Electronic Music Midwest (EMM) is a festival of new

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...

History

EMM is the result of a consortium formed between

Kansas City Kansas Community College Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) is a public two year community college in Wyandotte County, Kansas, United States. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, a commission of the North Central Association and the Ka ...

(KCKCC),

Lewis University Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university in Romeoville, Illinois, United States. The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students. Lewis offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 22 graduate pro ...

, and the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

. This festival was founded by Mike McFerron, Connie Mayfield, and Paul Rudy in 2000 when it was presented at KCKCC under the name "Kansas City Electronic Music Festival." In 2001, the festival continued at Lewis University under the title, "Electronic Music at Lewis - 2001." Electronic Music Midwest became the official name at the 2002 festival held at Kansas City Kansas Community College. In celebration of EMM's 10th anniversary, Lewis University hosted the first EMM mini-Invitational festival on March 11, 2010. 15 composers were invited to present up to 15 minutes of music during this one-day, three concert festival. Among other compositions, highlights from this festival included ''Three Improvisatory Groovescapes'' (performed by the composer) by EMM technical director, Ian Corbett, ''Tranquility'' by Kyong Mee Choi, ''Bapu'' (performed by Lisa Bost-Sandberg) by Asha Srinivasan, and ''Texturologie 6: Emerald Emergent'' by James Caldwell. Electronic Music Midwest (EMM) alternates each year between Kansas City, Kansas and the suburbs of Chicago in Romeoville, Illinois. Besides the main festival which is usually takes place over three days. The festival also presents "mini" festivals which are one day events presented as outreach to other cities.

Composer's Voice Concert Series The Composer's Voice Concert Series is a concert series in New York City which presents contemporary chamber music. The series is produced by Vox Novus and was founded in 2001 by the composer Robert Voisey. Currently directed by Voisey, Composer's V ...

hosted an EMM mini-Invitational festival In New York City on June 24, 2012. Western Michigan University as part of is New Sounds Festival hosted EMM mini-Invitational festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan. EMM has always featured an 8-speaker surround diffusion system under the guidance of Ian Corbett. The core of the system are eight Mackie 1521 bi-amped speakers, an EAW/QSC subwoofer system, and a Soundcraft MH3, 32+4 Channel mixer. Since its beginning, EMM has programmed over 500 new electroacoustic compositions. Composers have traveled from around the world to graciously share their music with audiences in the Midwest. EMM strives to create an environment conducive to building community interaction. "Electronic Music Midwest has been dedicated to program a variety of electro-acoustic music, and to provide the highest quality of e-media presentations." Most concerts are approximately one hour long, and composers have plenty of time to "talk shop" with each other as well as interact socially with students and audience members.

Special guest composers and performers

Tom Lopez Tom Lopez is an American composer of electronic music. He serves as Director of the Computer Music Program at The Walden School. Lopez is best known for his extensive history with the TIMARA Labs at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Lopez gr ...

- 2000 (Kansas City Electronic Music Festival - KCKCC) * James Mobberley - 2001 ("Electronic Music at Lewis - 2001") *

Mark Applebaum Mark Applebaum (born 1967 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American composer and full professor of music composition and theory at Stanford University. Biography Applebaum received his PhD in music composition from the University of California, Sa ...

- Spring 2002 (KCKCC) * Elizabeth McNutt - Fall 2002 (Lewis University) * Mark Wingate - Fall 2003 (UMKC) * Kevin Austin - Fall 2004 (Lewis University) *

Robert Voisey Robert Voisey (born 1969) is a composer and producer of electroacoustic and chamber music. He founded Vox Novus in 2000 to promote the music of contemporary composers and in 2001 created The American Composer Timeline, the first in-depth listi ...

and

60x60 60x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuous ...

- Fall 2005 (KCKCC) * CECh Celebrating 50 Years of Electroacoustic Music from Chile - Fall 2006 (Lewis University) *

Chicago Composers Forum (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

- Fall 2008 *

60x60 Dance 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

- Fall 2009 (KCKCC) *

Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) The Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) is a not-for-profit promoter of electroacoustic music, electronic music and electronic art in the Kansas City metro area. Mission The Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) ...

