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  • Research

    The fundamental principle of IRCAM is to encourage productive interaction among scientific research, technological developments, and contemporary music production. Since its establishment in 1977, this initiative has provided the foundation for the institute’s activities. One of the major issues is the importance of contributing to the renewal of musical expression through science and technology. Conversely, sp…

    • Research Topics
    • The STMS Lab
    • Research Teams
    • Sound Systems and Signals: Audio/Acoustics, InstruMents
    • Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces
    • Sound Perception and Design
    • Sound Analysis-Synthesis
    • Sound Music Movement Interaction
    • Musical Representations
    • Analysis of Musical Practices
    • Projects
    • Sound Workshop
    • The Musical Body
    • Creative Dynamics
    • Finished Projects
  • Creation

    IRCAM is an internationally recognized research center dedicated to creating new technologies for music. The institute offers a unique experimental environment where composers strive to enlarge their musical experience through the concepts expressed in new technologies.

    • Composers & Artists in Studio
    • Mauro Lanza in studio
    • Chloé Thévenin in studio
    • Oren Boneh in studio
    • Tristan Murail in studio
    • Martin Matalon in studio
    • Sébastien Gaxie in studio
    • Murcof in the studio
    • Vimala Pons in studio
    • Lucie Antunes in studio
    • Deena Abdelwahed in the studio
    • Music-Fictions
    • Artistic Research Residency
    • Artistic Residencies: The Blog
    • Rendez Vous 24.25
    • 2024-2025
    • Replay Concerts
    • Seasons from 1996 to present
    • ManiFeste-2024 Website
    • ManiFeste festival from 2012 to 2024
    • L’Étincelle, IRCAM’s journal of creation
  • Transmission

    In support of IRCAM's research and creation missions, the educational program seeks to shed light on the current and future meaning of the interactions among the arts, sciences, and technology as well as sharing its models of knowledge, know-how, and innovations with the widest possible audience.

    • Training Courses
    • Training Courses 2025.26
    • Max, Max for Live
    • Computer-Assisted Composition
    • ASAP & Partiels
    • Sound spatialization
    • Generative AI
    • Practical Information
    • Higher Education
    • Cursus Program on Composition and Computer Music
    • Master ATIAM
    • Sound Design Master's Program
    • Mixed-Music
    • AIMove Master
    • Discover Research at IRCAM
    • Cultural Outreach
    • Cultural Mediation at Middle School Students
    • Médiations culturelles au lycée
    • Digital Workshops
    • TACT
    • Images of a Work Collection
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    Engaged with societal and economic issues at the intersection of culture and IT, research at Ircam has forged a reputation for itself in the world of international research as an interdisciplinary benchmark in the science and technology of sound and music, constantly attentive to the new needs and uses in society.

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  • Sonosphère III & IV








Fri 19 May 2017,
7 p.m.
National Forum of Music, Wroclaw
Edit
Creation
Concert






Sonosphère III & IV

Edit






World premiere – During the Musica Electronica Nova festival
Edit






"This two-part piece composed between 2016 and 2017 as my farewell to the MEN festival has no real beginning, and its end paradoxically recalls that non-existent beginning. I wanted to change up the customary concert order and have music playing as soon as the audience started entering the foyer of the fantastic NFM building – a building whose erection I observed from the very start of construction work. Performing this piece is also a scenic endeavor, one where both musicians and listeners are actors. Its goal is to lead the audience into the concert hall where music is already playing – as if it was always there.
I use both the traditional sound of an orchestra, as well as multiple transformations thereof, with the addition of separately composed electronic sounds which blur the distinction between the former two. The spatial composition of the sound was one of my priorities, which is why I placed eight musicians on the balconies of the concert hall and decided on six-channel sound projection for the electronically processed and electronically composed sounds. Sonosphère III & IV is comprised of two discrete pieces which can be performed separately, but which also make up a certain coherent whole. Sonosphère IV starts with a wind instrument sequence similar to the non-beginning of Sonosphère III, and ends with a transformed quotation of that same beginning.
In the process of creating Sonosphère IV, I returned, after a thirty-year break, to working with sound at IRCAM. I would like to thank Frank Madlener offering me this opportunity, and Sébastien Naves for our incredibly creative shared activities and discoveries. Special thanks go to director Andrzej Kosendiak for giving me the inspiration to create this piece."
Elżbieta Sikora

Programme

Elżbieta Sikora

Sonosphère III. Symfonia Wrocławska for orchestra and electronics Premiere 2017 *
Sonosphère IV. Symfonia Wrocławska  for orchestra and electronics Premiere 2017 *

Witold Lutosławski
Interludium (1989)


John Zorn
Orphée (European premiere) **

Contes de Fées – violin concerto (1999) **

Suppôts et Supplications for orchestra (2012) **

Performers

Chris Otto Violin
NFM Wrocław Philharmonic
David Fulmer Conductor
Sébastien Naves IRCAM Computer Music Design
 *
Luca Bagnoli IRCAM Sound Engineer *
Ikue Mori Computer and Electronics **

Edit
The commissioning of "Sonosphère III. Wrocław Symphony" by Elżbieta Sikora was co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland as part of the programme ‘Collections’ – Composers Commissions’ realised by the Institute of Music and dance. "Sonosphère IV. Symfonia Wrocławska" commissioned by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou.
  • Elżbieta Sikora  © Łukasz Rajchert
    Elżbieta Sikora © Łukasz Rajchert
  • NFM Wrocław Philharmonic  © Łukasz Rajchert
    NFM Wrocław Philharmonic © Łukasz Rajchert
  • NFM Wrocław Philharmonic  © Łukasz Rajchert
    NFM Wrocław Philharmonic © Łukasz Rajchert
  • David Fulmer  © archiwum artysty
    David Fulmer © archiwum artysty

Related Event

Sonosphère III & IV

Premieres by the composer Elzbieta Sikora
Shatter the concert format! This is the goal declared by the composer Elzbieta Sikora in her Sonosphères III & IV. Erase the ceremony that encapsulates the beginning of each classical musical perform…
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