sfSound presents





The San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2024
Friday, January 5, 8:30pm [ notes ]
Saturday, January 6, 7:00pm [ notes ]
Saturday, January 6, 9:30pm [ notes ]
Sunday, January 7, 7:00pm [ notes ]

Victoria Theatre
2961 16th Street
San Francisco

$20 general ($10 Sat 9:30 concert)
$10 balcony (underemployed et al.)
$50 fest pass (general seating all concerts)

CLICK HERE for advance ticket purchase

cash and venmo accepted at the door
beginning one hour before start time



America's only 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 celebrates 75 years of musique concrète, presenting a wide range of pieces from PIERRE SCHAEFFER'S earliest Cinq études de bruits (Five Studies of Noises, 1948) to recently created acousmatic works.

Contemporary and classic “fixed media” compositions by international composers will also be featured. Works by LUCIANO BERIO, IANNIS XENAKIS, RYOJI IKEDA, JONTY HARRISON, GILLES GOBEIL, ELIZABETH ANDERSON, DAVID BEREZAN, MANUELLA BLACKBURN and many others will be projected live through the loudspeaker array.

We also remember acousmatic music pioneer FRANCIS DHOMONT (1926-2023); Mexican composer JAVIER ÁLVAREZ (1956-2023); film composer and David Lynch collaborator ANGELO BADALAMENTI (1937–2022); and Argentinian composer and Stanford/CCRMA doctoral graduate PATRICIA MARTÍNEZ (1973-2022).

Bay Area and California artists L.J. ALTVATER, THOM BLUM, CLIFF CARUTHERS, XOPHER DAVIDSON, JULIE HERNDON, MATT INGALLS, BEVIN KELLEY, FERNANDO LOPEZ-LEZCANO, EMIL MARGOLIS, KRISTIN MILTNER, JOÃO PEDRO OLIVEIRA, MAGGI PAYNE, RAPHAEL RADNA, BRIAN REINBOLT, JEFF RICE, and MATT ROBIDOUX will also be presenting their works.

Saturday's 9:30pm concert features late-night-appropriate works that lean towards ambient and long-form-exploration.

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 5, 2024 (8:30pm)
[ program notes ]
PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Étude aux chemins de fer (1948)
LUCIANO BERIO - Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1959)
RYOJI IKEDA - ultratronics 02 (2022)
JONTY HARRISON - Kammermusik (2022)
PATRICIA MARTÍNEZ (1973-2022) - Del cuadro a la postergación (1994)
L.J. ALTVATER - Zoos and Airports 1 (2023)
THOM BLUM - Telescopic I - zoom out (2023)
RAPHAEL RADNA - strung (2022)
MATT ROBIDOUX - Corn Straw Ball (2023)
NICHOLAS VIRGO & ALISTAIR MACDONALD - A Confluence of Birds (2022)
MARIA PELEKANOU - Nach der Stille (After the silence) (2020)
TIMOTHY ROY - Brompton & Braeswood (2023)


Saturday January 6, 2024 (7:00pm)
[ program notes ]
PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Étude pathétique (1948)
BEVIN KELLEY - OMNII POLYHEDRAL PARTICULATES (2023)
JAVIER ÁLVAREZ (1956-2023) - Mambo à la Braque (1990)
DAVID BEREZAN - Ukulele (2023)
MANUELLA BLACKBURN - Cupboard Love (2022)
FERNANDO LOPEZ-LEZCANO - Tickle That Dinosaur! (2023)
EMIL MARGOLIS - So We Won’t Forget (Venice Lido Sunset Mix feat. Alex Ness) (2022)
KRISTIN MILTNER - Sublime, Subliminal (2023)
JEFF RICE - Sheep drive (2021)
ROCÍO CANO VALIÑO - Okno (2020)
BERNADETTE JOHNSON - Disturbed Waltz (2023)


Saturday January 6, 2024 (9:30pm)
[ program notes ]
PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Étude violette (1948)
CLIFF CARUTHERS - Natoma (2003)
XOPHER DAVIDSON - Elegy (VII) (2022-2023)
JULIE HERNDON - From Nothing (2023)
ELIZABETH ANDERSON - Les ailes de l'augure (2021)
FABIO SELVAFIORITA - Convexities, among the ruins (from THE FALL) (2020)
MATIAS VILAPLANA STARK - Funeral For A Whale (2023)


Sunday January 7, 2024 (7:00pm)
[ program notes ]
PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Étude aux tourniquets (1948)
IANNIS XENAKIS - Concret PH (1958)
FRANCIS DHOMONT (1926-2023) - Somme toute (2022)
THOUGHT GANG (ANGELO BADALAMENTI (1937–2022) & DAVID LYNCH) - Stalin Revisited (2018)
GILLES GOBEIL - Un cercle hors de l'arbre (2014-2015)
MAGGI PAYNE - Aries 2020 (2020)
MATT INGALLS - Scherzo. Allegro molto (2002/2024)
BRIAN REINBOLT - Bischoff Surface Variations (2023)
JOÃO PEDRO OLIVEIRA - N'vi'ah (2019)
ADAM STANOVIĆ - Unto the Sea (2022)
BOYI BAI - Echoes of National Parks (2023)
JOHN GIBSON - In Summer Rain (2021)


equipment kindly provided by
The Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University
and sfSound

support kindly provided by
The Prelinger Library & Archives


Background image: a "diffusion score" for Edgard Varèse's Poème Électronique