Keynote presentation on the Algorithmic Arts, in the context of the Meta-Xenakis transcontinental celebration, at the Music Library of Greece, in May 2022, entitled “Iannis Xenakis and Algorithmic Music”.

Xenakis was a pioneer in algorithmic composition of music and art. He combined architecture, mathematics, music, and performance art to create Avant-garde compositions and performances that could not have been possible without his deep understanding of algorithms, mathematics, and his use of controlled randomness, i.e., stochastic processes. This talk will sample some of Xenakis’ works in algorithmic and stochastic music, such as Concrete PH, Metastasis, and UPIC, and explore the types of music that Xenakis would be writing today having access to today’s modern technology of smartphones and computing devices.

This talk-performance – in the intersection of science and art – will introduce some of Xenakis’ techniques to a general audience, and explore how the field of stochastic music has advanced in the twenty years since Xenakis’ passing.  While ideas and techniques pioneered and used by Xenakis are now well understood, today’s music technology has evolved through integration of artificial intelligence, advanced algorithms, and human-computer interaction – techniques and technology that were unavailable to Xenakis.

The talk will also provide an overview of the recent two-day workshop on the Algorithmic Arts (http://AlgoArts.org), inspired in part by Xenakis, and cosponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in the United States.

The talk (in English) is available in its entirety here.