Julio d’Escriván

Contacto:

julio@bitbongo.com

Biography

Julio d’Escriván (b.1960) is a composer who uses music technology, both for concert music, and in its applications to film, video and new media. d’Escriván’s recent work includes co-editing The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music (Cambridge University Press) awaiting publication in 2007 and international performances of his works for marimba and electronics in the US and France as well as the UK (for The Cambridge Festival, 2006). His latest piece, reGoldberg14  for harpsichord and computer was performed at DCR in The Hague as part of the SuperCollider Symposium 2007. His recent piece ‘Carrizos de Porra’ was premiered as part of the MANTIS (Manchester Theater in Sound, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, Music) South-North weekend festival at Manchester University in March 2007. His new paper on ‘Imaginary Listening’ was delivered at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network International conference at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, in June 2007.  At present Julio is developing an Auditory User Interface with Jan Trutszler of Birmingham University.
His electroacoustic music has been performed at numerous music festivals in countries such as The Netherlands (Gaudeamus), Spain (Centro Reina Sofía), The Basque Country, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, U.S.A. and Venezuela. It continues to be Broadcast in America and Europe and has been heard on  BBC Radio 3, VPRO Amsterdam, Radio Nacional de España, and  RAI (Italy) among others.

Recent broadcasts and performances include:

  1. Carrizos de Porra, acousmatic piece for multichannel diffusion was premiered at  a concert of Latinamerican music, at Manchester University, during the Manchester Theater in Sound (MANTIS) weekend festival in March 2007.
  2. Salto Mortal, an acousmatic piece, was presented both, in Italy, on the RAI program ‘Palinsesto’ (August 2006) programmed by Massimo di Pinto and Kiyomi Nakamura and at the Synkro Festival (in February 2007) of the Conservatorio de Música Jesús Guridi in Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the País Vasco, Spain.
  3. Sueño Con Ranitas for Marimba and Electronics, performed by Daniella Ganeva at PASIC in Austin (Texas), the Paris Conservatoire and The Cambridge Festival, from September to November 2006.

Research Interests

  1. Electroacoustic composition, both acousmatic and mixed media, including the use of controllers to allow the composer an actibve role in shaping live electroacoustic music.
  2. Auditory Interfaces for visually impaired users of music and sound software
  3. Sound design and composition for film, especially in the science fiction genre. Specific focus is the use of ‘proto-electroacoustic’ techniques for structuring sound and otherwise instrumental music to work with the moving image.
  4. Musicology in the fields of electronic music for film and electronic-electroacoustic music

Music and texts in the public domain

Encyclopaedia Articles on Julio d’Escriván:

  1. Escriván, Julio (César) d’ by Juan Francisco Sanz in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, UK, online.
  2. d’Escriván Julio in Enciclopedia de la Musica en Venezuela, Fundación Bigott 1998, Caracas, Venezuela
  3. d’Escriván Julio in Sonido que es Imagen… imagen  que es Historia: Iconografía de compositores Venezolanos 1999; Fundacion V.E. Sojo Banco Provincial, Caracas, Venezuela.

Discography

  1. Sin Ti por El Alma Adentro, Nancy Rueffer, flute and electronics in Cultures Electroniques 2 (Serie GMEB / Unesco / CIME) 1987; Harmonia Mundi LDC 278044-45 France
  2. Salto Mortal, tape music in Cultures Electroniques 4 (Serie GMEB / Unesco / CIME) 1989; Harmonia Mundi LDC 278049-50 France
  3. Trois Bagatelles du Bongó, Luis Julio Toro, flute and electronics in Vientos Alisios, 1993; Airo AIRCD-00293 Caracas
  4. Tres Retratos de Igor, Duo Cantabile, piano and violin in Hojas Al Viento, 1995; Lyric/AVR CD93052 Caracas
  5. Incierto Insecto co-authored with M. Noya and L. Paniagua in The Event Horizon 1997; City of Tribes COTCD-018 USA
  6. Cantos y Tonadas with Luis Julio Toro, flute, 1997;  BME001 Caracas
  7. VOX with Andreína Faría, Voice, 1998; BME002 Caracas
  8. Inventos Bárbaros 1999; BME003 Caracas
  9. Cien Años de Perdón, Andy Montañez, voice in Soundtrack CD to Cien Años de Perdón 2000; B000E45KPC Balboa Records, California, USA.
  10. Sin Tí Por El Alma Adentro, Eleanor Dawson, flute, in Flight: Exploring flute sonorities 2003; Rossignol Records Dublin
  11. Noronquí, Paul Jackson, piano, Damien Royannais, Saxophone in Noronquí 2004; AMPublishing.org  UK
  12. Online publishing of recent works by AMP, AMPublishing.org  UK.

