Jean-François Laporte at the Babel Table
Productions Totem Contemporain is an organization founded by composer Jean-François Laporte to present and showcase the musical instruments he himself developed. This endeavour involves the creation of musical works adapted to a variety of contexts: concerts, dance performances, installations, youth shows, etc.
“The musical instruments we create are the vehicles that allow us to advance our research on sound and music, and then to create works…”
The instruments of Totem Contemporain and the musical works that use them have been presented in concerts and installations everywhere, notably in several countries in Europe and Asia.
Over the past year, Productions Totem Contemporain organized its first international composition competition, the Totem Electroacoustic Competition. The purpose of this competition is to encourage the creation of electroacoustic musical works that expose the sounds of Totem Contemporain's instruments.
To do this, more than 1200 sounds were sampled and cataloged. Each sound is described according to 9 criteria, such as register, musical pitch, mass, grain, etc. All these sounds as well as their 9 criteria and 26 characteristics have been entered into a database on which the candidates for the Competition can apply all sorts of filters and search criteria.
Each contestant could select and use up to a maximum of 50 sounds from among the 1,200 in the database.
At the end of the period for submitting works, a jury made up of composers has selected 8 finalist works which will be presented in concert on February 25, 2023 as part of La Grande Nuit 2023 at the Cœur des sciences de l'Université du Québec à Montréal.
Percumedia supported Totem Contemporain in this vast project by developing the web infrastructure facilitating the holding of this competition, the database and the management of its access, from the tools allowing candidates to register and submit their works in line, to forms and reports allowing the jury and the organization of the competition to manage all the stages of the process.
Among the various prizes awarded to the winners of the Totem Électroacoustique Competition, is the Public Prize, awarded to the one of the 8 finalists who will have collected the most public votes, before and during the presentation of the works on February 25.
Everyone is invited to visit the Totem contemporain website to listen to the eight finalist works and choose their favourite. You can go directly to the Public Prize page here.
We invite you to participate in large numbers in this choice of the Public Prize.