Music by CMC Composer Jonathan Nangle selected for ISCM World New Music Days 2025: Thirst For Change
Photo of Jonathan Nangle by Miriam Kaczor.
Miso Music Portugal, the Portuguese Section of the ISCM and host of the 2025 ISCM World New Music Days Festival, has announced the works selected for performance at their festival titled 'Thirst for Change' which takes place in Lisbon and Porto from 30 May to 7 June 2025.
Works were selected by the festival organisers from the official submissions by ISCM member organizations as well as from independent submissions. CMC Ireland, the official Irish section of the ISCM, facilitated an open call for works from CMC Composers and former Association of Irish Composers members, resulting in the nomination of six pieces by composers Kerry Hagan, Ruaidhri Mannion, Anselm McDonnell, John McLachlan, Jonathan Nangle and Yue Song.
Jonathan Nangle's Artificial Blissful State (2016) for baritone saxophone and electronics was selected by the festival organisers from the 'solos' category and will be performed at the festival in 2025.
Programme Note
Artificial Blissful State is a commentary on the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) within our daily lives, from voice-activated personal assistants on our mobile devices to home assistants, self-driving vehicles to online stores tracking our browsing history in an effort to ‘suggest’ things that might be of interest to us based on search terms and past transactions. Here, an aggressive electronic track drives forward, unrelenting, unflinching, a steady pulse against which the saxophone plays their role, sometimes irregular and jarring, pushing against the tide of ‘progress’, sometimes slotting into place with ease, but never stemming the technological flow.
Addendum 2024:
In the eight years since I wrote this piece, AI has become a hot topic with the rise of numerous platforms, such as Chat GPT and Stable Diffusion, and more recent applications, such as Sora, becoming mainstream and more widely available to the public. The speed at which these platforms have developed and evolved is mindblowing, and the applications are simultaneously exciting and deeply troubling. With the rise of the machines (forgive the analogy), the commentary embedded within my piece is even more prescient today than in 2016, when I was inspired to write this piece.
Artificial Blissful State was commissioned by Gavin Brennan with funds generously provided by the Arts Council of Ireland.
For more information on the ISCM World New Music Days Festival 2025, visit the festival website.
See all works nominated for the 2025 festival in the ISCM announcement.