ÉuCuE

(Électroacoustiques université Concordia university Electroacoustics)

This issue of eContact! is dedicated to celebrating the history of the electroacoustics program at Concordia University, Montreal, and listening to accounts of events which led up to its creation, development and present course.

This past year (2002) saw two major anniversaries coincide at Concordia, and 16 concerts were undertaken in celebration, as well as launching a new electroacoustic competition and residency program.

Both of these anniversaries, milestones, are significant to more than the local Montréal community as they share the common element of highlighting the years it has taken, and the enormous work which has passed in Canada, in trying to get our art form recognized by the established arts community. While there are many other anniversaries past and passing that should be highlighted, (and a future issue of eContact! will continue this thread), the stories linked below will hopefully spark the Canadian community to reflect upon its history and record the stories for future generations to hear.

As well as the history which led up to Concordia's 20th and 30th anniversaries, there are also a great many pieces to hear in this issue, all of which is aimed at expanding the knowledge and understanding of our past.

Briefly:

The 30th anniversary of electroacoustics at Concordia

- In 1972, Kevin Austin was asked to start teaching a course that had at its center the use of electronic media to examine sound. Thirty years later this first start has developed into an electroacoustics program which operates from within the Department of Music, and grants a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with either a major or minor in electroacoustics.

The 20th anniversary of electroacoustic concerts at Concordia

- It was in 1982 that a group of like-minded people gathered together to form a live electronics collective, and inadvertently started a concert series which 20 years later is thriving and presenting concerts in the state-of-the-art Oscar Peterson Concert Hall in Montréal, Québec.