The founding of Vancouver Co-operative Radio during the same time provided an invaluable opportunity to record, experiment with and broadcast the soundscape. One could say that her career as a composer, educator, and radio artist emerged from these two pivotal experiences and focused it on environmental sound and acoustic ecology. In addition, composers such as John Cage and Pauline Oliveros have had a significant influence on her work. While completing her Master's Thesis, entitled Listening and Soundmaking - A Study of Music-as-Environment, she also taught courses in Acoustic Communication together with colleague Barry Truax in the School of Communication at SFU until 1990. Since then she has written additional articles and texts addressing issues of the soundscape and listening and has travelled widely, giving lectures and conducting soundscape workshops, internationally. She is a founding member and is currently active on the board of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE). as well as the Canadian Association for Sound Ecology (CASE). Between 1991 and 1995 she was the editor of The Soundscape Newsletter and is now on the editorial committee of Soundscape -The Journal of Acoustic Ecology, a new publication of the WFAE.
Her compositions have been performed and broadcast in many parts of the world. The majority of her compositional output deals with aspects of the acoustic environment: with urban, rural or wilderness soundscapes, with the voices of children, men and women, with noise or silence, music and media sounds, or with the sounds of different cultures, and so on. She has composed film soundtracks, sound documents for radio and has produced and hosted radio programs such as Soundwalking, and Musica Nova on Vancouver Co-operative Radio.
In a number of compositions she has combined her treatment of environmental sounds extensively with the poetry of Canadian writer Norbert Ruebsaat. (Cordillera, A Walk through the City, Cricket Voice). She also has written her own texts for a series of performance pieces for spoken text and tape. In addition to her electroacoustic compositions, she has created pieces for specific "sites", such as the Harbour Symphony, and École polytechnique. In pieces like The India Sound Journal she explores the deeper implications of transferring environmental sounds from another culture into the North American and European context of contemporary music, electroacoustic composition, and audio art. In 1998 she collaborated with her Indian colleagues Mona Madan, Savinder Anand, and Veena Sharma on a sound installation in New Delhi entitled Nada-an Experience in Sound, sponsored by the New Delhi Goethe Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan) and the Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts. In 2000 she created together with photographer Florence Debeugny, At the Edge of Wilderness, a sound installation about ghost towns in British Columbia, commissioned by Vancouver's Western Front Society. And in her latest compositions Für Dich/For You and Liebes-Lied/Love Song, based on poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke and its translation by Norbert Ruebsaat, she explores the theme of love and connectedness with the sounds and languages of her German/Canadian existence.
By focusing the ears' attention to details both familiar and foreign in the acoustic environment, Westerkamp draws attention to the inner, hidden spaces of the environment we inhabit. Her compositional work has been discussed in various articles, but most extensively in Andra McCartney's dissertation Sounding Places with Hildegard Westerkamp .
Excerpts of Hildegard Westerkamp's compositions have been included in the soundtrack of Elephant and Last Days, two films by Gus van Sant. See Randolph Jordan's article: " The Work of Hildegard Westerkamp in the Films of Gus Van Sant" CDs of both soundtracks have been released in France by mk2 music.
| Compositions |
Once Upon A Time
For two digital soundtracks, commissioned by the Western Front, Vancouver, Canada. Premiere: January 20, 2012, Western Front, Vancouver.
Fairytale written by Hildegard Westerkamp;
narrators: Caleb and Caius Martin-Ruebsaat; girl's voice: Sonja Ruebsaat. |
MotherVoiceTalk
For two digital soundtrack, commissioned by Vancouver New Music, Canada. Premiere: February 20, 2008, Vancouver East Cultural Centre. |
Liebes-Lied/Love Song
For cello and for eight digital soundtracks commissioned by Open Ears Festival, Kitchener. Premiere: April 30, 2005, Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. |
Für Dich-For You
For eight digital soundtracks, commissioned by the Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, ZKM, Germany. Premiere: Febr. 11, 2005, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. |
Breaking News
For one digital soundtrack, commissioned by CBC Radio for its September 11 special programming.
Premiere: September 11, 2002, CBC Radio One |
Like a Memory
For piano and two digital soundtracks, commissioned by Jamie Syer and the Valhalla Summer School of Music and was composed with the financial assistance from the Vancouver Foundation.
Premiere: Valhalla Summer School of Music, Silverton, B.C., August 16, 2002. |
Attending to Sacred Matters (long and short version)
for two-channel tape, commissioned by the Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC).
