Germán Toro Pérez
Instability and Contingency. Some thoughts about the performance of live electronic music
Performing live electronic music today represents a multiple challenge. The repertoire generated in the last 30 years contains a wide diversity of aesthetical and technical approaches. A recurring question in performance processes is how to realize something that in many cases cannot be fully defined and entails therefore a search for performative approaches within the possibilities more or less clearly defined in the work. Uncertainty, instability and contingency arise as a result of the nature and behavior of instruments and systems, the possibilities of notation and the response of spaces. This talk gives an overview of the research done in the field at ICST in the last years and makes some observations about specific works.
Born 1964 in Bogotá. First music theory studies at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, composition studies and Master degree in arts at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Conducting courses with Karl Österreicher and Dominique Rouits. Studies on electroacoustics and computer music in Vienna and at IRCAM in Paris. His catalogue includes instrumental, electroacoustic and mixed compositions, as well as works in collaboration with graphic design, painting and experimental video. Publications and texts on artistic research, composition theory and aesthetics of electroacoustic music as well as on history and identity of Latin American music. He was director of the computer music course and guest professor of electroacoustic composition at the University of Music in Vienna. Since 2007 he is director of the ICST and professor for electroacoustic composition at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2012 he was professor for composition at the International summer courses in Darmstadt.