Welcome

Hildegard Westerkamp is a composer, radio artist and sound ecologist.
She presents soundscape workshops and lectures internationally, performs and writes.

"A magical fusion of sounds."
Globe & Mail, Toronto
  • "A magical fusion of sounds."
    Globe & Mail, Toronto
  • "There was more than just a hint of oracular mysticism in Westerkamp's art. There was a magic in those sounds.” Stephen Pedersen, Chronicle-Herald, Halifax
  • "Westerkamp's music balances a poetics of sound with social commitments that include feminism and environmental politics. Her compositions are critical enactments of acoustic space....All invoke attentive listening." Donna Zapf, Beiträge zur Neuen Music, Germany
  • "Westerkamp creates new possibilities for listening. One can journey with her sound to inner landscapes and find unexplored openings in our sound souls. The experience of her music vibrates the potential for change.”
    Pauline Oliveros,Kingston, N.Y., USA (about CD transformations)
  • "Mere words are inadequate to describe what took place when the symphony began....Waves of sound rolled back and forth across the harbour bringing thousands of downtown office workers to their windows. The Canada geese from Stanley Park were aroused and circled through the boats, honking loudly as they joined in." Ken Drushka, Harbour and Shipping) about the Harbour Symphony)
…narrative alchemy… The Wire, Issue 460

Full News Item

Two articles published in three new book publications - "Soundwalking" and "Soundwalking as Ecological Practice."

1) My article “Soundwalking” has been published in Going Out – Walking, Listening, Soundmaking, Elena Biserna, Author and Editor; Caroline Profanter, Henry Andersen, Julia Eckhardt, Coeditors, Umland Editions, Brussels, 2022, p. 216, Full announcement here.

Going Out
Going Out book cover

2) My article “Soundwalking as Ecological Practice” has been published in Spanish translation in two books recently. 

“El paseo sonoro como práctica ecológica” published in Forma y Sonido – Quince años de arte sonoro en el Uruguay, Lukas Kühne, Fabrice Lengronne, Eds, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes Editorial, Bernal, Argentina, 2021, p. 21. This text also contains an additional introduction, in which I describe a week of soundwalks in Montevideo, to where I had been invited by the late Daniel Maggiolo, composer and professor at the EUM, Escuela Universitario de Musica, in October 2003.

“El Soundwalking como práctica ecólogica”, published in VOCES QUE CAMINAN, edited by Gabriel Villota Toyos, p. 39. The book is based on an exhibition of the same name, Voces que Caminan (Walking Voices), at the Fundación Cerezales, province of León, Spain, where my soundscape recording Bow River Soundwalk was presented in the form of a sound installation, January 16 - April 10, 2022 Full announcement here.

Workshops

My workshops are essentially an enquiry into our relationship to place through listening and an enquiry into listening itself. Conscious attention to the soundscape is like learning a new language and conscious listening and soundmaking is a way of placing ourselves inside the workings of our cultures, societies and landscapes as involved, living participants.

A variety of listening and soundmaking activities offer ways to deepen our relationship to place and to explore what acoustically balanced sound existences might be. Some workshops may be conducted entirely without the use of technology, others may involve recording equipment, editing and mixing facilities, depending on the context and the focus. Soundwalks may be simple listening walks "by ear" or may also include the use of field recording equipment and/or ear protection. Other activities/actions may involve the creation of sound maps and sound scores, monitoring of and documenting a sound environment in a specific location and for a specific time span, writing of sound journals and many more actions/activities.

Not only is the focus of each workshop slightly different, but also the group of participants may vary greatly. Workshop themes, activities, length and participation are developed according to each context. Topics may range from sound ecology, to listening perception, soundscape composition, the use of music, sound design, noise, radio/media, music, silence, and so on.

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