Premiere (short version): Then, Now and Beyond, A Festival of Music by Women, Ottawa, January 27, 2002. |
Into the Labyrinth
for 8-channel diffusion, commissioned by New Adventures in Sound, Toronto. Premiere: Gibraltar Point Arts Centre, Toronto Island, June 18, 2000. |
Gently Penetrating Beneath the Sounding Surfaces of Another Place
for two-channel tape, commissioned by Groupe de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges (GMEB), France. Premiere: India International Centre, New Delhi, October 21, 1997. Honorary mention, Prix ars electronica, Linz, Austria, 1998. |
Talking Rain
for two-channel tape, commissioned by CBC Radio for Westcoast Performance. Radio Premiere: April 20, 1997. |
Dhvani
for two-channel tape. Premiere: November 10, 1996, Vancouver East Cultural Centre. |
Sensitive Chaos
for two-channel tape, commissioned by Winnipeg New Music Festival. Premiere: January 28, 1995, Winnipeg. |
From the India Sound Journal
work in progress for spoken voice and two-channel tape. Premiere: June 22, 1993, Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Radio premiere: same date on "Wireless Graffiti", Vancouver Co-operative Radio, CFRO, Hildegard Westerkamp, voice. |
Beneath the Forest Floor
for two-channel tape. Commissioned by CBC Radio for Two New Hours. Radio premiere: May 17, 1992. Recommended for Broadcast by the 4th International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music, 1992. Honorouble mention, Prix Italia 1994. |
Breathing Room 3 - A Self Portrait
for spoken voice and two-channel tape. Premiere: May 19, 1991, Pitt Gallery, Vancouver, Hildegard Westerkamp, voice. |
My Horse and I
for two-channel tape, with poem and reading by Sharon Thesen. Premiere: May 19, 1991, Pitt Gallery, Vancouver. |
École Polytechnique
for 8 churchbells, mixed choir, bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion and two-channel tape.Commissioned by Montreal Musiques Actuelles/New Music America 1990. Premiere: Nov. 3, 1990, New Music America, Montreal. |
Breathing Room
for two-channel tape. Commissioned by "Diffusion i MeDIA", Montreal, for the "Electro clips" CD. Premiere: Nov. 2, 1990, New Music America, Montreal. |
Breathing Room 2
for two-channel tape, bottles and audience. Premiere: April 1990, Surrey Arts Centre, Surrey,B.C. |
The Deep Blue Sea
for spoken voice and two-channel tape, a collaboration with Norbert Ruebsaat, text by Brian Shein. Premiere: March 30, 1989, Vancouver Art Gallery, Norbert Ruebsaat, voice. |
Kits Beach Soundwalk
for spoken voice and two-channel tape. Premiere: March 30, 1989, Vancouver Art Gallery, Hildegard Westerkamp, voice. |
Harbour Symphony
for six boathorns in St. John's Harbour, Nfld. Premiere: July 1988, Sound Symposium, St. John's, Nfld. |
Music from the Zone of Silence: Desertwind * Meditation * The Truth is Acoustic
for one to four voices and two-channel tape. Premiere: July 1988, Sound Symposium, St. John's, Nfld. |
Moments of Laughter
for female voice and two-channel tape. Commissioned by Vancouver New Music Society. Premiere: March 1988, Vancouver, Meg Sheppard, voice. |
Cricket Voice
for two-channel tape. Premiere: June 1987, Community Arts Council, Vancouver. |
Harbour Symphony
for over 100 boathorns in Vancouver Harbour, for opening of Canada Pavilion, EXPO '86. Commissioned by Canada Pavilion, EXPO '86, Vancouver. Premiere: May 1986, Vancouver Harbour. |
His Master's Voice
for two-channel tape program note |
Cool Drool
for spoken voice and two-channel tape. Premiere: February 1984, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Hildegard Westerkamp, voice. |
A Walk Through the City
for two-channel tape, with poem and reading by Norbert Ruebsaat. Commissioned by Two New Hours, CBC Stereo. First Broadcast: April 1981. |
Fantasie for Horns II
for French Horn and four-channel tape. Premiere: Music Gallery, Toronto, James MacDonald, French Horn 1979. |
Fantasie for Horns I
for four-channel tape. Premiere: Western Front Gallery , Vancouver, 1978. |
Familie mit Pfiff (Theme and Variations)
for two-channel tape. Premiere: Oct. 1976, Osnabrück, Germany. |
Whisper Study
for two-channel tape. Premiere: Western Front Gallery, Vancouver 1975. |
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Composed Environments - Sound Installations
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At the Edge of Wilderness
A sound installation about ghosttowns in British Columbia, commissioned by the Western Front Society for the group show Industrial Ear, September 8-16, 2000; with the collaboration of photographer Florence Debeugny. |
