Acousmonium

For half a century, the Acousmonium has been pushing the boundaries of how recorded music can be experienced spatially. Conceived by François Bayle and developed by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), the sound diffusion system was created to present musique concrète and electro-acoustic compositions in a sonically expansive way. Acousmatic music is played on numerous loudspeakers, which are differentiated according to criteria such as acoustic dispersion capacity, sound colour and sound spectrum. Distributed throughout the room, the loudspeakers become actors in a performance, which is controlled from a central mixing console. The Acousmonium continues to incorporate some of the original JBL and Elipson from when it was first introduced in 1974 while also having adapted to subsequent aesthetic paradigm shifts and technological changes. The approximately 60 different reference speakers, as well as various effect speakers, offer a wide acoustic range with a commensurate immersive potential. Accordingly, for the opening of MaerzMusik, the Acousmonium will not only be set up on the main stage in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, but also grouped around the audience. Listeners can prepare themselves for an evening in which the continuities and the changes from the loudspeaker orchestra’s 50-year existence will be set in motion. The concert will commence an arch of music composed for the loudspeaker orchestra, including classics as well as newer works by emerging composers that have been commissioned in recent years, filling the hall with a living, resounding history.