plus one more string instrument. A selection of pieces will be discussed and rehearsed by Dimitrios Polisoidis and Geneviève Strosser as viola duo respectively one of them together with another string participant of the Academy. A performance of at least some of the pieces is planned depending also on the submissions and time availability. 

How to apply:

Please send an e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc to announce your interest (concern: Viola Combined) and hand in your compositions to the same address as pdf no later than October 31st,  2018.

If your piece is selected, please bring along 2 printed copies to Graz in February. The scores will also be made available to all participants as pdf beforehand.

Strings do not have to register for this program.

Please contact the impuls office at office(at)impuls(dot)cc if you should need any further information.

Conquer your fear of writing for seemingly the most complicated instrument! Send a score, idea, sketch and at least some of them will be worked on at the impuls Academy 2019 with Rahel Schweizer, a harpist from Switzerland, interested in searching for new sounds and possibilities on her instrument and open to all kinds of music and ideas. She loves working closely with composers, discovering new ideas together and is also not afraid of improvisation, performative elements and electronics, but has in fact already gathered some experience in these elements.

Please check her website and feel free to contact her also directly for any questions you might have under rahel.m.schweizer(at)gmail(dot)com.

Conditions:

If you are a participant of impuls and intend to send in a composition (already existing one or newly written), please do send it as pdf to both rahel.m.schweizer(at)gmail(dot)com and office(at)impuls(dot)cc until November 15th, 2018 at the latest. Ideas and sketches are welcome any time, also after this deadline. In case any sort of electronics is included please make sure that you can bring along all necessary equipment and also take care of any technical realization yourself.

Berlin based Japanese Koto player Lin凛, participant of the impuls Academy in 2019, is looking for scores for this thirteen stringed traditional Japanese zither amongst the impuls composition participants, meet up with them to maybe develop pieces together, and of course also interconnect with other musicians on spot. Her usual repertoire ranges from 300 BC to newly composed works, and she also improvises regularly with various instruments.

For some general information about the koto and how to write for it, please visit a page put together by members of the Atlas Ensemble.

Infos on Lin凛 can be found on her own website as well as facebook account.    

So if interested – be it as composition or instrumental participant of impuls, be it for general questions, suggestions, scores, concepts or working together in Graz – please get in touch with Lin凛 directly under linsiedler@gmail.com.

In 2019 IEMA-Ensemble 2018/19 will be present at the impuls Academy.

All composers, who have already registered and been accepted as participants, are welcome to hand in compositions (be it already written ones or new ones written specifically for this occasion) for its musicians: from trio-instrumentation to full size-instrumentation of the ensemble, a conductor is available if needed.

The following instruments are available (one musician per instrument only): flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, double bass / ad percussion: the following instruments are available: 1 vibraphone + 1 large drum + 1 drum-set as well as small percussion instruments, that can easily be transported on foot.

Conditions:

Please send a short message to office(at)impuls(dot)cc to announce your participation already early in advance (Concern: IEMA-Ensemble 2018/19) and deliver your composition as pdf (a score is sufficiant, parts can be sent later on selection) not later than December 1st, 2018 to both office(at)impuls(dot)cc and engelbrecht(at)ensemble-modern(dot)com. By December 20th, 2018 a selection will be made of pieces to then be included in reading-sessions or rehearsals during the Academy and - where possible - also presented in public as part of the impuls Festival.

Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

2019 the ensemble zone expérimentale basel, musicians of the masters course for contemporary music at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW in Basel, Switzerland, will be present at the impuls Academy and Festival. All registered and accepted composers of the Academy are welcome to submit compositions (no matter whether already existing or newly written ones) for zone expérimentale basel.

The pieces must at least be written for a trio-instrumentation. The pool of instruments available hereby consists of the following 10 instruments (one musician per instrument): oboe + saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, bariton) + horn + trombone or euphonium + accordion + e-guitar + percussion + piano + harp + violin. As to percussion the following instruments are available: vibraphone + 3 cymbals + bass drum + 2 tom-toms + small instruments, that can easily be transported and placed on a table

Conditions:

Please send an e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc to announce your interest (concern: zone experiméntale basel) and then send your composition as pdf (a score is sufficiant, only on selection all parts have to be supplied quickly as well) until December 1st, 2018 to office(at)impuls(dot)cc and at the same time also to uli.fussenegger(at)fhnw.ch. A selection of pieces will be made until December 15th, which then will be rehearsed respectively included at reading-sessions during the Academy and might even be included in a public presentation. Depending on the applications pieces might even be selected for a concert in Basel (25.1.2019) and another presentation at the impuls Festival with the ensemble on 14.2.2019.

Oboist Ernest Rombout is offering a 2-part workshop, in which composers and oboists will come together. In a first meeting valuable information on the possibilities of the instruments, notation specifics, specific techniques amongst others will be given specially to the composers, who are also very welcome to already bring along (or send in in advance) works for oboe and of course pose relating questions in a lively exchange. Besides the attending  composers are then asked to develope new sketches, fragments of new works in the following days, which in a second meeting will then be tried-out and feedback given.

Conditions:

Composers participants of impuls 2019 are asked to announce their interest (short e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc, concern: oboe). Places might have to be limited in the end, so we ask to sign up quickly (first come first serve) and only if really interested.

Analysis of scores written for string instruments by participants and practical advice on:  

- concept versus readability  

- general and specific rules of string instrument notation  

- notation of extended techniques, harmonics etc.  

