Hannah Paton
Writer

Assistant Professor of Music Paul Botelho will perform at an electro-acoustic concert in Russia at the end of this month.

Botelho has been working with renowned composer Jon Appleton for several months, and the two will depart on Oct. 24 for the Urals Conservatory’s Festival of ElectroAcoustic Music in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

During their 10-day trip, the pair will be performing a set at the international festival, teaching workshops at the Conservatory on electroacoustic music, and even judging other music competitions.

To prepare for their upcoming performance, Botelho and Appleton have spent the last few months collaborating and producing numerous new tracks.

“At first we just came up with a time—seven minutes—Jon wrote the voice part, which I sang, and I wrote the piano part, which he performed,” Botelho said.

Botelho defines electroacoustic music as any sort of music made through technology. According to him, electroacoustic techniques have become increasingly popular over the last few decades and are bound to be the music of the future.

“We’re approaching the point where technology is just another instrument,” Botelho said. “There’s an entire wing dedicated to electroacoustic music at the conservatory. It’ll get there.” 

Botelho will teach one workshop about ChucK Audio Programming language, which is essentially a form of computer software like JavaScript or C++ that makes it easy to develop musical software and produce sound very quickly.

His other workshop will cover the future of electroacoustic music. He will also experiment with a theremin, an electronic musical instrument consisting of two different metal antennas that make sound based on the position of the player’s hands relative to the antennas. 

The  main goal and hope of the trip is to make connections for collaborations in the future. He even hopes to try to set up a future student exchange program with a focus in electroacoustic studies. 

“We both hope to end the ghettoisation of electro,” Botelho said.