Practitioners of Computer Music and Electroacoustic Music, including composers, sound artists, performers, and improvisers, are invited to submit proposals for works to be presented at ICMC 2025. Submissions may be fixed or performative in nature. While submissions of works that align with this year’s conference theme of Curiosity, Play, Innovation are highly encouraged, we remain open to other themes and concepts and welcome submissions in the following broad categories: 

• Fixed media (stereo or multichannel) 
• Live electronics and/or fixed media with, or without, instruments/voice 
• Audiovisual (fixed or performative) 
• Interactive systems (sensor-based controllers, score following, gesture/motion tracking, etc.) 
• Improvised electronics with, or without, acoustic instrument(s)/voice 
• Networked performance 
• Live coding and algorithmic performance 
  

Composers and sound artists may submit fixed media or performative works, with or without visuals, up to twelve (12) minutes in length. Shorter works, eight (8) minutes, or less, are strongly encouraged.  

For those submitting works combining electronics with instruments/voice, please indicate if you would like your work to be considered for performance by members of one of the ICMC 2025 ensembles-in-residence: Hinge Quartet: saxophone [any, except bass], electric guitar, piano, and percussion; or Callithumpian Consort: soprano voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. Alternatively, if you will be providing your own performer to play your piece, please let us know.

Performers are invited to apply to perform a work involving digital technology. The performer-applicant does not need to be the composer of the work, and the composer is not required to attend the conference. This provides an opportunity for performers specializing in electroacoustic music to contribute to ICMC 2025 by presenting a work drawn from the rapidly growing repertoire in this field. Suggested duration is eight (8) minutes, or less.

Note: Performers must secure all required permissions for public presentation of proposed works. 

Improvisers working with digital technology are invited to submit a proposal to perform an improvisation, with or without visuals, up to eight (8) minutes in length. The proposal must include an audio file demonstrating the nature of the improvisation and a written description of the technology/system utilized. Improvisations may be purely electronic, or may involve an acoustic instrument, voice, or amplified object(s) with electronics. 

Piece + Paper 

We also encourage Piece + Paper submissions, which combine musical work with research presentations. These submissions provide an opportunity to discuss a work’s technical and aesthetic aspects in depth. For Piece + Paper submissions please refer to the Call for Papers for additional guidelines. 

Each submission must include the following: 

• Work Description (1000 characters)
• Technical Requirements and Setup Specifications 
• Program Note (3000 characters)
• Biographical Note (Primary Author) (3000 characters)
• Biographical Note(s) (Secondary Participants) (8000 characters)

File Uploads: 

Please submit your main audio/video file that best represents your music submission. We accept wav, aif, aiff, m4a, mp3, and mp4 file formats. NOTE: max file sizes are 100MB (for each file) – if you have large video files, we encourage you to include links to anonymous, unpublished YouTube or Vimeo links in an accompanying PDF upload. (For multichannel works, please submit a stereo, binaural mix. If a multichannel submission is accepted to the conference, mono files corresponding to each channel will be requested.) NOTE: Please do not submit links to videos of audio-only, performative works (instrument + electronics, for example) unless there is an interactive component involving relevant motion or some other theatrical component that is primary to the work.

Performance score (when applicable, for notated works)   

Preferred Venue: 

Applicants will be asked to specify if the work is intended for presentation in a concert venue, alternative nightclub environment, or a listening space. In cases where the preferred venue is a concert hall, please indicate if a nightclub or listening room will be acceptable as an alternative, if we are unable to program the work in a more traditional concert setting.  

Submissions should be made through the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT).

Available Systems: 

For concerts, we are able to accommodate the following diffusion setups: stereo, quadrophonic, 5.1, 8-channel, and 8-channel augmented (additional channels/loudspeakers for materials to be spatialized in real-time with elevated, rear-facing, and upward facing monitors. Number of channels and loudspeakers TBD). Single screen video projection is possible in most of the available concert venues. 

For listening rooms, we will have a selection of spaces available with stereo, quadrophonic, and 8-channel playback systems. Video projection or a display monitor will be possible in each of these spaces. 

Call for Music Submission Deadline: February 1, 2025

For any questions regarding the Call for Music Submissions, please contact the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Music Chair: John Mallia 

ICMC BOSTON 2025, in collaboration with REACH (Raising Co-creativity in Cyber-Human Musicianship) European project at IRCAM, is announcing a Special Call for Music employing Somax2 for performances on a concert dedicated to works employing this environment and featuring a curated work for ensemble and Somax2.