- production of score and performance material  

- advice on efficient use of rehearsal time with ensembles  

Conditions:

Composers are welcome to sign up in advance (send e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc, concern: Notation Merkel) and hand in pieces that might be of interest to be discussed on spot. All of these pieces (scores and parts) need to be brought along in printed version to Graz then.

Besides his class for percussionists Christian Dierstein will give an additional Masterclass, that will put a special emphasis on new techniques for percussionists as well as specialities of music-theatrical forms. Specially for composer participants of impuls 2019 Mr. Dierstein will thematize particular new techniques on percussion-instruments as well as striking techniques and tools. Besides he will also be talking about the new book „The Techniques of Percussion Playing. Mallets, Implements and Applications“ (Bärenreiter Verlag).
Duration of Masterclass: approximately 2 hours.
 
Conditions:

Please announce your interest on registration or by sending an e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc (subject: Percussion Masterclass). First come first serve.

Andreas Orasch, piano maker and piano tuner not only at KUG, but also for pianists such as Markus Schirmer, will first give an intro to preparation methods and possibilities on the piano and then answer all your questions. Please bring along your own works that ask for preparation or also works by other composers with similar needs.

Conditions:

No matter whether you are composer or musician: in case of interest to join this workshop please let us know by sending a short e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc (subject: Piano Preparation).

Everyone intending to use pianos during impuls (be it pianists or for example also composers) are asked to sign up and join the workshop in any case.

Commedia dell'ascolto is part of "Commedia delle arti" performance, composed for the Russian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2017

performance instructions:
perform (sing) any musical piece in your mind
play (sing) aloud (softly, to yourself) no more than one sound per half minute*
don't lose the continuity of the performed piece
one of the sounds can be played (sang) until the end of the breath/bow/resonance
 
* the action can be performed at any moment within the half minute - closer to its beginning, end or in the middle; follow your inner feeling of time
 
The instrumentalists and singers of the impuls Academy are invited to join the open performance of "Commedia dell’ascolto". As many performers as available can perform the proposed instructions in a specified or unspecified time in a specified or unspecified place. Performers can fix a certain time and place to join for a collective performance, or spread in time and space for individual ones. Short sounds/excerpts/gestures appearing time to time here and there during the Academy indoors or outdoors (throughout the city), create a rhythmisized field of hidden mental performance.

During the Academy the participants of Mats Scheidegger´s class will give a series of half an hour performances in different spaces of Academy as well as outside. All interested musicians are welcome to join the performances.

Participants interested are welcome to name their interest by sending a short e-mail to office(at)impuls(dot)cc, concern: Commedia dell'ascolto, however signing up in advance is not really necessary.

Yoga for Musicians and Composers is a daily, developing class, lasting from Tuesday, February 12th till Monday, February 18th, 2019, 8.30 to 9.30 am at KUG, offered by Eva Furrer, tutor also of the flute class at impuls Academy 2019.
•No previous experience with yoga is necessary.

•Participants can take a small breakfast before the class.

•After the class some fruits and tea will be provided.

•Participants must bring along a suitable Yoga-mat.

•The number of participants is restricted to a maximum of 25 participants.
•Contribution for the whole course per person: € 50.- (including taxes, fruits and tea; to be paid at the beginning of the class)

•For registration please contact the impuls office at office(at)impuls(dot)cc.

•If you have any questions about the yoga class please contact Mrs. Eva Furrer directly: eva.furrer(at)aon(dot)at and have a look also at www.lujong-yoga.at

LU JONG (Tibetan Healing Yoga) functions on three levels: physical, energetic and mental. During the yoga practice, our concentration moves from "outside to inside". Therefore, we shift our senses from the outside world to inside our bodies. We learn to feel ourselves, to listen to ourselves and to find the source of inexhaustible strength and our center.

The five basic exercises of LU JONG to balance the five elements are particularly effective in the prevention of health problems, above all in people that experience chronic stress. In Tibetan Medicine, the disruption of the inner winds (lung) is understood to negatively affect the balance of the five elements and the three vital fluids or principal energies (wind, bile and phlegm). This manifests itself as a disruption of our internal powerhouse and is followed by physical and psychological disease (weak immune system, chronic back pain, digestive problems, insomnia, trouble concentrating etc). 

In the eyes of western medicine, stress is defined as a physical reaction to external or internal burdens. Musicians are often placed under enormous strain for extended periods of time, for example, striving for perfectionism, intense work and endurance pressures, exaggerated awareness of duty, noise, bullying and so on. The so called "Burnout Syndrome" is described as total emotional exhaustion, the feeling of estrangement from one’s self and/or experiencing other adverse reactions and a diminishing capacity to function (or increasing dissatisfaction with performance). "Burnout" refers to a concept of our core energy and means the burning out of fuel elements due to overheating or a decline in cooling. In TibetanTantrayana burnout is understood as a closure of the energy channels whereby the free flow of energy in the body is inhibited. This impacts the physical, energy and mental levels.

Lu Jong – Exercises:

Lu Jong exercises concentrate mainly on the movement of the spinal column, our powerhouse or battery. The spine is stretched, turned and bent in every direction. Lopsided, unbalanced stresses and strains, such as those, caused by playing an instrument, are evened out, damage caused by long periods of sitting, bad posture and tension are counteracted. The energy channels become permeable again, blockages are released, and the five elements and the body energies are brought back into balance.

www.lujong-yoga.at