from digital ECHOS to virtual ETHOS
Music technology meets philosophy

Gérard Assayag

Gérard Assayag is currently head of the Music Representation Research Group at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris, and Directeur de Recherches associe for the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). His research interests center on music representation issues, and include computer language paradigms, machine learning, constraint and visual programming, computational musicology, music modeling, and computer-assisted composition.

Gérard Assayag developed the first IRCAM environment for score-oriented Computer Assisted Composition, and later created, with Carlos Agon, the OpenMusic environment which is currently used by numerous composers and musicologists around the world. In the recent years, Gérard Assayag has carried out research and developed software in style modeling and computer improvisation.

Gérard Assayag is a founding member of the AFIM (Association Francaise d'Informatique Musicale), and member of the FWO Society on Foundations of Music Research. He has organized the "Forum Diderot, Mathematique et Musique" for the European Mathematical Society in 1999 (published as a book by Springer Verlag 2001) as well as several international computer music conferences, including the Sound and Music Computing 2004 conference, which included a preceding international workshop/concert on improvisation with the computer. Recently, he has participated in the founding of The Journal of Mathematics and Music project, whose affiliates come from institutions such as IRCAM, Yale University, and the Eastman School of Music.