Robert van Heumen Composer Improvisor Laptop-Instrumentalist Sound-Designer
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Some things I've kept myself occupied with, and some things to come.

Just back from Edinburgh, barely made it through the snow that is keeping Europe captive. Anne LaBerge and myself taught a workshop there, Converging Objects, on live electronics and improvisation. It went really well, amazing progress by the participants. Most of them just started the Master programs Sound Design and Composition & Performance, and were quite unexperienced with performing. After three days of hard work and lots of play, they presented the outcome for an audience, with a lot of enthousiasm and great imagination.

CO_Edinburgh.jpg
Photo by Colin Chipcase

Earlier in December I played two concerts with the trio Spoon3 (I was credited as being the fork, not sure if that's a compliment). Spoon3 is Jodi Gilbert, Albert van Veenendaal and Meinrad Kneer. They play songs, some of them involving lots of improvisation, others more arranged. It was quite a challenge for me to work in that environment, but in the end it was very rewarding.

In between these public events I've been busy with composing for a soundwalk in collaboration with Simone de Jong. Like Harry will be a headphone piece with text by Simone and music/sound by myself, which people will listen to while being guided through a certain area of a city, or landscape. I'm working on some tonal material, very exciting. We're currently talking to the Gaudeamus Musicweek and Novembermusic for the performances of the piece. Worktitle for the composition: Dream life.

Coming up for next year: a new 8 channel electronic composition commissioned by Call & Response (an independent sonic arts collective in London). It will be premiered in London in March 2011 during an event for which I provided the theme, (Interpretations of) Sacred Music - my work will headline there. Furthermore, a new composition for Disklavier, Het geluid van de machine, commissioned by the Conlon Foundation and premiered at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek. The Converging Objects workshop will be held at a couple of places (Brunel, Call & Response, possibly Culturelab), and Shackle will go into residency to develop their work further, under the name Shackle Affair. In the fall of 2011 Anne LaBerge and myself will take both the Converging Objects workshop and the Shackle Affair down under for a tour in Australia and New Zealand.