- Fall 2009 (KCKCC) *

Rebecca Ashe Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

- Fall 2010 (Lewis University) *

Elizabeth Bunt Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

- Fall 2011 (KCKCC) *

Andrew Spencer Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

- Fall 2012 (Lewis University) *

Kari Johnson Kari Rose Johnson (born June 11, 1992) better known by her stage name Kari Faux, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is best known for her flamboyant dress, and conversational style of rap. ...

- Fall 2013 (KCKCC) * Craig Hultgren - Fall 2014 (Lewis University) * Keith Benjamin - Fall 2015 (KCKCC) * Sarah Plum - Fall 2016 (Lewis University) * Splice Ensemble - Fall 2017 (KCKCC) *

Margaret Lancaster Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Indo-Iranian languages, Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and r ...

- Fall 2018 (Lewis University) * Drew Whiting - Fall 2019 (KCKCC) * Andrea Cheeseman - Spring 2022 https://www.emmfestival.org/archives_data/spring2022/2022_EMMprogram.pdf * ScottDeal - Spring 2020

Staff

* Mike McFerron - founder and festival director * Ian Corbett - festival director/technical director * Jay Batzner - programming director * Jason Bolte - technical director * David McIntire - marketing director *

- organization advancement director

Participating composers

Among others, EMM has programmed music by the following composers:

Birgitte Alsted Birgitte Alsted (born 15 June 1942) is a Danish violinist, teacher and composer. Alsted was born in Odense, and was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and in Warsaw. She has done much within the electronic music and often uses crea ...

Linda Antas

Larry Austin Larry Don Austin (September 12, 1930 – December 30, 2018) was an American composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical '' Source: Music of the Avant Garde''. Austin ...

, Andrew Babcock, Jeremy Baguyos
Jay Batzner
Martin Bedard, Brian Belet
Kari BesharseChristopher BiggsScott Blasco
Marita Bolles
Jason Bolte
Michael Boyd, Taylor Briggs,

Kirsten Broberg Kirsten Broberg (born April 16, 1979) is an American composer from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Her music has been performed by the Kronos Quartet string quartet, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra MusicNOW Ensemble, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, ...

Benjamin Broening
George Brunner
Ivica Bukvic
Madelyn Byrne, James Caldwell, Clifton Callender, Camila Cano, Jen-Kuang Chang, Kyong Mee Choi, Da Jeong Choi, Young-Shin Choi, Joshua Clausen
Andrew Seager Cole
William Coogan, Ian Corbett, Christopher Danforth, Ken Davies, Nathan Davis, Brad Decker, David DeVasto, Greg Dixon, Aaron Doenges, Ben Dorfan,

Matthew Dotson Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

, Nicholas Drake,

Michael Drew Michael Drew is a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Reading. He used to hold the position of head of physical chemistry. His main area of study centres on computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistr ...

, Ivan Elezovic, Rachel Evans (musician),

Robert Fleisher Robert Fleisher (born 1953 in New York City) is a composer and Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University and the author of ''Twenty Israeli Composers'', where he discusses with twenty Israeli composers about their inspirations, methods ...

, Mike Frengel, Lawrence Fritts, Jason Geistweidt, Jacob Gotlib, Arthur Gottschalk, Côté Guillaume, Moon Young Ha, Kip Haaheim,

Randall Hall Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community *Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minnesota ...

, Jonathan Hallstrom, Adam Hardin, Nickolas Hartgrove, Jeffrey Hass, James Hegarty, Jeff Herriott
Eric Honour
Robert Honstein, Hubert Howe, Tsai Yun Huang, Peter Hulen, Marie Incontrera, Ryan Ingebritsen, Karl Jentzsch, Timothy Johnson, Richard Johnson,

Brooke Joyce Brooke may refer to: People * Brooke (given name) * Brooke (surname) * Brooke baronets, families of baronets with the surname Brooke Places * Brooke, Norfolk, England * Brooke, Rutland, England * Brooke, Virginia, US * Brooke's Point, Palawa ...

