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The University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios have played an important role in the development and practice of American electroacoustic music for nearly 40 years. Its many distinguished alumni have made fundamental contributions to the field through composition, research, teaching, instrument design, and performance. The work of EMS students, staff, and alumni has been recognized through a number of awards from the Bourges Concours International de Musique Electronique (9), Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (6), National Endowment for the Arts (7), Charles Ives Music Center (5), American Academy of Arts and Letters (3), Fulbright-Hayes Foundation (3), Koussevitzky Music Foundation (2), Fromm Foundation (2), Kennedy Center for the Arts, and the Pulitzer Prize Foundation. EMS alumni are also active teachers in the field. Over 40 students have gone on to teaching careers at Yale University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California-San Diego, Dartmouth College, Oberlin College, University of Illinois, Northwestern University, University of Minnesota, Boston University, and other colleges and universities in the U.S., Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia. Other alumni work in the film and recording industries for such studios as Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony, Fox, MGM, and LucasFilm. Recent EMS students have continued their studies at top graduate schools around the country and have conducted research and pursued advanced studies abroad at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, IRCAM in Paris, Darmstadt Summer Workshop, Groupe de Musique Experimentale de Bourges, Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon, and the Freiburg Conservatory. |
At
the University of Iowa, students working in the Electronic Music Studios
create a wide variety of works for tape, instruments and electronics,
video, theatre, and dance. Students have many performance opportunities,
with works presented in EMS concerts and Composers Workshops, SEAMUS
and SCI national and regional conferences, and on yearly exchange
concerts with several institituions in Europe.
Each year the Studios invite distinguished guest composers to participate in concerts, lectures, and masterclasses. Recent visitors have included Don Buchla, James Dashow, Charles Dodge, Paul Rudy, Denis Smalley, Todd Winkler, and Scott Wyatt. The Studios recently hosted the SEAMUS 2002 National Conference, which drew over 240 participants and presented 12 concerts of works for tape, live electronics, solo instruments, ensembles, symphony orchestra, voice, dance, sound sculpture, and video. In the area of research, EMS students have established and maintained a comprehensive online database of Musical Instrument Samples. These research-quality samples, recorded in an anechoic chamber, have been used by composers and researchers around the world. The Electronic Music Studios consist of three facilities representing a broad range of current and historical technology, including 9.1 surround sound and interactive, realtime digital synthesis and processing capabilities, as well as Moog and Arp synthesizers and other classic analog technology. The Studios are open to students 24 hours a day throughout the year. |