Third Day

Workshop – Lecture – Concert

8 September 2025

Qanun - Extended Techniques

10:00 - 11:30 | Tehran Time

Building a better BEAST: The Development and Recent Practice of “Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre”

13:30 - 15:00 | Tehran Time

Csound for Beginners

16:00 - 17:30 | Tehran Time

Live Events

Workshop

Qanun – Extended Tehniques

Summary

A Specialized Workshop for Contemporary Composers
 “The Qanun: From Classical Techniques to New Sonic Horizons”

This hands-on workshop focuses on the qanun — a traditional Iranian string instrument — and explores how it can be reimagined in contemporary music and composition.

We’ll start by revisiting the instrument’s standard playing techniques, then dive into extended techniques that push the boundaries of its sound. These approaches open up exciting new possibilities for composers looking to develop their own unique musical voice.

What to expect:
 • Listening and discussion around recent works written for the qanun
 • Creative approaches to notation, including graphic scores for non-traditional sounds
 • A deep look at how collaboration between composer and performer can lead to new techniques and ideas

This workshop is open to composers, composition students, qanun players, and anyone curious about exploring new sonic territories.

Location: Music Museum

Biography

She was born in Tehran in 1984 and began her musical journey at the age of eight, studying under Arman Nahrvar. Following the completion of her general education, she pursued formal music studies at the Tehran Music Conservatory at the age of 22, where she trained under esteemed professors including Mohsen Elhamian and Klara Bukochava. Her early instrumental studies began with the Tar, under the guidance of MohammadReza Ebrahimi. She later specialized in Qanun, a traditional Iranian instrument, and continued her academic training at Tehran Art University. There, she studied with a distinguished group of instructors such as Amir Eslami, Parichehr Khajeh, Kourosh Matin, Reza Parvizade, Hossein Mehrani, Sourena Sefati, Qomars Piraglu, and others. Her passion for contemporary music led her to study with Dr. Kiawash Sahebnasagh, and she has performed works by notable Iranian composer Alireza Mashayekhi, with whom she also recorded an album. Additionally, she participated in a masterclass by renowned Turkish musician Göksel Baktagir in Tehran. Her academic and artistic interests also extended to the exploration of Sufi music, a subject she researched with Julien Bernard Jalaleddin Wise. She furthered her studies in this field by working with Turkish musician Muslum Karaduman. Her performance experience spans both solo and ensemble work. She has collaborated with well-known groups such as Rastak, Sanam, and Tida Ensemble, as well as in duets with artists like Farzin Tehranian. Her festival appearances include four consecutive years at Iran’s Fadjr Music Festival (performing in Vahdat and Roudaki Halls), Klangwertage Festival for New Music in Germany, HIGH FEST International Performing Arts Festival in Armenia, Slemani International Film Festival with the Rastak group, and a televised performance on Slemani Kurdsat channel in 2019. Her discography includes collaborations with prominent Iranian musicians such as MohammadReza Ebrahimi, Mahyar Alizadeh, Reza Parvizade, Siavash Valipour, Hesam Naseri, and Alireza Mashayekhi (notably on the album White Cactus). She also served as the coordinator for a Kurdish album titled Mecnun, produced by Ahenk Music Company in Turkey and released in 2019. In addition to her performances and recordings, she has shared her knowledge through teaching. She previously taught at institutions such as Pars Music School and, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has continued to offer private lessons both online and in person. Her insights on the Qanun and its role in Persian music have been featured in interviews with TRT AVAZ channel and musicologist Alexey Maltsev.

Biography

For the past three decades Scott Wilson’s music and sound art has explored the intersection of a variety of different and sometimes contradictory practices. Combining aspects of instrumental/vocal composition, field recording, immersive multichannel electroacoustic sound and visuals, cross-cultural collaboration, live coding and improvisation in works that are each a bespoke solution to a unique artistic problem, his output holds few firm allegiances to schools, styles or genres, and regularly transgresses the boundaries of the ‘acceptable’ to be found in even the most supposedly experimental fields of practice. A particular interest in collaboration has led to a rich range of output, including cross-cultural and interdisciplinary works. These and other pieces including hyperreal soundscapes using sound from the natural world, a collaborative musical palimpsest on classic Qawwali recordings, and music created by sonifying the particle collisions of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have been presented around the world. Also active as an educator and mentor for young artists, he is co-director of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre and teaches at the University of Birmingham in the U.K.