, Noah Keesecker, Kevin Kissinger, Laura Kramer, Kadet Kuhne, John Latartara, HyeKyung Lee,

Elainie Lillios Elainie Lillios is a composer. Lillios studied composition with Larry Austin, Jonty Harrison, Jon Christopher Nelson, Joseph Klein, and others. She has been a professor at Bowling Green State University since 2000. She was awarded First Prize in ...

Cort Lippe
Hunter Long, Ed Martin
Robert McClure
Mike McFerron, David McIntire, Christian McLeer, Jim McManus, Louis Migliazza, Brent Milam, Katarina Miljkovic, Julia Miller, Jason Mitchell, James Mobberley, Dohi Moon, David Mooney,

David Morneau David Morneau (born May 2, 1975) is an American composer. He is most noted for his work with the 60x365 project. in which Morneau blogged a 60-second composition once a day for an entire year. The 365 miniature compositions include ambient tracks ...

, Rick Nance, Adam Scott Neal, Israel Neuman, Paul Oehlers, Yemin Oh, Michael Olson, Joo Won Park, Ronald Parks, Tom Parsons, Sean Peuquet, Michael Pounds, Christopher Preissing,

Tim Reed Tim Reed (born July 13, 1965) is an American politician. He is a Republican representing the 7th district in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Early life Reed was born in Brookings, South Dakota. He holds a Bachelor of Science degr ...

, Tony Reimer, Michael Reimer,

, David Roberts,

Jonathan Robertson Jonathan Robertson (born 29 May 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Ter Leede in the Dutch Topklasse. He formerly played for Almere City and FC Oss. Career Born in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the Rive ...

, Thomas Royal, Marcus Rubio
Paul Rudy
Jake Rundall, Salil Sachdev, James Sain,

Alexander Schubert Alexander Schubert (born 13 July 1979) is a German composer. Much of his music is experimental, involving multimedia, improvisatory, and interactive elements. He draws upon free jazz, techno, and pop styles. Biography Alexander Schubert was born ...

, Philip Schuessler, Liza Seigido, Chris Shortway, Eric Simonson, Steven Snethkamp, Steven Snowden, Mark Snyder, Jorge Sosa, Asha Srinivasan, Jack Stamps, Timothy Stulman, Daniel Swilley, Jerry Tabor, Chenyu Sun, Paul Thomas, Spencer Topel, Schuyler Tsuda, Sam Tymorek, Audrey Valentine, Bob Valentine, Bert Van Herck, Dan VanHassel, Angela Veomett,

Joseph Vogel Joseph Vogel is an American author, scholar, and popular culture critic. He is the author of several books, including '' Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson'' and ''This Thing Called Life: Prince, Race, Sex, Religion, ...

, Andrew Walters, Brett Wartchow, Lauren Wells, Tom Williams, Benjamin Williams, Zackery Wilson, Bart Woodstrup, Nihan Yesil,

Samson Young Samson Young (born 1979) is a Hong Kong artist, working primarily in the mediums of sound performance and installations. Early life and education Samson Young was born in Hong-Kong. He received both his BA degree in Music, Philosophy and Gende ...

, Peiying Yuan, Richard Zarou, Bei Zhang, Zachariah Zubow

Articles & reviews

Kari Väkevän teos kantaesitetään Kansasissa
Lansivayla on 11/17/2015 - 17:00 CULTURE

Mark Wedel, Special to the

Kalamazoo Gazette The ''Kalamazoo Gazette'' is the daily newspaper in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is part of MLive Media Group, Michigan's largest local media organization. ''The Gazette'' publishes seven days a week. Papers are available for home delivery on Thurs ...

on March 12, 2013
2007 EMM Festival in Kansas City
by '' Asymmetry Magazine''. Quote: "...smooth-running, well-organized, sonically and musically superior event, put on by some truly lovely people."

References

External links

Official website
{{Electronic music festival Music festivals established in 2000 Music organizations based in the United States 2002 establishments in Missouri Electronic music festivals in the United States Electroacoustic music festivals