Registration via https://event.ugent.be/registration/ImmersiveSessions2025 from 18-04-2025 19:18 until 19-06-2025 23:59
For the first time in our immersive sessions, we will play both a recent and historically relevant spatial audio piece. We invite all audio enthousiasts to join us on this immersive trip, from the early experiments with spatial audio back in the 1950s to one of the most recent works which showcases & utilises the capabilities of the complete 80-speaker setup in our labs! Each piece will have a short introduction, and after the listening session a short discussion is welcomed.
There are two sessions on the same day (4PM & 7PM), each session will play both pieces. Total listening time is around 45 minutes.
Gesang der Jünglinge (literally "Song of the Youths") is an electronic music work by Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was realized in 1955–56 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk studio in Cologne and is Work Number 8 in the composer's catalog. The work, normally described as "the first masterpiece of electronic music" and "an opus, in the most emphatic sense of the term", is significant in that it seamlessly integrates electronic sounds with the human voice by means of matching voice resonances with pitch and creating sounds of phonemes electronically. Gesang der Jünglinge is also noted for its early use of spatiality; it was originally in five-channel sound, which was later reduced to just four channels (mixed to monaural and later to stereo for commercial recording release).
The original 5-track recording will be played.
Gone For Eggs is a spatial audio composisition of 23 minutes, written by Philippe Macnab-Seguin (McGill, CA) specifically for large immersive speaker systems as part of his doctoral thesis. Philippe finalised a special mix in our labs, which was extremely well received by the audience back in 2023. By popular request, we add this magnificant piece to our lineup for this immersive session!
Philippe Macnab-Séguin has received the JTTP 2024 Yves Gigon Award for most outrageous electroacoustic work in July 2023; and the term outrageous could not be more fitting for this ear-opening experience.