Soniferous Garden
A revised version of Part 4 of Nada-An Experience in Sound (1998), a sound installation of the sacred sounds of India, revised for Engine 27, New York, November 7?15, 2000. |
Nada - An Experience in Sound
A sound installation about listening at the Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Janpath, New Delhi, India, December 10-25, 1998; with the collaboration of Savinder Anand, Mona Madan, and Veena Sharma; financial support: Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe Institut), Delhi. |
Türen der Wahrnehmung (Doors of Perception)
a radio environment for Ars Electronica '89, Linz, Austria. Commissioned by Österreichischer Rundfunk and Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. First Broadcast: Sept. 1989, during Arts Electronica, Linz. |
Coon Bay
a Westcoast environment for two-channel tape. |
Zone of Silence Story
an acoustic environment for a group exhibition of the "Zone of Silence Project" at the Museum of Quebec in Quebec City, Dec. 1985/Jan. 1986, a collaboration with poet Norbert Ruebsaat |
Cordillera
an acoustic environment for four-channel tape on the poetry of Norbert Ruebsaat. Commissioned by the Western Front Gallery for the "Music from the New Wilderness Festival". Premiere: February 1980, Western Front Gallery, Vancouver. |
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Sound Documents
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One Visitor's Portrait of Banff
a series of radio pieces for "Radio Rethink: Art Sound and Transmission", The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada. First Broadcast: March 12, 1992. |
Convergence
a two-hour sound document of the CEC Electroacoustic Days in Banff, Nov. 1989. Commissioned by the Banff Centre and produced for Community Radio Stations across Canada. |
Voices for the Wilderness
a sound document of the first Stein Festival, held in the alpine meadows of the Stein watershed near Lytton, B.C., produced in collaboration with Norbert Ruebsaat. |
Women Voicing
a sound document about women's music, for Musicworks 31, Toronto. |
Streetmusic
a sound document about Vancouver's streetmusicians. Commissioned by CFRO, Vancouver Co-operative Radio and CBC Radio. First Broadcast: Spring 1982. |
Under the Flightpath
a sound document about life near the airport. Commissioned by the Hornby Collection, CBC Radio. First Broadcast, January 1981. |
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| Sound and Music for Film and Radio Drama |
A Time of Love and War, film director, Sabrina Matthews, 2000
I Know, radio drama by Norbert Ruebsaat, produced by William Lane, CBC, 1998.
Bones of the Forest, film directors/producers Heather Frise and Velcrow Ripper, 1995.
Ranch, film directors/producers Steven Denure and Chris Lowry, 1985.
Still Sane, a film production by Women in Focus, Vancouver, 1985.
Streetkids, National Film Board, director, Peg Campbell, 1985.
One Woman Waiting, film director, Josephine Massarella, 1982.
This Borrowed Land, National Film Board, director, Bonnie Kreps, 1982 |
writings
Yoga and Construction Noise
Excerpted from: “Exploring Balance and Focus in Acoustic Ecology”, by Hildegard Westerkamp, Keynote Presentation at Crossing Listening Paths, International Conference on Acoustic Ecology, Corfu, Greece
Oct 3rd - 7th 2011 |
"An Imaginary Meeting - The Making of MotherVoiceTalk",
Book and DVD. eds. Pauline Minevich, Ellen Waterman, James Harley,
to be published in The Art of Immersive Soundscapes.
Regina: University of Regina Press. |
Edited Transcript of Lecture by Hildegard Westerkamp
School of Sound Symposium
London 2009, keynote lecture
In: The Soundtrack, Volume 2 Number 2, 2009, p. 111
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=146/ |
Music As Environment-Environment As Music - Keynote Presentation
Sounding Out 4 - A Symposium on Sound in the Media,
University of Sunderland, UK, Sept. 4-6, 2008 |
Soundtracks Everywhere
presented at Non-Simultaneity and Immediacy: Utopia of Sound
a Symposium at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria
May 29 - 31, 2008
published in: Utopia of Sound, eds. Diedrich Diedrichsen and Constanze Ruhm,
Publications of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Volume 10, Schlebruegge.Editor,
Vienna 2010, p. 151,
http://www.schlebruegge.com |
Soundwalking
in Autumn Leaves, Sound and the Environment in Artistic Practice, Ed.
Angus Carlyle, publ. by Double Entendre, Paris, 2007.