Film Music:

  1. Balloon, 1991; dir. K.Lidster, NFST-UK/Canada
  2. Golpes a Mi Puerta, 1994; Dir. A. Saderman, Cenac-Venezuela/UK-Channel 4
  3. Cien Años de Perdón, 1998; Dir. A. Saderman, Cenac-Venezuela/TNT-Europe
  4. Rosa, Un Delirio. Dir. Carlos Villegas, Vzla, 2002. (projected at the Venice Biennale 2002)
  5. El Tinte de la Fama, Dir. Alejandro Bellame, Cenac, Vzla, 2003. (awaiting publication)
  6. Buried, Dir. Oscar Foreshaw-Swift, Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge / First Light Project. 2006
  7. Wrecked, Dir. Oscar Foreshaw-Swift, Spark In the Dark Productions, 2007

Recent Media Music Branding Projects:

  1. With A&E, Caracas: Musical Corporate Identity for Arts and Entertainment Television, Miami/Caracas, Latin American Region, 2007
  2. With 3 Ring Circus, California, USA: Musical Corporate Identity for Antenna, Greece and Cyprus 2006.
  3. With A&E, Caracas: Musical Corporate Identity for Arts and Entertainment Television, Miami/Caracas, Latin American Region, 2004
  4. With 3 Ring Circus, California, USA: Musical Corporate Identity for Mega, Athens, Greece and Cyprus 2004.
  5. With 3 Ring Circus, California, USA: Arts and Entertainment Television, Miami/Caracas, Latin American Region, 2002

Publications:

  • d’Escriván, Julio 2007. Imaginary Listening. EMS07 (Electroacoustic Music Studies Network) Proceedings August 2007.Collins, Nick and d’Escriván, Julio. The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music, publication scheduled for October 2007 by Cambridge University Press.
  • d’Escriván, Julio 2007. Electronic music and the moving image, in Collins, Nick and d’Escriván, Julio (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music, publication scheduled for October 2007 by Cambridge University Press.
  • d’Escriván, Julio 2006. To sing the body electric: Instruments and effort in the performance of electronic music. F. Schroeder (ed.) in Contemporary Music Review, pp. 183-191(9) Volume 25, Numbers 1-2, -2/February–April 2006.
  • d’Escriván, Julio 1989. Reflections on the poetics of time in electroacoustic music. S. Emmerson (ed.) in Contemporary Music Review Volume 3/Part 1 (1989):197-201.

Recent Compositions:

  1. reGoldberg, 2007, Harpsichord and computer.
  2. Carrizos de Porra, 2007. Acousmatic.
  3. El Aguaje, 2007. Acousmatic.
  4. Sueño Con Ranitas, Marimba, Sample and video MaxMSP trigger and spatialisation program, 2006. Written for Daniella Ganeva.
  5. La Revolcón, Marimba and Piano, 2006. Written for Paul Jackson and Daniella Ganeva.
  6. Tonada a la Antigua, For Baroque Recorder, Harpsichord and live electronics with SuperCollider 2006. Written for Inga Klaucke and Dan Tidhar.
  7. Recuerdos del Alambre, for Baroque Theorba and MaxMSP sample trigger system. 2005. Written for Rubén Riera, Caracas.
  8. Concierto Demente, for Orchestra and soloist with video game controller. 2005. Written for the Anglia Sinfonia, Cambridge.
  9. Noronquí, Soprano Sax, piano MaxMSP sample trigger system, 2004. Written for Damien Royannais and Paul Jackson, Cambridge