Lecture

Building a better BEAST: The Development and Recent Practice of “Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre”

Summary

This talk will explore practices of immersive audio presentation by Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST), from early developments through to the most recent innovations, exploring aspects of technology, system design, diffusion, ambisonics, live elements, and hybridised approaches. BEAST is a large-scale (ca. 100 loudspeaker) system for the presentation of electronic music, and one of the leading international systems of its kind.

Workshop

Csound for beginners

Summary

This workshop introduces the Csound language and provides a beginner-friendly approach to writing both code and music. We’ll be using Cabbage as the front-end software. Participants will learn about variable types, how to generate basic sounds, and by the end of the session, we’ll create our first audio plugin.

Location: Music Museum

Biography

Parham Izadyar is a contemporary artist and audio programmer. Most of his works are electronic music which are inspired by Iranian traditional music. He is also interested in sound designing for visual arts. His main goal is to find a balance between intuition and logic while doing art. He was born 1993 in Karaj, Iran - He started music in 2009 by playing Piano. in 2012 entered Art University of Tehran. He continued studying piano and focused his work on contemporary composition. since 2016 he continues his journey as a electronic composer.

Concert 3

Curated by Damian Marhulets

Location: Music Museum

Program Note

Out of Bounds is an experimental audiovisual composition that explores the eerie aesthetics of liminal, non-existent spaces. Inspired by an extreme form of video game exploration—where players intentionally seek out hidden areas never meant to be seen beyond the eyes of developers—the piece delves into digital environments that exist on the fringes of virtual worlds. These zones, often used to test mechanics or store out-of-sight assets, transcend their intended function and become uncanny, purposeless non-places—much like prehistoric cave paintings hidden deep underground, made to be unseen. The work presents a series of images depicting empty, uncanny rooms. Though they appear captured with cheap digital cameras from the 1990s, these places are entirely artificial—generated using early, now-obsolete AI models. They are abstracted simulations of space: environments that never were, and never could be, inhabited. Paired with sparse, minimal sound design—subtle acoustic auras—Out of Bounds evokes the sensation of a simulated presenceThe viewer becomes a silent intruder, an uninvited observer of places not meant to be seen. These images do not welcome us.

Biography

Damian Marhulets is a classically trained composer, musician, and media artist currently based in Germany. His creative inspiration lies in the strange and unexpected—where technology meets magic and media intersects with mysticism. Drawing on a lifelong fascination with the radical edges of artistic exploration and philosophical thought, Damian thrives in the blurred spaces between musical worlds. Influenced by both classical and avant-garde traditions, and shaped by a background in sound design and multimedia, he creates music that challenges conventional formats and invites listeners into new sonic experiences. As an artist-in-residence, Damian has worked at renowned institutions including the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the ACROE Institute in Grenoble, the Ionian University in Corfu, and STEIM in Amsterdam. His works have been performed at major venues and festivals such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Beethovenfest Bonn, MusikTriennale Köln, BOZAR – Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Philharmonic Hall Essen, Berghain Berlin, KunstFestSpiele Hannover, Podium Festival Esslingen, and the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. Damian has also been active for many years as an artistic director and curator for various cultural associations. Over the past decade, he has worked closely with Ars Aperta Hannover, regularly curating concerts, festivals, and lecture series. His own artistic practice spans a wide range of topics, including ludomusicology and the use of modern game engines in composition. He is known for developing unconventional graphic and interactive digital scores, as well as immersive musical experiences in virtual environments. In recent years, he has produced numerous large- scale stage performances that combine acoustic instruments with electronics and complex 3D visuals.
Website

