Featured Articles

SlowPitchSound and the Universe Between the Grooves When it comes to picking the defining factors of a musical practice, some artists view their work as a single, continuous process, homing in on a specific vision and returning to it repeatedly. Others are the opposite—traversing a multitude of styles and sounds as they launch[...] Read more

Featured Article Sara Constant Issue 144

João Pedro Oliveira's "La Mer Émeraude" Third place in Musicworks’ 2020 Electronic Music Composition Contest was awarded to João Pedro Oliveira's La Mer Émeraude (The Emerald Sea). The composition has also received awards at SIME Competition, Città di Udine Competition, the Destellos Competition[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Milan FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   A sonic spectre is haunting Milan’s music scene. That ghostly presence is Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), Italy’s best-known composer of romantic operas, who moved to the city when young, shot to fame with Nabucco in 1842[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Ken Waxman Issue 105

Malcolm Cecil and the History of TONTO THE FOLLOWING STORY WAS PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE SUMMER / FALL 2017 FEATURE "INSIDE THE NATIONAL MUSIC CENTRE."  Malcolm Cecil’s interest in electronics began at age nine, when he became the youngest member of a ham radio club in England. His mother was an accomplished[...] Read more

Featured Article Jesse Locke Issue 128

Ayo Leilani Interrogates the Beats “Eh Yo! Eh Yo, Leilani!,” she heard as she walked down a bustling New York City street. Turning around to see a friend calling out to greet her in the way that only the hip-hop generation can, Leilani (Hawaiian for “gift from the heavens”) realized she’d just[...] Read more

Sound Bite Francesca D’Amico Issue 125

Charles Stankievech FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY     Some time ago, a friend and I were talking outside a gallery, when suddenly we saw a bright green object sear through the night sky. Assuming it to be a stray firework, we waited for the expected explosion and crackles. We waited and[...] Read more

Featured Article Laura Paolini Issue 106

Tanya Tagaq Grabs The World By The Throat Watching Tanya Tagaq perform is more than just an auditory and visual experience: it’s physical. As the Nunavut-born, Manitoba-based throat singer moves around a stage, she unleashes something fierce and powerful that comes from deep within her body, yet seems positively unearthly. She[...] Read more

Featured Article Mary Dickie Issue 118

Hyposurface FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   On a 2004 visit to the MIT Media Lab, I encountered a small, flat wall with a skin of silver luminescent triangles covering a background of cables and metal frame. My host, the creator of Hyposurface, Mark Goulthorpe (dECOi Architects[...] Read more

Visions of sound Paul Steenhuisen Issue 108

Sonic City We presume hush because business has yet to come. People stand, the movement of feet inaudible Over the creeping perception of noise An indistinguishable hum pervading the acoustic Of suitcases’ wheels Clitter-clattering across cobbled stones Some[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Imogene Newland Issue 124

Akio Suzuki This article was originally published in Spring 2013.   The applause following the introduction of Akio Suzuki at his first Toronto performance since 1984 quickly died down to reveal an echo emerging from the concert-hall seats. It was a consistent pattering—not a true[...] Read more

Featured Article Chris Kennedy Issue 115

2018 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest Winners TORONTO, CANADA, March 8, 2019. For immediate release:   Musicworks is thrilled to announce the winners of its 2018 Electronic Music Composition Contest.     U.K. composer Manuella Blackburn (left) has won first prize with her[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Barry Truax With a friendly disposition and unassuming personality, Barry Truax would hardly be thought of as a trailblazing radical. But this soft-spoken composer and teacher is a groundbreaking Canadian icon. Not only did Truax pioneer granular synthesis with the PODX computer music system, he is viewed[...] Read more

Featured Article Jerry Pergolesi Issue 108