DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The International Institute of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges – a French electronic music studio known for holding an annual music festival, international composition competitions and commissioning musicians to compose works – has donated their entire archive of digital music to the University of North Texas College of Music's Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia.
"The studio was integral in supporting experimental music and propagating the dissemination of electronic music," said Jon Nelson, professor of composition and CEMI associate. "It made a significant impact in the field."
When the studio lost government funding, the founding studio directors worked with the Bibliothèque nationale de France to archive all of the works. The 2.2 terabytes of content donated to UNT includes more than 6,600 compositions – written by close to 2,000 different composers from more than 60 countries. The archive includes documented musical scores, audio and video recordings, biographies, program notes and historical documents related to the IMEB.
"CEMI and UNT are serving as a satellite repository of this archive which was pulled together jointly between the studio and the French National Library," Nelson said. "The addition of this incredibly large and comprehensive collection of electronic music will greatly enhance ongoing research in electronic music here at UNT, providing a very rich resource for our students, faculty and scholars."
The University of North Texas is the only archive location in North America.
"We hope that we will be able to make all of the files available online through the library, a project that will take some time to facilitate," Nelson said. "Nonetheless, once this is completed the resource will provide high definition recordings that can be accessed by our larger community."
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About the UNT College of Music
The College of Music is one of the largest and most respected comprehensive music schools in the world. Approximately 1,500 music students attend the college each year, participating in nearly 70 widely varied ensembles while engaged in specialized studies in performance, composition, conducting, jazz studies, music education, music history, music theory or ethnomusicology. Music students, alumni and faculty have made appearances on the world's finest stages, have produced numerous recordings with many receiving Grammy awards and nominations, and have written influential texts in a variety of areas in music scholarship. Distinguished University alumni can be found around the globe in top music ensembles, opera companies, universities, and schools.