Biography

David Borges [aka TilD] initially studied school music and sport, and later composition and electronic composition. In 2007, together with Kostia Rapoport and Damian Marhulets, he founded the electronic trio dak~ [daktil.de], which focuses on free improvisation and with which he performs at numerous concerts and festivals throughout Europe. Since 2009, he has initiated concert series and festivals for electronic music (e.g. “Musik für Räume” or “tildeMusik”) and explores the interface between visual art, music and performance with time-critical sound installations. David Borges works as a teacher and electronic musician. A central element of his work is always free improvisation and spontaneous interaction with other musicians. He gives courses in electronic composition and works in various electronic ensembles. He has collaborated with the electronic studio Hannover Incontri, the Schauspielhaus Hannover, the Sprengelmuseum Hannover, Musikland Niedersachsen, WDR, Leine-Hz. www.davidborges.de

Program Note

While traditional market research gains its findings almost exclusively through interviews and questionnaires, the data from which is usually collected retrospectively, neuroscientific methods can be used to determine customer preference directly and unfiltered by measuring evaluation processes in the brain.” (From “Business and Innovation” 01/2010) All people are recorded as data by the economy. Directly or as an average in the form of a target group. Sometimes we hope that this will make our lives easier or bring us profit, sometimes we don’t even know that the data is being collected. The crucial question is: do we control the data or does the data control us? To what extent do we have control over what data is collected and how it is interpreted? ent_wicklungTM is an interactive connection between humans and computers. Movements are read by the computer and control parameters of the music. Based on contemporary market research and control systems—such as Paypal—the connection between movement and music (data input and output) is not always transparent, however. The boundaries between determining and being determined become blurred. (From the original program) Written in 2010, the play deals with market-based algorithms that manipulate people today without anticipating their AI-supported development.

Program Note

(TL;DR: “plundering” is a solo performance where I play 440 glitchy, genre-mashed samples across five keyboards. By pushing AI music generators to their limits, I collected and reassembled their “failures” into a high-energy, improvisational mix — blurring the lines between DJing, live performance, and AI-generated plunderphonics.) The process for my instrumental solo performance “plundering” began with the generation of hundreds of musical snippets using various online AI-driven music generators. By inputting prompts with intentionally unrelated musical descriptions—such as “percussion electronic madness glitch distortion extreme gabber minimal orchestra free jazz” or “dubstep on acoustic instruments, jazz big band, extremely chaotic, klezmer” — my goal was to uncover unusual genre combinations, musical “failures” and AI-generated glitches. These often resulted from the algorithm’s limited training data, producing fragmented or incoherent musical structures. I primarily focused on high-energy material with the intent of assembling a collection of samples suited for live club performances. After an extensive selection and refinement process, I categorized the samples, chopping them into loops that could be triggered via a keyboard. To accommodate a vast sound library, I employed five master keyboards, each with 88 keys, giving me access to a total of 440 samples in real time. This setup allows for a highly dynamic performance, positioning me as both a keyboardist and a hyper-DJ — layering and juxtaposing multiple tracks every second, existing in the creative space between curation and composition. The resulting music bears a strong resemblance to plunderphonics, a sampling-based genre pioneered in the 1980s by John Oswald. However, rather than sampling from individual works, my approach draws from a collective archive — the vast dataset of musical material used to train the AI. I am not borrowing from a single artist but rather from an aggregated musical consciousness, reassembling it into something new. By experimenting with performance techniques and real-time improvisation, I transform these pre-generated fragments into spontaneous compositions, constructing a sonic mosaic on the fly. plundering_01b is one of the first attempts to perform on the instrument in real time.

Biography

Kostia Rapoport (*1984) is a composer, sound designer, and musician working at the intersection of experimental electronics, contemporary composition, and improvisation. With roots in jazz-influenced keyboard playing, his music weaves live performance with electronic textures and sound design. He has created music for over 70 theatre productions at major stages across Germany and Austria, often combining acoustic instruments with electronics to craft immersive, atmospheric scores. Beyond theatre, he produces electronic tracks, remixes, and performs in a wide range of collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. His platform vvirr (www.vvirr.de) features releases from his various pseudonyms and bands, offering a home for his diverse musical output. www.kostiarapoport.com

