Ernest Berk was one of the most prolific composers of electronic music in England from the 1950s to the mid-1980s completing over 200 works. After the collapse of the Cologne archive where his works were donated in 2009, painstaking work has been undertaken to preserve the archive’s materials including Berk’s tapes and documents.

This seminar will discuss Berk’s work and his life as a composer, choreographer and dancer. It will analyse key works and situate Berk’s work in the wider context of 20^th century electronic music.

Monty Adkins is Professor of Electronic Music at the University of Huddersfield. He has spent a significant part of the last two decades working on the electronic music archives of Roberto Gerhard and Ernest Berk. He is also a composer recently completing an album of electronic works Betrayal of Caerimar for Cryo Chamber (USA) and Glass Feathers for alto saxophone and electronics for Huddersfield Contemporary Records (UK).

Photo credit: Ethan Scorer