SEAMUS is an academic organization that focuses on contemporary electro-acoustic composition; that is, compositions that are designed to be performed by an amagalm of live performers and electronic sounds, the latter are usually computer-synthesized or assembled on tape. This type of work was pioneered in the 20th century by composers such as Edgard Varese, Morton Subotnick, Roger Reynolds, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Milton Babbitt, Iannis Xenakis, Vladimir Usachevsky, etc. etc. (please pardon any spelling mistakes) . . .
The SEAMUS conference is a big deal, probably one of the most prestigous of its type in the world . . . and definately the one in North America. I will say that this type of music is pretty avant-garde, "out-there" stuff, so it's not exactly American Idol . . . but a big deal to contemporary composers.
My wife is a flutist and will actually be performing a piece at this conference - it's written for solo flute (specifically for her) and computer. The computer part is written in Max MSP, and combines sampled and electronic sounds with live flute, which is then also processed in real-time by the program. The result is pretty damn cool . . .
Anyway, I'm not sure whether or not I can make it to the conference, but I'd REALLY like to. I also like Northern Indiana . . . when I was a kid I spent summers at Lake Wawasee.
