SEAMUS 2020 National Conference

The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) 2020 National Conference will be held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, March 12-14, 2020.  SEAMUS 2020 will present an exceptional program of works showcasing a broad spectrum of electro-acoustic modes and practices.  In addition, we will present a selection of paper presentations, demonstrations, and workshops. The University of Virginia, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Music’s program in Composition and Computer Technologies are thrilled to be hosting the SEAMUS conference, and we look forward to welcoming you into our community.  Additional information about the conference will be updated at https://seamus2020.music.virginia.edu.

The submission portal will open September 1st, 2019 and close 11:59 PM PDT, October 10th, 2019. Please see the links to submit by category at the bottom of this announcement.

SUBMISSIONS

SEAMUS members may submit up to one each of an original musical work, an installation proposal, and a paper / workshop proposal.  Music formats include fixed media electroacoustic works, compositions for real-time interactive performance with or without additional performer(s), works for dance, and works combining sound and image / video.  Selected works will be presented in a variety of spaces, including but not limited to two multi-channel halls, a film theater, ‘late-night’ spaces on the downtown Charlottesville Mall, and the Rotunda’s Dome Room.  Please also see the ‘Special Proposals’ section below.

University of Virginia Music faculty will consider works for piccolo/flute/alto, oboe/English horn, bassoon/contrabassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion, and piano.

When submitting a multi-channel work, please include preference as to speaker configuration in your submitted technical specification.  We will do our best to accommodate speaker configuration / routing preferences within the limits of technical feasibility.

SEAMUS adjudication is a peer-reviewed double-blind process.  Technical / logistical feasibility will be the only consideration subsequent to the adjudication process.  More details are available at https://seamusonline.org/national-conference-adjudication-process/

Notifications will be made in early December 2019. Composers whose work is selected are required to register for and attend the conference.

Read SEAMUS’s Statement of Non-Discrimination at https://seamusonline.org/statement-of-nondiscrimination/

SPECIAL PROPOSALS

Special spaces:

We invite submission of works for one to eight channels to be realized in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.  We further invite submission of sound installations of any kind for realization on UVA’s historic Lawn. These spaces will be open to the public throughout the conference.  Please note that while we plan to realize selected works more than once, conversation and other environmental sound may be present at any given time. Information about the Rotunda space may be found at https://rotunda.virginia.edu/dome-room.  Information about the Lawn may be found athttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawn.

Community-engaged practice:

We invite proposal submissions for workshops and performances that engage youth populations in Charlottesville.  UVA Music has developed partnerships with several community institutions, including the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, the Boys and Girls Club of Charlottesville, International Neighbors, and Charlottesville City Schools.  We leave the parameters for this category as open as possible. Proposals may or may not be coordinated with a designated “Kids’ Concert” on the SEAMUS 2020 program that will especially welcome kids into the audience. More generally, we can help find appropriate partners and spaces for proposals accepted into this stream.  Proposals submitted into this category will be adjudicated by a separate peer-review panel composed of SEAMUS members and local stake-holders in Charlottesville.

Performer-curated concert:

We invite proposals from performers of electro-acoustic music to present a curated concert of music performed by them or their ensemble.  The proposal should take the form of a text document that lists the (1) title, (2) composer, (3) duration, and (4) technical requirements for each piece contained in the proposal.  The text document should also provide links to audio recordings of three recent performances, at least one of which must be a live recording (not studio) and at least one of which must include electro-acoustic elements.  Video recordings are not accepted. All submitted text documents and recordings must be strictly anonymous per double-blind peer review: performer(s) name(s) must not appear anywhere on the proposal, recordings, nor on websites from which recordings are accessed.  Please note that selected performers are required to register.