Somax2 is a cognitively inspired multi-agent AI system based on a reactive machine-listening component, smart interaction policies and a corpus-based generative engine. It creates machine improvisation flows that  continuously maintain some form of coherence with the musical content of the corpuses it’s been trained on and the signals it receives from the musicians on stage. Somax2 agents can listen to each other as well, so as to create networks of virtual performers with both autonomy and attention to the ever-evolving musical context. The model accepts a variety of real-time controls acting on its generative process and interaction strategies, making it a digital instrument, or it can be easily scripted to fit in a compositional scheme. Somax2 is implemented in Max with a backend Python server, available as a user-friendly applicative patch or full-featured Max library for advanced Max programmers, online documentation and tutorials, video tutorials and demos and lots of videos documenting concerts and residences.

ICMC BOSTON 2025 will also offer a 3-hour workshop hosted by Gérard Assayag (head of REACH) and team members Marco Fiorini and Mikhail Malt, for participants interested in coming together to learn about or enhance their knowledge of Somax2 through a series of interactive activities and discussions. Participants will engage in practical demonstrations and exercises on Somax2, with the goal of participating in a late-night Club Concert featuring improvisation and composed works employing Somax2 (date and time to be announced).

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Individuals interested in submitting works for consideration for the Somax2 Concert or in participating in the Somax2 Workshop and late-night Club Concert employing Somax2 should follow the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: CALLS FOR MUSIC above and, when filling out the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT), select the appropriate checkboxes under Question 8. Preferred Concert Venue and select Somax2 Concert and/or Somax2 Workshop and Club Concert.

Special Call for Music Submission – Somax2 Deadline: February 1, 2025

Additional Useful Links

For any questions regarding the Call for Music Submissions,  Special Call for Music – Somax2, or the Somax2 Workshop please contact the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Music Chair: John Mallia; or the Conference Chair, Anthony Paul De Ritis.

ICMC Boston 2025 invites submissions of full papers (up to 8 pages) and short papers (up to 4 pages) that resonate with the conference theme Curiosity, Play, Innovation. We welcome works in the following broader categories, including but not limited to:

• Composition, Performance, and Interactive Systems
• Digital Musical Instruments and Human-Computer Interaction in Music
• Sound and Signal Processing
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Analysis
• Virtual Reality, Gaming, and Networked Systems
• Education, Historical Perspectives, and Infrastructure
• Piece + Paper

We particularly encourage submissions that combine innovative approaches to music with groundbreaking technology and scientific insights. Both full and short papers will be included in the proceedings. Authors of the selected papers will have the opportunity to present their work orally during paper sessions and as live demos in the “Innovation Showcase” (see the Call for Innovation Showcase). Winners of the Best Paper Award will be invited to publish an extended version of their paper in a special issue of the Computer Music Journal.

Full papers should present completed research with comprehensive methodology and artist and/or technical results. Short papers are suitable for work-in-progress, preliminary findings, or focused technical solutions demonstrating clear potential impact. Papers will be reviewed based on their artistic/musical contribution, technical/scientific merits, originality and innovation, presentation quality, and relevance to the extended field of computer music. 

Only original work not previously published or submitted for publication is considered for acceptance. Authors of accepted submissions who cannot physically attend the conference may present remotely.

All submissions must be in English and use appropriate and inclusive language.

Paper submissions should be made using the provided templates and submitted through the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT). Please remove any identifying information from your submission materials to ensure a double-blind peer review process. LaTeX, MS Word, and OpenDocument Text templates are available here:

Note that page limits include references. To have your paper considered for the demo session, please check the “available for demo” box in the CMT and upload relevant technical documents during submission.

The submission deadline for the paper track: January 22, 2025 [Deadline Extended!], AoE [Anywhere on Earth]

NOTE: The submission portal will be closing for new paper submissions on January 22, 2025 at 11:59pm (AoE). However, you will be able to update your submission until January 29 at 11:59pm (AoE). 

For any questions regarding submissions, please contact the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Paper Chairs: Victor Zappi or Akito van Troyer.

We look forward to your contributions and celebrating 50 years of creativity and innovation in computer music at ICMC Boston 2025!

