The new $6m Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's University was completed in October 2003, almost thirty months after the project commenced. The official opening of the new Centre will be marked by a special festival of events from 21 April – 1 May 2004. Highlights of the festival include the formal opening of the new Centre by Karlheinz Stockhausen on 23 April 2004. The visit by Stockhausen will be marked by a weekend programme of his music, and will include the world premiere of the tape piece Mittwochs-Grüss, as well as performances of Hymnen, Kontakte, and Gesang der Jünglinge.

The festival will also feature specially commissioned works by Denis Smalley, Natasha Barrett, Cort Lippe and Ludger Brummer, and numerous pieces receiving their European or UK premieres.

The festival includes events in partnership with Sonic Arts Network, BBC and the Society for the Promotion of New Music. There will also be a number of workshops on areas such as physical modelling and music informatics. Details of these workshops will be available shortly.

Further information: www.qub.ac.uk/sarc. To be added to the SARC mailing list for artistic events please send an email to sarc@qub.ac.uk For information about visiting SARC to undertake creative and research projects email sarc@qub.ac.uk