Biography

Roman Rofalski, pianist and composer, rooted his musical life in the urge for constant change. Always searching for new frontiers, he is experimenting with various styles, aiming to remove the artificial boundaries that lie between composed, classical music and improvised, modern jazz. With his Jazz Trio he has released three albums so far featuring both original compositions and arrangements of classical models which have been transformed into modern trio jazz, never in an eclectic manner, but rather in an integrative one, in which he seeks to capture the essence of these compositions and transform it into his own language of improvised music. His solo debut “The Kapustin Project” on Sony Classical features pieces of Ukrainian Composer Nikolai Kapustin alongside Frederic Rzewski, Bernhard Lang and Roman’s own compositions. More recently diving into electronics, Roman released LOOPHOLE 2020 on London-based label Nonclassical combining piano and digital processing. His contribution to KLANGBOX IV (Feral Note) is an experimental journey together with Amsterdam-based drummer Felix Schlarmann. 2024, he released FRACTAL on Oscillations Records as a sequel, mingling acoustic and electronic sounds on a new level. Roman Rofalski studied classical piano at University for Music, Theater and Media (HMTM) Hannover. After having received his master degree, he moved to New York City. During this three years, he studied at the New York University and Queens College. Rofalski’s concerts are taking him around the world, from solo recitals to all kinds of chamber music performances. He is a member of the Oh Ton-Ensemble for contemporary music and works closely with the Stockhausen Foundation. As a partner of Schimmel Pianos, Roman toured extensively through China. Since 2020, Roman is a professor for piano at HMTM Hannover. https://romanrofalski.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/romanrofalski/ http://www.romanrofalski.com @Photo credit: Ruben Steijn

Program Note

MEI pt1 is a remix of the all-time classic piece for solo flute by contemporary composer Fukushima. It transforms the opening long notes and hollow landscapes of the original into a granular buildup of thriving beats

Program Note

Fractal waves is part of Rofalski’s ongoing attempt to mingling acoustic piano with electronics. With the use of live arpeggios and programmed grooves he creates a distinct blur like ocean waves rendered in glistening 8bit.

Biography

Roman Rofalski, pianist and composer, rooted his musical life in the urge for constant change. Always searching for new frontiers, he is experimenting with various styles, aiming to remove the artificial boundaries that lie between composed, classical music and improvised, modern jazz. With his Jazz Trio he has released three albums so far featuring both original compositions and arrangements of classical models which have been transformed into modern trio jazz, never in an eclectic manner, but rather in an integrative one, in which he seeks to capture the essence of these compositions and transform it into his own language of improvised music. His solo debut “The Kapustin Project” on Sony Classical features pieces of Ukrainian Composer Nikolai Kapustin alongside Frederic Rzewski, Bernhard Lang and Roman’s own compositions. More recently diving into electronics, Roman released LOOPHOLE 2020 on London-based label Nonclassical combining piano and digital processing. His contribution to KLANGBOX IV (Feral Note) is an experimental journey together with Amsterdam-based drummer Felix Schlarmann. 2024, he released FRACTAL on Oscillations Records as a sequel, mingling acoustic and electronic sounds on a new level. Roman Rofalski studied classical piano at University for Music, Theater and Media (HMTM) Hannover. After having received his master degree, he moved to New York City. During this three years, he studied at the New York University and Queens College. Rofalski’s concerts are taking him around the world, from solo recitals to all kinds of chamber music performances. He is a member of the Oh Ton-Ensemble for contemporary music and works closely with the Stockhausen Foundation. As a partner of Schimmel Pianos, Roman toured extensively through China. Since 2020, Roman is a professor for piano at HMTM Hannover. https://romanrofalski.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/romanrofalski/ http://www.romanrofalski.com @Photo credit: Ruben Steijn

