IRCAM

Research institute founded by the French government as part of the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, France, and opened in 1977 under the directorship of Pierre Boulez. IRCAM aims to combine scientific research into acoustics, psychology, and the development of computer applications in music with compositional activity and performance of contemporary works by its body of musicians, the Ensemble InterContemporain. Composers commissioned to work at IRCAM collaborate with computer programmers to produce their works. Notable examples of works produced at IRCAM include Répons by Boulez (1981-82), Mortuos plango, vivos voco by Jonathan Harvey (1980), and the mime interludes from The Mask of Orpheus by Harrison Birtwistle (1986).