Studio for Electronic Music 

Bild schwarz-weiß, Konzentrierter Musiker, im Vordergrund verschwommen Mensch an Mischpult | © Fabian Schober

With the founding of the SEM - Studio for New Music, the Mozarteum University has played a pioneering role in the field of computer music and creative work with new media in Austria since 1958. Today, it offers students a wide range of opportunities - from working with analog synthesizers and producing acousmatic music to live electronics and computer-aided composition. The SEM regularly participates in festivals and works closely with the renowned ensemble NAMES.

Studio for Electronic Music
sem@moz.ac.at

Mirabellplatz 1
5020 Salzburg
Rooms 4004, 4006, 4008 & 4010

Office hours
during the semester

by telephone arrangement   

 

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SEM

The rooms of the Studio for Electronic Music are located on the 4th floor of the main building at Mirabellplatz 1:

  • Room 4004: Studio
  • Room 4006: Seminar room of the Department of Composition & Music Theory, Studio
  • Room 4008: Office
  • Room 4010: Studio

The studio's courses are part of the composition curriculum and can be studied by all other majors as free electives or as part of a concentration. In addition, there is the possibility of individual supervision of students' individual electroacoustic projects.

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The SEM was founded by Eberhard Preußner in 1958 with the participation of the Philips Group. The first studio composition was created for the Salzburg Festival - an electronic theater music for the play "Job". Composers such as Josef Maria Horváth and Andor Losonczy worked with the studio in the following years. in 1971, the Institute for Basic Musical Research sought to continue the studio's work professionally. However, many original sound tapes were recorded over or destroyed in the 1960s.

The studio staff now oriented their work to Pierre Schaeffer and his Groupe de recherches musicales. Works composed on site during this period were performed, among others, at the World New Music Days of the International Society for New Music. Particularly active composers at this time were Klaus Ager, Dieter Lehnhoff, Werner Raditschnig and Martin Schwarzenländer. in 1977, the Aspekte Salzburg music festival was founded in the context of SEM, to which personalities such as François Bayle, Luc Ferrari,  Mauricio Kagel, Dieter Kaufmann, Bernard Parmegiani and Iannis Xenakis were invited. At this time, the computer was introduced as an important production element of the studio. The piece Metaboles III by Klaus Ager was the first Austrian computer music piece to be premiered at the Steirischer Herbst festival. In collaboration with the öenm (Austrian Ensemble for New Music), the sound installation Klangmobile was created, which was realized several times and presented to John Cage in 1991.

From 1979 to 1996 Werner Raditschnig directed a computer music studio in Salzburg combined with the electronic studio in 1996 by André Ruschkowski. in 2006 Achim Bornhöft took over the management of the studio. In the same year the studio moved to the premises of the renovated Mozarteum University Salzburg. Since then, the SEM has offered students a wide range of educational opportunities, from working with analog synthesizers and producing acousmatic music to live electronics and computer-aided composition. The SEM participated several times in festivals such as next_generation at the ZKM Karlsruhe and the festival On / Off in Limburg. In recent years, a close collaboration has developed with the Salzburg-based New Art and Music Ensemble NAMES. Furthermore, the Sweet Spot series was created, a monthly event presenting and discussing electronic music.