Prizes

  1. 1999: Caracas Pop&Rock Festival ‘Mejor Disco Experimental’ (best experimental CD publication for Inventos Bárbaros)
  2. 1994: Premio Municipal de Cine de la Ciudad de Caracas: Best Music for Film for Golpes a mi Puerta, A. Saderman (Cuba/Venezuela, Ch4-UK)
  3. 1989:  2nd Prize of the ‘pure electronic music’ at the 17th International Electroacousic Music Competition  of Bourges, France for his piece “Salto Mortal” for tape.
  4. 1987: 1st Prize of the ‘catégorie mixte’ at the 15th International Electroacousic Music Competition of Bourges, France, for his piece “Sin Ti Por El Alma Adentro”, for flute and tape.
  5. Between 1982 and 1986: Twice winner of the 1st prize of the Marturet Composition Prize at CCAT, Cambridge. Honorific Mentions of the Premio Nacional de Composición de Venezuela for his pieces Ilusión 22 for solo piano and Maginficat a 5 for sixteen voices SATB.

Work and Business Experience

Senior Lecturer, Dept. Music and Performing Arts, Anglia Ruskin University; Cambridge – since 2004
He has been a full-time member of staff since 2005, and was Pathway Leader for CMT from 2005 to 2006. He wrote the pathway specification document for the CMT single and joint honours’ pathways as well as proposing and writing new modules in addition to participating next to the Head of Dept. in editing, reviewing and adapting, where appropriate, the other modules for the course. Between 2003 and 2006 he ran the MEME electroacoustic ensemble at university with several concerts at Kettle’s Yard as part of their new music series. As an outcome of this activity, two of the best students were accepted in 2005 and 2006 to have their work performed at the annual Sonic Arts Network symposium in the UK.

In-House Composer, Arts and Entertainment Network; Caracas/Miami – since 2002
At A&E Mundo, a Latin-American cable network which is part of the HBO group, he has been under contract to provide monthly items of musical corporate identity for use in broadcast throughout The Americas.

Musical Producer and Director, bitBongo Music; Caracas – since 1991
Since his arrival in Caracas, Julio d’Escriván ran a succesful recording/production studio/publishing outfit called bitBongo and BongoMusique Editora to handle his music for audiovisual media. He has worked extensively since 1989 and up to the present day in music for TV advertising, documentaries and film with some incursions into new media. His clients have included such diverse brands as Kraft, Pepsi, Gatorade, P&G and the local Venezuelan banking industry, for Agencies such as leo Burnett (Caracas and Lima), Saatchi (Caracas), McCann-Erickson and JWThompson. Running the studio business has meant looking after a small number of employees and hiring/sourcing others in responce to project demands.

Freelance Composer – since 1987
As a freelance Composer Julio d’Escriván has responded to numerous commisions for instrumental and electronic works for various soloists and ensembles as evidenced in his work and discography
Sound Designer/ Consultant – 1989/91
d’Escriván was a consultant for Yamaha Research & Development in London, working in sampling and synthesiser voicing projects.

Education

  1. 2005 – PGCE in HE at Anglia Ruskin University
  2. 1986 – 1991: PhD in Electroacoustic Composition. City University, London, supervised by Dr. Simon Emmerson and occasionally Robert Saxton in composition. This course of study was possible thanks to being awarded a British Council Scholarsip.
  3. 1985 – 1986: Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Studied with Robin Holloway.
  4. 1982 – 1985: Obtained a GMUS with Distinction from CCAT Cambridge (today Anglia Ruskin University)
  5. 1984: Obtained his LGSM from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

Languages

  1. Spanish and English (bilingual)
  2. French
  3. Italian
  4. Can read Portuguese and understand spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

Other Activities

Julio has completed ten marathon (26.2 miles) road races  including New York, Chicago, Boston and London. Two of these marathons were run as part of two Ironman Triathlons (Ironman Germany and Ironman UK: swim2.4mi/cycle112mi/run26.2mi. He has been a keen mountaineer in his native Venezuela and also an adventure racer and mountain biker.