ICMC Boston 2025 welcomes submissions for installations including, but not limited to, the following categories:

• Audio-Visual Installations (interactive or fixed, single or multi-channel)
• Sound Installations (interactive or fixed)
• Soundscape/Environmental works (e.g., artistic ambient works)
• Spatial and Immersive Audio or Audio-Visual works
• Interactive Systems
• Sound Sculpture

All installations will be presented at Emerson College in one of two venues:

• Emerson’s Media Art Gallery Overview 
• Emerson’s Bright Family Screening Room Technical Specifications

The Bright Family Screening Room seats 170 and has state-of-the-art digital projection and sound equipment. It features a 19′ 6″ x 11′ screen and can accommodate single-channel video works with stereo or 5.1 sound. This space is ideal for fixed single-channel audio-visual works best presented in a cinema-style venue. Multi-channel works (works requiring more than one projector and/or projection surface) can be considered for exhibition in the Media Art Gallery.

Emerson’s Media Art Gallery is a professional gallery space focused on contemporary moving images, sound, and emergent media art forms. To make presenting installations more equitable, accessible, and affordable, participants are encouraged to use gallery-provided equipment where appropriate. The gallery’s equipment list includes a wide array of projectors (including 4K capable 8,000 and 10,000 lumen, a range of 3,500-6,000 lumen, and short throw options), flat screen monitors (UHD and HD in sizes from 32″ to 86″), portable projection screens (3 x 72″ x 116″ or 3 x 83″ x 144″), audio equipment (speakers, soundbars, headphones), VR headsets, single and multi-channel media players, computers, and cathode ray televisions, in addition to a wide array of pedestal, plinth, hanging, and mounting options.

The Project Space will serve as a Listening Room throughout the conference and is unavailable for installation proposals. Galleries A, B, and C are all available options. Please specify which area you would like to use, where possible.

If your submission is selected for exhibition in the Media Art Gallery, you will work closely with the Emerson exhibitions team to review needs and develop an installation plan. As possible, supporting elements for installation spaces will be prepared in advance by the professional gallery team (projectors, screens, and monitors hung; audio equipment set up and put into place, cables run and covered, etc.). Artists should arrive on time to check, troubleshoot, and approve installations before the opening reception. High-quality video and/or photographic documentation of all installations in the Media Art Gallery will be provided.

Works will be evaluated based on several key factors. The completeness of the application and adherence to the provided guidelines will be one measure. The feasibility of the proposed installation, considering aspects such as complexity, maintenance requirements, and overall safety, will also be carefully evaluated. Originality and inventiveness in concept and execution will be highly valued, as will the aesthetic and technical quality of the work. Finally, the installation’s potential contribution to the field of computer music and related disciplines will be a significant consideration in the selection process.

Artist’s Responsibilities Regarding Installation and Equipment
While we hope to accommodate a wide range of projects using gallery equipment, we understand some projects require more specialized technologies. Please note that the artist must provide bespoke equipment and/or other highly specific tech (including transport fees). Additionally, while sound sculptures are permitted and encouraged, artists are responsible for any costs required to transport and/or insure their artwork.

Installation Timeline:

• Install Dates: Monday 6/2 – Friday 6/6 (before conference); Monday 6/9 – Tuesday 6/10 (final checks and installation of elements requiring artist participation)
• Exhibition Dates: Wednesday 6/11 – Saturday 6/14
• Reception: TBD
• Deinstallation Date: Sunday 6/15

Accepted artists are required to attend both the reception and an installation check that will be scheduled for Monday 6/9 or Tuesday 6/10 (to ensure all elements of the installation are correctly presented and fully functional). Please note that the gallery will be staffed by a non-technician gallery sitter for the exhibition’s duration. These staff members can turn on and shut down projects at the start and end of each exhibition day. However, for projects requiring complex initiation, shutdown, or calibration procedures, the artist or designated collaborators must fulfill these tasks. Please plan accordingly.

Please carefully review the [Media Art Gallery Overview] and the Bright Family Screening Room Technical Specifications] documents. Specify whether your submission should only be considered strictly for a specific space or should be considered for either. For example, if you submit a single-channel video work with 5.1 sound intended for theatrical exhibition, you may specify that the work only be considered for the Bright Family Screening Room. However, a single-channel video work with stereo sound may be considered for either.

You may submit multiple installations for review, but only one submission per participant will be accepted to the conference. Creators of accepted installations are expected to register for the conference.

All submissions must be in English and use appropriate and inclusive language. 

