Performers & composers

Laurie Radford

Composer Laurie Radford creates music for diverse combinations of instruments and voices, electroacoustic music, and for performers in interaction with computer-controlled signal processing of audio and video. His music has been performed and broadcast throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. He is a frequent performer in his many works for instruments and computer and has received commissions and performances from ensembles and soloists such as Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Esprit Orchestra, Ensemble Résonance, code d'accès, GroundSwell, New Music Concerts, Pro Coro Canada, Caput Ensemble, Innovations en concert, Jean-François Houle, François Guay, Laura Wilcox, Jean-Guy Boisvert, lanza-Sheppard Duo, Trio Fibonacci, Trio Phoenix, Duo Kovalis, the Penderecki and Molinari String Quartets, Logos Foundation, and the Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Montréal Symphony Orchestras.

Radford’s work has been presented at festivals including the rESOund Festival of Contemporary Music (Edmonton), Biennale MusMix (Montréal), the Biennale Musique en scène (Lyon), Cantai Festival of Dance and Music (Taipei), Miami New Music Festival (Florida), Musica Viva (Coimbra, Portugal), Happening New Music Festival (Calgary), Rien à voir (Montréal), MusiMars (Montréal), San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Festival Encuentros (Argentina), Jornadas de Música Elektroakustika (Spain), Semaine Internationale de Cuenca pour la Musique Contemporaine (Ecuador), Discoveries Series (Aberdeen), Cutting Edge Series (London, UK), SAN Expo (Manchester). His music has been broadcast on CBC, Radio-Canada, Radio-France, Polish State Radio, the NHK Japanese Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Nacional de Espana (Spain).

Radford's music has received awards from SOCAN, the International Composers' Competition "Kaszmierz Serocki" (Warsaw), and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival Composers' Competition. He is the recipient of numerous SOCAN Composer Residency Awards and been supported in his work by the Canada Council for the Arts, le Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and l'Association Française pour les Actions Artistiques.

Laurie Radford studied composition, electroacoustic music and music technology at Brandon University, The University of British Columbia, and McGill University. Further studies include residencies at The Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), Les Ateliers UPIC (Paris), and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany).

Radford has taught electroacoustic music and composition at Concordia University (Montréal), Bishop's University (Lennoxville), McGill University (Montréal), the University of Alberta (Edmonton) and the Domaine-Forget (Québec). He is currently Senior Lecturer of electroacoustic music and composition at City University (London, UK).

_Flocking, Filling, Tracking_

…flock and fill the line and circle
with pulse, sway and spiral,
track the wisp and flourish
bound to the current,
to the flow and curve
of wind-thrust and wave-crash
as past fills present…

The work is based upon three concepts, actions or states: those of flocking, filling and tracking. Flocking is an example of emergence most readily observed in the movement of flocks of birds and schools of fish. In flocking, a complex global behavior arises from the interaction of simple local rules: the movement and character of one element has a direct influence only on neighboring elements, yet contributes to the overall character and movement of the whole. The second concept, filling, lends itself to both practical and metaphorical interpretations in the work. The vessels of time, space, spectrum, the ear and mind are “filled” in acts of construction and animation. Finally, the third concept, tracking, involves emulation, control, and the acts of leading and following. It is closely related to the actions of flocking and filling but implies subtly different relationships between time, material and action and serves as a linking function in the formal scheme of the work.

These three concepts serve as controls of energy and gravitational forces in the work for movement, density, and register. They coordinate speed and gesture from a central point in space outwards (filling), from an outer configuration inwards towards a focal point (flocking), and for two points locked in a reciprocal force and action (tracking). The application of these concepts is especially evident in the spatial distribution of sound in the work, as well as in the variety of transformations to which the instrumental signals are submitted via digital signal processing. The concepts of flocking, filling and tracking are above all sources and mechanisms for formal design and creative impetus.

Flocking Filling Tracking was commissioned by the Festival MusiMars and the Schulich School of Music, McGill University with funding generously provided by the Langlois Foundation.