Listening samples at www.gruenrekorder.de |
Listening Walking Remembering, a sound journey in words
in BlackFlash Magazine Vol. 24. 2, 2007 |
Soundwalking as Ecological Practice
in The West Meets the East in Acoustic Ecology
Proceedings for the International Conference on Acoustic Ecology,
Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan. November 2-4, 2006. |
Radio that Listens
lecture presented at Talking Back to Radio - Radio als Zuhörer
Arty_ci zmieniaj Radio Workshops, Installations, Interventions, Internet Performances, Concerts and Symposium,
Wroclaw, Poland, December 6 -11, 2005 |
Linking Soundscape Composition and Acoustic Ecology
This article is reprinted here with permission from: Organised Sound,
An International Journal of Music and Technology, Volume 7, Number 1, 2002.
The issue's thematic title is: Soundscape Composition, Cambridge University Press. |
Bauhaus and Soundscape Studies - Exploring Connections and Differences
Lecture presented at Symposium
Von Bauhaus zu Soundscape: Klang?ologie-ein neuer Horizont des Designs,
Goethe Institut Tokyo, October 5-9, 1994. Revised March 2002.
Due to be published in Anthologie: Multisensuelles Design, ed. Peter Luckner, Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Halle, Germany. |
Soundscape -The Journal of Acoustic Ecology (Co-Editor)
a publication of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.
For more information see The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology HomePage |
The Local and Global 'Language' of Environmental Sound
paper presented at Sound Escape,
International Conference on Acoustic Ecology,
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, June 28-July 2, 2000. |
Say Something About Music
In Site of Sound: of Architecture and the Ear,
by Brandon LaBelle & Steve Roden, eds.,
published by Errant Bodies Press, 1999,
P,O Box 931124 Los Angeles, California 90093 USA |
Soundscape Composition
Lecture at Soundscapes voor 2000,conference/festival,
Amsterdam, Holland, organized by NPS, Dutch Radio, November 19-26, 1999.
Also available at: Da Nederlandse publieke omroep |
Das Komponieren mit Umweltklängen:
materielle Ausbeutung oder Bewusstseinsvertiefung?
(in German)
paper presented at KlangArt,
Osnabrück, Germany, June 10-13, 1999.
unpublished |
Speaking from Inside the Soundscape
in From Awareness to Action,Proceedings from Stockholm Hey Listen!Conference on Acoustic Ecology,
June 9-13, 1998,
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Blasieholmstorg 8, Stockholm, Sweden. |
NADA-An Experience in Sound
report about a sound installation at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts in New Delhi,
Dec. 10-25, 1998, The New Soundscape Newsletter #9,
Also available at:The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology HomePage |
UmweltKlang - Hörerfahrung
(in German)
in SoundScape Design KlangWelten Hörzeichen,
by Hans Ulrich Werner, ed.,
published by Akroama, Hammerstr. 14, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland, 1997. |
Listening to the Listening
for panel discussion, ISEA95, Montreal,
Sounding Out Genders: Women Sound Artists/Composers Talk about Gender and Technology.
Also available at: The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology HomePage |
Earwitness: A Tale of Three Cities
two lectures at the Goethe Institut Seattle, March 1996 and
Goethe Institut Vancouver, March 1995.
unpublished |
The Soundscape Newsletter (Ed.)
Numbers 1-12, 1991 to 1995.
Available at: The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology HomePage |
Soundscape of Cities
Lecture presented at Symposium
Von Bauhaus zu Soundscape: Klang?ologie-ein neuer Horizont des Designs,
Goethe Institut Tokyo, October 5-9, 1994.
unpublished |
The Soundscape on Radio
in Radio Rethink, Art, Sound and Transmission,
by Daina Augaitis and Dan Lander, eds.,
published by Walter Philips Gallery, 1994.
Box 1020-14, Banff, Alberta, T0L 0C0, Canada. |
Soundscape Brasilia in Context
Lecture for the conclusion of the 4-week workshop Soundscape Brasilia,
organized by Goethe Institut Brasilia, May 1994.
unpublished. |
Soundscape Brasilia, ein Klangkunst Projekt (in German)
In Prisma 2/94,publication of the Goethe Institut. |
Delhi mit den Ohren erforschen (in German)
In Prisma 2/94,publication of the Goethe Institut. |
World Soundscape Project
Entry in Encyclopedia of Music in Canada(Second Edition),
University of Toronto Press, co-authors Helmut Kallmann, Adam P. Woog, 1992. |
Listening and Soundmaking, Cool Drool
In Sound by Artistsby Dan Lander and Micah Lexier, eds.,
published by Art Metropole and Walter Phillips Gallery, 1990.