All installation proposals should include:

• Project Description (max 500 words)
• Concept Description
• Documentation of previous work (if applicable)
• Materials, dimensions, and duration of the work
• Audiovisual documentation of the proposed project, video, or examples 
• Technical Requirement Documentation 
• Preferred installation category and space
• Power Specifications
• Equipment 
• Spatial Needs (floor plan)
• Setup and teardown time estimate

All installation project submissions should be made through the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT).

For technical requirement documentation, there is no set template. However, please ensure that all necessary information is clearly presented and that the document is submitted in either .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. This will help the review committee accurately assess the technical feasibility of your proposed installation.

Please remove any identifying information from all submitted materials to ensure a double-blind peer review process. “If you would like to be considered for an artist talk, please check the ‘available for artist’s talk’ box in the Conference Management Toolkit (CMT).

For any questions regarding submissions, please contact the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Installation Chair: Amber Vistein; or ICMC BOSTON 2025 Paper Co-Chair Akito van Troyer.

We look forward to your contributions and celebrating 50 years of creativity and innovation in computer music at ICMC Boston 2025!

ICMC Boston 2025 invites submissions for soundwalks, encouraging artists to create site-specific audio experiences in the heart of Boston using the Echoes platform. The Echoes Creator web app is a browser-based platform to create soundwalks, audiowalks, and musical experiences. Using the Creator app, authors upload audio, images, and text to geolocate on a map. Shapes added to the map create geofenced areas that trigger content when listeners physically walk inside. Echoes’ advanced features also support 3D sound objects, ambisonics, and tempo-syncing. Completed soundwalks are shared via the Echoes Explorer mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android. Listeners simply sign on to Echoes using their smartphone and select a walk to begin the audio AR experience using their headphones. Headphones will also be available to borrow at the nearby Emerson Media Art Gallery. Contributing artists are expected to attend the conference.

New to Echoes? We are working closely with Josh Kopeček, Founder of ECHOES, to develop in-depth training for the platform. A compulsory training session covering Echoes’ primary concepts, tools, and workflows will be held for selected artists (this will also be recorded). Additional information or Q&A sessions may follow. For more information about Echoes, check out the Echoes FAQ. Two video workshops are also available on the Echoes FAQ page (scroll to the bottom). Examples of previous projects are available here.

All soundwalks should be designed to take place within the Boston Public Garden and/or Boston Common, both located across the street from Emerson College. A detailed map of the Soundwalk Locations is linked here. Soundwalks will be accessible via the Echoes platform throughout the duration of the conference. Listeners can freely choose when they would like to participate and the duration of their experience.

Additional information about each location can be found here:

• Boston Common
• Public Garden

All creators are expected to observe the safety rules and regulations for the spaces where their soundwalks occur.

While we encourage a wide array of creative sonic approaches, all creators should carefully consider how their project interacts with the specificity of the site. We encourage creators to view the place as part of the composition, conduct research, engage visibly commemorated and hidden histories, and consider the land, its current and previous inhabitants (human and non-human), ecology, and relationship to the surrounding urban environment. You may choose to engage with a highly specific monument, location, or structure within a limited geographical area. Alternatively, you may choose to create an experience covering a wider area.

In creating a soundwalk, you should consider the following basic tenets:

• Guidance on how you expect your soundwalk to be experienced should be provided unless it is present in the audio.
• Sound walks are, by their nature, non-linear unless you impose linearity. Consider how this may affect your approach to composition and the duration of your piece. 
• We encourage submissions that can be satisfactorily experienced in between 10 to 45 minutes.
• Listening will take place on headphones. Wireless headphones will be available for participants to borrow at Emerson’s Media Art Gallery , 25 Avery St, Boston, MA 02111.
• Consider carefully how far you expect people to move. A 5-mile loop may not be accessible to all listeners and would require a longer duration.
• Consider carefully what pace you expect a person to move at. A 5-second ambient sound loop in a 1 km2 area can quickly become dull.

Soundwalks should be designed as audio-only experiences. The Echoes platform supports the idea of soundwalks as “phone-in-pocket” experiences – once initiated, a listener should be able to put their phone in their pocket and complete the soundwalk through audio alone – attentively attending to their environs, creating a cinematic walking experience.

Artists not local to the Boston area can begin working on their soundwalks remotely before arrival at the conference. Echoes supports an offset feature designed for building walks off-site. This feature allows the creator to simulate a walk remotely by offsetting your current location to a given spot simply by long-pressing on the map. This will enable you to move to an open space that is of a similar size to the actual destination and move about as if you were there. For instance, you could simulate Boston Common in a nearby park and begin creating your soundwalk remotely.

