EUROMicroFest

Microtonal Projects was formed by composer Donald Bousted in 2004 with the objective of creating a focus for microtonal music in the UK. Microtonal Projects curated and promoted 4 UK MicroFest events between 2004-2012 in collaboration with Riverhouse Arts Centre in Walton-on-Thames, London Metropolitan University and Kingston University, The Vortex Jazz Club and The Royal Academy of Music. UK MicroFests were performance-focused but also offered an opportunity for composers, theorists and instrument builders to talk about their work. UK MicroFests have attracted audiences and participants from all over the world and have created the opportunity for excellent networking in an informal atmosphere: we are aware of many projects and collaborations which have resulted from such meetings.

In attempting to introduce microtonal music to a wider audience, Microtonal Projects co-curated (with 5 guest artist-curators) 5 Wild Dog events with the support of Riverhouse Arts Centre and The Space in London’s Docklands. These events featured microtonal music alongside live art, film, dance and mixed media. This approach to curation was also taken in a Late at Tate event – Microtonal – (at Tate Britain, London, curated by Donald Bousted and Stephen Altoft) which attracted an audience of around 2,000 people.

In 2013 Microtonal Projects promoted the first EUROMicroFest as a bi-annual event. From 2015 EUROMicroFest has been promoted in collaboration with un-sound e.V.

EUROMicroFest 2013

Microtonal Projects organised EUROMicroFest (EMF) events in Cologne, 2-3 March, 2013 (Melle Weijters, Etienne Nillesen, ensemble Chronophonie), and Freiburg, 3-12 May, 2013 (Freiburg Gamelan ensemble “Anggur Jaya”; Neil Haverstick; Melle Weijters; Human Factory Band; ensemble Chronophonie; Satellite Gamelan; Deborah Walker; Institut für Neue Musik, Freiburg; Fo[u]r Alto, Donald Bousted, Ephraim Wegner). Partners included Ensemble Proton (Bern, 15 April, 2013), Dedalus Ensemble (Paris, 5 May, 2013) and duo Contour (13 June, 2013, Freiburg), who presented concerts of microtonal music. The final event of EMF 2013 was ‘Beyond the Semitone’ (a Symposium on Tuning, Scale Systems, and Microtonality in Historical and Contemporary Context) at the Department of Music, University of Aberdeen, 24–27 October 2013 in conjunction with SOUND.

EUROMicroFest 2015

Events were organised by: Akademie für Tonkunst (Darmstadt); the International Ekmelic Society (‘Small is beautiful’ Conference, Salzburg, 3-5 July, 2015); Panmonism (Zagreb, 10-12 April, 2015) and un-sound e.V (Forgotten Spaces Freiburg, 23 June-4 July, 2015).

EUROMicroFest 2017

The 3rd EUROMicroFest, EUROMicroFest 2017 (Microtonal Projects and un-sound) took place at E-Werk in Freiburg, Germany (18-20 May, 2017).

It featured: Stephen Altoft (UK/DE); James Batty (UK); Donald Bousted (UK); Agustin Castilla-Avila (ES/AT); duo Contour (DE); Michael H.Dixon (AU); Lee Ferguson (US/DE); Casey Hale (US); Christian Klinkenberg (BE); Jan F.Kurth (DE); Sevish (UK); Tassos Tataroglou (GR); Christopher Watford (US); Ephraim Wegner (DE)

Partner events were organised by the International Ekmelic Society (Internationales Symposium MIKROTÖNE ~ MICROTONES, ‘SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL’, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, 30 June – 2July, 2017); Croatian Association for Microtonal Art, miCROfest in Zagreb (27-28 October, 2017)

The board consists of:

Donald Bousted (Artistic Director)
Stephen Altoft (Manager)
Ephraim Wegner (Administration)
Astrid Wegner (Administration)
Jan F. Kurth (Marketing)

Our aims

To sponsor and promote concerts, lectures, research and conferences of microtonal music
To develop networks of microtonal composers, performers, instrument designers and builders
To place microtonality in a wider artistic and cultural context
To develop working partnerships with institutions in the inception of microtonal projects
To build our catalogue as a publisher of printed and recorded music
Microtonal Projects have a package of Resources which includes documentation of some of our past events. Fill in the contact form to receive an invitation to access this folder.

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