San Francisco Tape Music Festival

America's only annual festival devoted to the performance of audio works projected in three-dimensional space, The San Francisco Tape Music Festival features four distinct concerts of classic audio art and new "fixed media" compositions by 42 local and international composers. Hear members of the SF Tape Music Collective, along with guest composers, shape the sound live over a pristine surround system (24 high-end loudspeakers) with the audience seated in complete darkness. It's a unique opportunity to experience music forming, literally, around you.

This year's festival features contemporary and classic fixed media compositions projected live through the loudspeaker array including works by AMON TOBIN, LUC FERRARI, JOHN CHOWNING, LAURIE SPIEGEL, ANNETTE VANDE GORNE, GILLES GOBEIL, ELECTRONIC MUSIC FROM INDIA 1969-1972, and many others.

Saturday's $10 9:30pm concert features late-night-appropriate works that lean towards ambient and long-form-exploration. The program centers around water, ecosystems in a rapidly changing climate, and the exploration of sonic worlds both physical and in our imaginations.

Sunday night's concert explores the various ways experimental musicians incorporate and manipulate elements from popular music and culture. A wide range of recombinant and collage works will be presented, including new multi-channel realizations of iconic pieces by JOHN OSWALD, JOHN CAGE, and WOBBLY. Compositions by KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN, NEGATIVLAND, RUTH ANDERSON, CARL STONE, PEOPLE LIKE US, and others will also be presented.

Local artists THOM BLUM, CLIFF CARUTHERS, SAM GENOVESE, MATT INGALLS, CHERYL E LEONARD, DOUGLAS MCCLAUSLAND, KRISTIN MILTNER, MAGGI PAYNE, GINO ROBAIR, JON LEIDECKER, and MICHAEL ZELNER will be performing their works throughout the festival.

program notes and bios will only be available online. please feel free to download them via the links below.

P R O G R A M

Friday January 10, 2025 (8:30pm)

LUC FERRARI - Visage V (1958)
MAGGI PAYNE - Surface Tension (2010)
ANNETTE VANDE GORNE - Vox Alia IV: Vox populi (2023)
MARTIN BÉDARD - Honey (Architectures From Silence No. 1) (2021)
MARIE-JEANNE WYCKMANS - Voyage, Voyage (2006)
S.C. SHARMA - After the War (1969)
NIKOS KANELAKIS - Inflection Point (2024)
SAM GENOVESE - Image Storm (2024)
CHERYL E LEONARD - Eremozoic (2021)
DOUGLAS MCCLAUSLAND - Premiere (2025)


Saturday January 11, 2025 (7:00pm)

JOHN CHOWNING - Phoné (1981)
AMON TOBIN - Piece of Paper (2011)
GILLES GOBEIL - Dans l'air du soir (2019)
MALGORZATA ALBINSKA-FRANK / CHARLOTTE HUG - Voices Found (2024)
ENRICO DORIGATTI - Quantum (2020)
I.S. MATHUR - Soundtrack of Shadow Play (1969)
JULIE MONDOR - Phloême (2024)
THOM BLUM - Combustible (2008)
CLIFF CARUTHERS - Blue Sky (2006)
MATT INGALLS - Sketches (2025)
KRISTIN MILTNER - Premiere (2025)


Saturday January 11, 2025 (9:30pm)

LAURIE SPIEGEL - Patchwork (1977)
YANNICK DAUBY - Other Topographics (2023)
CHARLES DELUGA - Ecospherical: The Flood (2023)
MARCO DIBELTULU - Due atomi di idrogeno e uno di ossigeno (2024)
DAVID PIAZZA - L'arène aux songes (2023)


Sunday January 12, 2025 (7:00pm)

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - HYMNEN (3rd Centre - SPAIN) (1967)
JOHN CAGE / MEDIO MUTANTE - Williams Mix 23A (1953/2023)
JOHN OSWALD - Plexture '24 (excerpt) (2024)
NEGATIVLAND - Incomprehensible Solution (2020)
RUTH ANDERSON - DUMP (excerpt) (1970)
CARL STONE - Apsara (2022)
PEOPLE LIKE US - Gone Gone Beyond (excerpt) (2022)
PHILIPPE MACNAB-SÉGUIN - Gone For Eggs (2024)
DIANA SALAZAR - La Voz Del Fuelle (2012)
GINO ROBAIR - Doom Scroll (2024)
WOBBLY - Wild Why (2002)
MICHAEL ZELNER - Public (2024)