Final concert of the festival «50 Jahre Elektronisches Studio Basel»

The Electronic Studio Basel is celebrating its 50th anniversary from 26 to 28 March 2026 with the festival «50 Jahre Elektronisches Studio Basel». In addition to a symposium with speeches, panel discussions and lecture recitals, there will also be workshops, installations and concerts, accompanied by an exhibition in the Vera Oeri Library. The festival focuses on the present and future of the ESB and electronic studios at music colleges and universities in general. This evening is the festival's closing concert with guests and associates of the Electronic Studio Basel.

Part 1 – «Creepage Current 2»: Electroacoustic works by Andrea Neumann (piano, mixing console) and Mads Emil Nielsen (electronics)

Neumann and Nielsen began collaborating in 2014 with the shared goal of creating music that combines graphic scores, open improvisation and remixing. In 2018, their duo album Refound was released on arbitrary (Copenhagen). In the same year, they produced a 4-channel composition that was presented at the Geoff Stern Art Space in Berlin as well as in Copenhagen and Milan. Tactility, three-dimensionality, repetition, rhythmic elements, transparency and textural drones are common foundations of their current work.

Part 2: Solo performances by Laetitia Sonami (gestural controllers), winner of the GigaHertz Lifetime Achievement Award 2025.

«What Happened III-NOW» is a reworking of her iconic 1980 piece «What Happened» in which her live voice is intercepted by a faulty AI model of her voice and electronically controlled live with her latest instrument, the Lady's Ball(s). «OCCAM IX» was composed for Sonami by renowned French composer Eliane Radigue for live electronics and Sonami's instrument, the Spring Spyre.

Archival recordings of Sonami's Lady's Glove (1991-2020) will be shown between the two pieces.

With

Mads Emil Nielsen, Andrea Neumann (live performance); Laetitia Sonami

Program

Part 1: «Creepage Current 2»
Electroacoustic works by Andrea Neumann (piano, mixing console) and Mads Emil Nielsen (electronics)

Part 2:
Solo performances by Laetitia Sonami (gestural controllers), winner of the GigaHertz Lifetime Achievement Award 2025.
Laetitia Sonami (2025): «What Happened III-Now», for voice, live electronics, Codecell sensor, Max-MSP, the lady's ball
Archival material, film (2025): «the lady's glove»
Eliane Radigue for Laetitia Sonami (2013): «OCCAM IX»

Duration

100 minutes, with break

Prices

CHF 15.-/10.-/5.- (free choice at the box office or in advance)
Free admission for festival participants as well as students of the Hochschule für Musik FHNW and the Musicology Department of the University of Basel

Links

→ fhnw.ch