Full house at Messa di Voce, February 2009

come in and get to know us

Hello

Electronic Music Foundation, a New York-based not-for-profit arts organization, produces concerts, festivals, and other events in New York City and elsewhere, provides services for artists, and maintains a worldwide network through which we circulate information, distribute materials, and collaborate with colleagues on international projects.

We maintain a concert production office and studio in New York City and an administrative, publication, distribution, and archival center in Albany, New York.

Our mission is to explore the creative and cultural potential in the convergence of music, sound, technology, and science, and, through interactions with a large and growing public, apply what we learn towards the betterment of human life ... read the entire mission statement


L>R: Joel Chadabe, David Monacchi, Laurie Spiegel, and
David Dunn discuss sound art and preservation
with scientist Jim Tolisano at Ear to the Earth 2006.

How we work

Our activities are distributed among an ensemble of programs—EMF Productions, Ear to the Earth, Arts Electric, CDeMusic, EMF Media, and The EMF Institute—that provides a structure for us to produce public events, heighten environmental awareness through environmental sound, publish articles and interviews, provide access to materials, publish CDs and other media, and maintain a site on the history of electronic music.

We maintain seven websites including this site. Each of our programs is associated with a particular website that is individually designed to convey its content in a coherent and pleasant format. We often synchronize the content of different websites to convey complementary perspectives on a particular activity. An event in New York, for example, may be described at the EMF Productions website, then linked to an interview at Arts Electric, a CD at CDeMusic, and historical information at The EMF Institute.

Support for artists

We also provide services and benefits for composers, performers, and sound- or media artists who join EMF as Subscribers ... view the Subscriber list

The benefits include participation in an artist-in-residence program, technical support, promotion, communication with colleagues around the world, information on professional opportunities, distribution of CDs and other materials, and exceptional access to materials. For more information on the services that we provide ... go here


WHAT's up THESE DAYS

Events. Make sure you're informed about Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary at various venues in New York City, coming up in January and February ... more on upcoming and past events


Iannis Xenakis designed the Philips Pavilion
for the Brussels World's Fair in 1958

Ear to the Earth. Have a look at the first words about our 2010 festival. And we're delighted to announce that Gotham City Networking, a New York-centered network of leaders in law, business, finance, arts and entertainment, and other fields, has recognized EMF with its 2009 Green Initiative Award for Ear to the Earth ... visit Ear to the Earth

Join us. Are you a composer, performer, sound/media artist? Our worldwide network is expanding and we invite you to participate in our programs ... go here to find out about it


Take the tour of our websites

EMF Productions. Upcoming concerts and an archive of past events. The following photo shows Joan La Barbara and Jaap Blonk in Messa di Voce, an interactive sound/image composition by Golan Levin, presented in February 2009 to a packed house as part of our series titled The Human Voice in a New World. For information on all of EMF's public events ... go to the EMF Productions website


Joan La Barbara & Jaap Blonk in Messa di Voce, February 2009

Ear to the Earth. Environmental sounds. Our goal is to heighten awareness of our changing environment. To quote Mark Moffett, "Modern ecologists may have reached a limit on how effectively they can convey messages to the public, and they may now need to draw upon the emotional vibrancy offered by the arts." The following sound clip was recorded by David Monacchi in the Dzanga Sangha Dense Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic. To keep up with our environmental activities ... go to the Ear to the Earth website


Sounds from the Bai Hokou Forest

Arts Electric. Stories, interviews, sounds, images. The current front-page articles by William Blakeney, Steven Feld, and David Monacchi are wonderful stories relating to the upcoming Ear to the Earth festival, but if you follow Arts Electric for a few weeks, or have a look at the archives, you'll find a fascinating history of today's music, one example being an account of Elliott Carter's 100th birthday at Carnegie Hall ... go to the Arts Electric website


Elliott Carter on his 100th birthday at Carnegie Hall

CDeMusic. Distribution of CDs, DVDs, books. Prominant at the moment, you'll find Paul Miller's compilation of articles by artists on art and life, Nic Collins' guide to homemade circuit bending, and Sharon Kanach's definitive editing of a book on Xenakis' music and architecture, not to mention a few front-page CDs and a few thousand titles on our shelves. To access what you need from what is arguably the most comprehensive collection of non-commercial new music CDs, DVDs, books, other media, and (coming soon) downloads, most of it difficult or impossible to find elsewhere ... go to the CDeMusic website


A new and definitive book on Xenakis' work

EMF Media. Our publications of CDs and DVDs. We've published more than 50 titles, including music by historically important and well-known composers, among them John Cage, Lejaren Hiller, Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Lukas Foss, Pierre Schaeffer, Herbert Brun, Hugh Le Caine, George Antheil, and Tristram Cary, as well as a large collection of music by distinctive and emerging composers. Luc Ferrari's early works, as one example of a publication, are not easily available elsewhere. Coming: books. To browse through the catalog ... go to the EMF Media website


Early electronic works by Luc Ferrari

The EMF Institute. An online resource for the history of electronic music worldwide. The EMF Institute, started with support from the Daniel Langlois Foundation and UNESCO, includes essays, timelines, and directories, with information presented in a wide range of formats. The basic functions are to serve as an archive, educational aid, and index to the location of other materials throughout the world. The photo below shows the first performance of John Cage and Lejaren Hiller's HPSCHD on May 16, 1969, in the Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana. To learn about the history of electronic music ... go to the EMF Institute website


The first performance of HPSCHD

Remember

At the bottom of every page of every EMF website, you'll see links to all of EMF's sites.