Programme of the festival

The international festival AHEAD, dedicated to electronic music practices, held by Lithuanian Composers’ Union, is calling for the fifth time to discover international electronic music projects, to participate in workshops and to discuss together the phenomena related to sound and electronics.

It’s been three years since festival adopted its subtitle – Mutual Thinking, which reflects its mission to be not only a festival representing electronic music and technology but also to show the importance and attention to educational activities and the understanding of electronic music and related discourses.

This year’s edition of the AHEAD festival will take place from the 1st until the 6th of October, the festival will present the newest projects, among which are the artists returning to the festival with their new works. The opening of the festival is set for the 1st of October in the Arts Printing House, the beginning pre-talk will be dedicated to look back to the five years of the festival and also to present the upcoming events. The participants of it are the founders and directors of the festival Dominykas Digimas and Edvardas Šumila, they will be joined by Darien Brito, an artist from Ecuador, residing in The Netherlands who has participated in several editions since the first year of AHEAD. After the discussion the first event will be held, in which Darien Brito will present his new electronic work Ngons.

On the 2nd of October the festival will move to the professional art venue House of Puglu, where on 7 pm, Nicolas Lafay – a sound artist from France, residing in Lithuania will give his performance. On the 3rd and 4th of October the electronic sound generators workshop will take place. The first day will be dedicated to the creation of musical instrument made up from four sound oscillators, the second – to their finishing and improvisation. The workshop will be led by Mikalojus Smulskis and Nicolas Lafay. The workshop is free for the registered participants (registration by email mikalojussmulskis@gmail.com is obligatory for participation; the number of participants is limited).

In the evening of the 3rd of October, a performance by Electronic Music Trio (Martynas Bialobžeskis, Jonas Jurkūnas, Andrius Šiurys) will be held. Electronic Music Trio merges pulsating rhythms and metamorphic, involving atmosphere of drone music. The trio is relatively young – this will be their second official performance.

On October 4th, artists from Lithuania – Mikalojus Smulskis and Simonas Nekrošius will perform in the concert named Centrifuga. Nusiklausymas (Centrifugue. Overheard). They will present their work separately. The name of the project by Simonas Nekrošius is Nesting Boxes, these are motorized sound sculptures. The sound comes from the strings, that are stroke by a propeller. Their frequency is adjusted by a controller, and this is how the strength of the sound and vibrating waves are being manipulated. The acoustic boxes and springs reinforce and resonate the sound of the objects. The sound is fluctuating between the varying rhythm and all-surrounding noise. Mikalojus Smulskis will present his project, which he calls Wave. Sound Wave. Fundamental, Synthetic Wave, in which he presents the sound as a game of numeric and logical values. This is revealed by playing on primitive analog sound generators and toy instruments.

On the 5th of October, a tandem of artists from Denmark and Canada – Stefan Maier & Ragnhild May, will present their project for self-made modular electronic instruments and spatialized loudspeaker array – Music for Organs. On the 6th of October, the Lithuanian artist based in Manchester, Vitalija Glovackytė along with Michael Cutting will return to the festival with their mutual project KINDER MECCANO; they will perform together with the other artists from the UK and Germany – Joe Snape and a duet that goes by the name of Laurie & Suze.

The final event of the AHEAD festival will be held in the “Peronas” bar, where Delasferos – electroacoustic music group will perform. An electronic music project (Auren) will end the festival.                                         

Each year the festival aims at different aspect of music and technologies of its synthesis. The festival had its focus on electroacoustic composition, visual and sound practices, analogue music making technologies and DIY aesthetics – this year the participants of the festival are invited to discover projects of modular synthesizing and the creation of analogue sound generators. Like every year, most of the events are preceded by pre-talks, where artists will present their work and festival visitors will be encouraged to discuss about different aspects of electronic music.

All events are free. Free ideas, free knowledge, free conversations, free acquaintances and meetings.

Festival is organized by Lithuanian Composers’ Union.
Partners: Arts Printing House, House of Puglu, SHCH/ŠČ gallery, Peronas, Music Information Centre Lithuania.
Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Evita, Reformatai Park Hotel, Caffeine Roasters.

AHEAD
info@aheadfestival.lt
Festival is curated by: Edvardas Šumila (+370 698 26978) and Dominykas Digimas (+370 690 15802).

More about the festival:
www.aheadfestival.lt
facebook.com/ahead.festival