Additionally, selected out-of-town artists will have the opportunity to refine their soundwalks in person and on-site during the first few days of the conference. Newly available soundwalks by out-of-town artists will be announced each day of the conference on the Echoes platform.

Artists local to the Boston area will be able to refine their soundwalks on-site before the conference. For this reason, we ask that accepted artists from the area finalize and submit their work before the conference. Walks by local artists will be the first one made available at the ICMC 2025. New works by out-of-town artists will be made available each day.

All submissions must be in English and use appropriate and inclusive language.

Soundwalk proposals should include the following (all information below is required):

• Project description (max 500 words)
• Concept description
• Estimated duration of the entire experience
• Proposed route map
• Distance of walk (in miles or km)
• Accessibility Requirements
• Sample audio clips (2-3 minutes total)

The final soundwalks will be submitted directly to the Echoes platform. Project descriptions will be included in the proceedings.

Timeline for Soundwalks

• February 15, 2025: Proposals Due
• March 15, 2025: Notifications of Acceptance
• Late March (TBD): Compulsory Training Session for Echoes platform
• May 15, 2025: Work-in-progress version of Soundwalk shared for review by ICMC Team
• June 1, 2025: Final version of Soundwalk Due (for local artists)
• June 9, 2025: Final version of Soundwalk Due (for out-of-town artists, allowing time to finalize details in person / on-site)

All soundwalk project description submissions should be submitted through the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT). Please remove any identifying information from your submission materials to ensure a double-blind peer review process. 

Proposals will be evaluated based on several key criteria. First and foremost, proposals must be complete and anonymous; incomplete proposals or those containing identifying information will not be considered. Feasibility is another important factor, considering aspects such as the duration of the soundwalk, the distance covered, and overall safety. Originality and inventiveness in the concept and execution will also be highly valued. The aesthetic and technical quality of the proposed work will be assessed, particularly with the creative use of the designated platform. Proposals should demonstrate a clear contribution to the field of soundwalks and engage meaningfully with the specific site(s) chosen for the experience.

For any questions regarding submission, please contact the Installation Chair, Amber Vistein; or Co-Paper Chair, Akito van Troyer.

We look forward to your contributions and celebrating 50 years of creativity and innovation in computer music at ICMC Boston 2025!

ICMC Boston 2025 invites submissions for the Innovation Showcase, which combines poster presentations and live demonstrations. Submissions in this category should be short papers (up to 2 pages) that resonate with the theme of “Curiosity, Play and Innovation.” We welcome works in the following broader categories, including but not limited to:

• Composition, Performance, and Interactive Systems
• Digital Musical Instruments and Human-Computer Interaction in Music
• Sound and Signal Processing
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Analysis
• Virtual Reality, Gaming, and Networked Systems
• Education, Historical Perspectives, and Infrastructure

We encourage submissions of all stages, including works-in-progress, preliminary research findings, focused technical solutions, brief case studies, and fully developed projects. The crucial aspect is that the work lends itself to engaging presentations through posters or hands-on demonstrations. Submissions should offer interactive experiences that allow conference attendees to directly engage with the work/technology, comprehend its musical applications, and appreciate its innovative elements. Each submission will be evaluated based on its creative and intellectual merit, practical functionality, suitability for interactive presentation, and potential impact on the field of computer music. Selected submissions will be included in the proceedings.

All submissions must be in English and must use appropriate and inclusive language. 

Submissions should be made using the provided templates and submitted through the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Conference Management Toolkit (CMT). Alongside the 2-page paper, submissions conceived for live demonstration must include a technical rider and video documentation (max 5 minutes). Please remove any identifying information from all submitted materials to ensure a double-blind peer review process. LaTeX, MS Word, and OpenDocument Text templates are available here:

Note that page limit includes references. 

The submission deadline for the paper track: January 22, 2025 [Deadline Extended!], AoE [Anywhere on Earth]

NOTE: The submission portal will be closing for new paper submissions on January 22, 2025 at 11:59pm (AoE). However, you will be able to update your submission until January 29 at 11:59pm (AoE). No extensions will be granted.

For any questions regarding submissions, please contact the ICMC BOSTON 2025 Paper Chairs: Victor Zappi or Akito van Troyer.

We look forward to your contributions and celebrating 50 years of creativity and innovation in computer music at ICMC Boston 2025!

The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.