Box 1020-14, Banff, Alberta, T0L 0C0, Canada. |
LISTENING AND SOUNDMAKING-A Study of Music-as- Environment
Thesis for a Master's Degree in Communication
at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, 1988.
unpublished |
A Child's Ritual
Musicworks,Number 35, Summer 1986.
401 Richmond Street, Suite 361, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8, Canada,
e-mail MusicworksMusicworks Website |
Wilderness Lake
an interview with R. Murray Schafer,
Musicworks,Number 15, 1981.
401 Richmond Street, Suite 361, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8, Canada
e-mail MusicworksMusicworksWebsite |
The New Museum of Anthropology-An Acoustic Dump
Vancouver, 1980,
unpublished |
ssh... Noise Handbook
written for the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (S.P.E.C.)
Vancouver, B.C. 1974 |
Installations
Seascapes a sound environment for Audrey Capel Doray's Electronic Seascape (mixed media sculpture). Shown as part of Idyll: Three Exhibitions, 16 May - 10 August, 2008 at The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver. |
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| At the Edge of Wilderness A Sound-Slide Installation about Ghosttowns in British Columbia - a moment of questions and stories about human industrial activities of the past and present; a moment of sensing the spirits and ghosts still hovering among the skeletal remains while nature is gradually reclaiming its place. |
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| NADA - an experience in sound A sound Installation about listening - a listening journey from noise to silence, from the external to the internal, from acoustic onslaught to acoustic subtlety, from worldly to sacred sound experiences.
At the Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Janpath, New Delhi, India, December 10-25, 1998; with the collaboaration of Savinder Anand, Mona Madan, and Veena Sharma; financial support: Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe Institut), Delhi.
NADA Article |
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| Voices for the Wilderness a slide tape document of the Voices for the Wilderness Cultural Festival held Labour Day Weekend, 1985, in the high country of the Stein Watershed.
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| The Zone of Silence Story an acoustic environment for a group exhibition of the "Zone of Silence Project" - in which twelve artists from four cultures camped together in the so-called Zone of Silence in north central Mexico to explore the desert environment through their respective disciplines and make art.
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| Cordillera Cordillera is a compositional working of Norbert Ruebsaat's reading of the long title poem from his book Cordillera. The piece combines the voice with environmental sound from the landscape - the Western Canadian mountain wilderness
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| | Türen der Wahrnehmung (Doors of Perception)
a radio environment for Ars Electronica '89, Linz, Austria. Commissioned by Österreichischer Rundfunk and Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. First Broadcast: Sept. 1989, during Arts Electronica, Linz. |
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Discography
Recordings featuring Westerkamp's compositions, chronologically:
- (1989) Kits Beach Soundwalk
- (1990) Anthology of Canadian Music:Electroacoustic music
- (1990) The Aerial 2
- (1990) Électro clips (empreintes DIGITALes, IMED 9004, rereleased 1996 as IMED 9604)
- (1994) Radio Rethink - art and sound transmission
- (1995) Der Verlust der Stille
- (1995) Klang Wege
- (1995) Transmissions From Broadcast Artists, Radius #4
- (1996) The Vancouver Soundscape
- (1996) Transformations (empreintes DIGITALes, IMED 9631)
- (1997) 1977-1997, 20 Jahre Osnabrücker Komponisten
- (1998) Harangue I (Earsay, ES 98001)
- (1998) Harangue II (Earsay, ES 98005)
- (1999) The Dreams of Gaia
- (2000) Radiant Dissonance
- (2002) Into India (Earsay, ES 02002)
- (2003) Musique inpirée et tirée du film Elephant
- (2003) S:on
List of works
Individual Westerkamp compositions, alphabetically:
- "Attending to Sacred Matters" (2002)
- "A Walk Through the City" (1981)
- "Beneath the Forest Floor" (1992)
- "Breaking News" (2002)
- "Breathing Room" (1990)
- "Convergence Radio" (1989)
- "Cricket Voice" (1987)
- "École polytechnique" (1990) - churchbells, mixed choir, bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion, and tape
- "Fantasie for Horns II" (1979) - French horn and tape
- "Für Dich-For You" (2005)
- "Gently Penetrating" (1997)
- "Gently Penetrating beneath the sounding surfaces of another place"
- "Into the Labyrinth" (2000)
- "Kits Beach Soundwalk" (1989) - spoken voice and tape
- "Talking Rain" (1998)
- "Türen der Wahrnehmungen (Doors of Perception)" (1989)
- "Whisper Study" (1975–79)
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