Biography

Roman Rofalski, pianist and composer, rooted his musical life in the urge for constant change. Always searching for new frontiers, he is experimenting with various styles, aiming to remove the artificial boundaries that lie between composed, classical music and improvised, modern jazz. With his Jazz Trio he has released three albums so far featuring both original compositions and arrangements of classical models which have been transformed into modern trio jazz, never in an eclectic manner, but rather in an integrative one, in which he seeks to capture the essence of these compositions and transform it into his own language of improvised music. His solo debut “The Kapustin Project” on Sony Classical features pieces of Ukrainian Composer Nikolai Kapustin alongside Frederic Rzewski, Bernhard Lang and Roman’s own compositions. More recently diving into electronics, Roman released LOOPHOLE 2020 on London-based label Nonclassical combining piano and digital processing. His contribution to KLANGBOX IV (Feral Note) is an experimental journey together with Amsterdam-based drummer Felix Schlarmann. 2024, he released FRACTAL on Oscillations Records as a sequel, mingling acoustic and electronic sounds on a new level. Roman Rofalski studied classical piano at University for Music, Theater and Media (HMTM) Hannover. After having received his master degree, he moved to New York City. During this three years, he studied at the New York University and Queens College. Rofalski’s concerts are taking him around the world, from solo recitals to all kinds of chamber music performances. He is a member of the Oh Ton-Ensemble for contemporary music and works closely with the Stockhausen Foundation. As a partner of Schimmel Pianos, Roman toured extensively through China. Since 2020, Roman is a professor for piano at HMTM Hannover. https://romanrofalski.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/romanrofalski/ http://www.romanrofalski.com @Photo credit: Ruben Steijn

Program Note

Dark bass wobble is an attempt to mixing live recorded percussion and marimba with industrial drum & bass. Drums by Felix Schlarmann, inspired by Berlin-based Samurai label.

Concert 4

Curated by Paul Ramage

Location: Music Museum

Introduction

At the crossroads of centuries and languages, this ciné-concert offers a lively rereading of old films – anonymous or forgotten – through original sound compositions created by young contemporary artists. These silent, fragile images from the 1910s and 1930s become living matter once again. Their silence is reinvested, questioned and sometimes shaken up by very contemporary sound worlds: music with electronic, noisy or vocal sounds… Each soundtrack becomes a listening gesture, a form of address to the ghosts of the frame. This program is partly the fruit of a cross-creation workshop between the Electroacoustic Composition class at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Cinémathèque Robert-Lynen in Paris. Each year, a dozen or so students are invited to imagine a voice, a parallel or complementary sound universe for these films, offering them a new, unexpected light. This dialogue between viewpoints and creative and production tools from very different periods enables a rereading and mutual enrichment of the works, and offers an unprecedented encounter between past and present.

Biography

Paul Ramage is a violinist, improviser and composer. After meeting Didier Lockwood (whose school he joined in 2003), he became interested in jazz and improvised music. At the same time, he continued his classical violin studies at the Conservatoire of Cergy-Pontoise, graduating with a Diplôme d’Etudes Musicales (D.E.M) in jazz and violin. In 2013 he obtained his D.E.M in electroacoustic composition from the Paris Conservatoire, in the classes of Denis Dufour and Jonathan Prager. He then obtained a Master's degree in electroacoustic composition from INA_GRM. Finally, he studied composition and computer music at the IRCAM cursus. Composer of some fifty works, both acousmatic and mixed or instrumental, he has played and been played in various countries (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Japan, United States, China, etc.). He is the winner of the Métamorphose prize (Music and Research) of the second Russolo prize (Russolo-Pratella Foundation (Italy)/Studio Forum d'Annecy) and holds a certificate of aptitude (C.A) in electroacoustic composition. He teaches composition and sound creation at the Conservatoire and the Pôle Supérieur de Paris, and is committed to bringing all aspects of creation to life.

Biography

Born in 2000, Antoine Alcaraz studied percussion from 2009 to 2018 with Rémi Durupt at the Conservatoire in Rennes, where he developed an initial approach to improvisation and live electronic music. In 2019 he joined the Conservatoire in Paris, where he studied electroacoustic composition with Denis Dufour, Paul Ramage and Jonathan Prager. There he wrote his first acousmatic pieces and also developed a taste for composing for images, both in the context of film-concerts and soundtracks for experimental cinema. Following courses with Olivier Sens on Usine software, he introduced computer music to several of his practices, such as improvisation, through devices combining vinyl turntables and live processing, but also to his hybird performance project, which he produced under the alias ICI MTN.

Program Note

Les Halles Centrales is a piece of music inspired by the film of the same name by Boris Kaufman. It was premiered as part of the Ciné-concert organised by the Cinémathèque Robert Linen in Paris in January 2023. The piece accompanies the film’s generous portrayal of the night’s work.

