Concordia Laptop Orchestra

Concordia Laptop Orchestra (CLOrk) is an ensemble of laptop performers, consisting of up to 25 members, based at Concordia University's Music Department in Montreal, Canada. Founded and directed by professor Eldad Tsabary, CLOrk specializes in networked and multidisciplinary performances and collaborations, such as with dance and video.

CLOrk's first performance (January 2011) was a telematic collaboration with other laptop ensembles across Canada as part of the University of Calgary Happening Festival. Since that performance, CLOrk has performed telematically on several occasions with other laptop ensembles (such as McMaster's Cybernetic Orchestra) and acoustic ensembles at New York University, University of California at San Diego, Queens University Belfast, Hamburg Hochschule of Music, University of California at Irvine, and Mustek duo (Edinburgh), among others, at international events such as Birmingham Network Music Festival, ToBeContinued, and Penta Locus.

The laptop orchestra trend began with Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) in 2005 and continued with the emergence of many laptop orchestras and ensembles around the world, each characterized by certain technological traits and artistic approaches. CLOrk is characterized by a non-uniform technological approach, based on the idea of "music first; technology follows," by its network music activities, by its collaboration with acoustic ensembles, and by its use of soundpainting conduction.

Bibliography

Tsabary Eldad and Woollard Jamie. “Whatever Works”: an Action-Centred Approach to Creation and Mediation in Designing Laptop Orchestra Performances, Gli spazi della musica 3, 2 (2014): 54-70, accessed Jan. 12, 2014 http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/spazidellamusica/article/view/818