Program Note

‘Éclipse des Rêves’ is a piece I composed inspired by a Persian poem by Ahmad Shamlou, which tells of an eternal struggle between darkness and light. I sought to convey this tension and duality through music, playing on contrasts and the progressive transformation of sound materials.

Biography

Hanna Mesgari, born in 1998 in Tehran, discovered the TÂR, an instrument of Iranian music, at the age of 13. In 2017, she entered the University of Tehran, where she obtained a degree in Iranian music performance, deepening her mastery and understanding of this art. Living in Paris since the winter of 2023, she became interested in electroacoustic music during a composition course with Alireza Farhang, which led her to delve deeper into this discipline. In September 2023, she entered the Paris Conservatoire, where she studied electroacoustic composition with Paul Ramage and Jonathan Prager. In winter 2024, she enriched her studies by taking a composition course with Pierre Jodlowski as part of the NIMFA - Horizon Étendu composition academy, as well as an intensive composition course led by Helga Arias, also as part of this academy. As an artist, Hanna Mesgari has presented some of her works at concerts and festivals in Germany, Norway and France.

Biography

Romain Arnette is a multidisciplinary artist, born in 1987. He developed his musical practice while studying art in London. Since 2010 he has been active on the experimental electronic scene and has created several musical projects with distinct sounds. In 2020 he joined Jonathan Prager and Paul Ramage's electroacoustic composition class at the Conservatoire de Paris.

Program Note

With this piece, Romain Arnette enters into friction with Follow the Leader, Amedée J. Van Beuren’s 1929 film, hijacking its codes to reveal its flaws, tensions and unspoken meanings. Far from a nostalgic restoration, his sound creation performs a critical translation: period rhythms are displaced, distorted and dissonant. The sound material becomes a revelation – sometimes playful, often disturbing – of a collective imagination in mutation, between Hollywood’s golden age, political urgency and burlesque absurdity. Here, Romain Arnette composes a shifting, obsessive sound architecture, where memories of the syncopated jazz of the past collide with heavy electronic textures. The film becomes the medium for a parallel narrative, in which the archive is less a document than a playground of echoes and shifts. An invitation to see differently, to listen through, to follow… without being guided.

Program Note

Paris at the end of the 1920s was a city with many faces, and one that was very much alive. You arrived by barge, via the canals that join the Seine, where thousands of workers toiled. From the Opéra to the Butte Montmartre, to the rhythm of the historic monuments, the journey through the capital reveals a changing crowd… An urban portrait on an unprecedented scale, Études sur Paris is a lyrical tour of the Paris of the Roaring Twenties. A pioneer of art documentaries, André Sauvage captures with extraordinary visual sensitivity the hustle and bustle of the city, the high points and working-class districts of a capital undergoing profound change. Somewhere between naturalism and modernity, his personal and sensitive vision brought him closer to the great visionary filmmakers of the time, such as Dziga Vertov and Jean Vigo. A monumental work! [Cindy Rabouan]

Biography

Paul Ramage is a violinist, improviser and composer. After meeting Didier Lockwood (whose school he joined in 2003), he became interested in jazz and improvised music. At the same time, he continued his classical violin studies at the Conservatoire of Cergy-Pontoise, graduating with a Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales (D.E.M) in jazz and violin. In 2013 he obtained his D.E.M in electroacoustic composition from the Paris Conservatoire, in the classes of Denis Dufour and Jonathan Prager. He then obtained a Master's degree in electroacoustic composition from INA_GRM. Finally, he studied composition and computer music at the IRCAM cursus. Composer of some fifty works, both acousmatic and mixed or instrumental, he has played and been played in various countries (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Japan, United States, China, etc.). He is the winner of the Métamorphose prize (Music and Research) of the second Russolo prize (Russolo-Pratella Foundation (Italy)/Studio Forum d'Annecy) and holds a certificate of aptitude (C.A) in electroacoustic composition. He teaches composition and sound creation at the Conservatoire and the Pôle Supérieur de Paris, and is committed to bringing all aspects of creation to life.