‘double bell’ trumpet album

….with piano

VORTEX

Stephen Altoft donald bousted double bell trumpet

Richard Whalley piano

A Microtonal Projects young composers’  Initiative with support from the Donald Bousted Edition.

New compositions by young composers performed alongside existing contemporary works. The new works will form part of the Donald Bousted double bell trumpet Album to be published later in book form.

The project takes place over an academic year, in three stages: beginning with online sessions on the double bell trumpet, followed by in-person workshops with the duo from VORTEX , before being brought to completion by rehearsals and a recorded concert.

The first edition of this project will take place with postgraduate/ graduate composers who have recently completed, or are about to compete their studies at Manchester University: Scarlett Henderson, Adnan Marafi and Malachy McCormick.

The advent of the Donald Bousted double bell (quarter-tone) trumpet, marks for me a return to quarter-tones: whom I had almost stopped visiting, being so absorbed with 19-divisions and the derivative 38-divisions. Partly owing to our work with Lore Amenabar Larrañaga, the quarter-tone accordionist, and also because I found the right second-hand instrument at the right time. I now have another quarter-tone trumpet- but this one with an additional bell. I hope to play Don’s trumpet concerto, ‘In Angel Air’ on it someday.

This playlist on YouTube, which features the short videos that are newly in circulation, is intended to assist composers when beginning to compose for this instrument. Through the short videos, they should get a clearer idea of how the instrument is put together, how it works and what possibilities it has- and doesn’t have!

Introducing the Donald Bousted double bell trumpet (with quarter-tone valve). It is a Yamaha Chicago model C trumpet converted by Musik Gillhaus in Freiburg.

The Donald Bousted double bell, quarter-tone C trumpet- first short video

We are preparing solo/electronic projects, duo VORTEX concerts with Lore Amenabar Larrañaga and also in duo with pianist/composer Richard Whalley in the coming years!

More shorts to come…

Friday 10th April

The Listening Session will feature music or videos by:

Tolgahan Çoğulu, Maddie Ashman, & Dorukhan Yaldız

Orlando Zavala Galindo

Paul Rhys

Jakob Heinemann

Nathan Plante

Richard Whalley

Michael Hugh Dixon

Dan Antoniu

Julian Woods

Info

This very young festival exists through kind people offering their expertise for free, so the festival is crowdfunding to cover their travel and accommodation costs

Goldsmiths University London, 10th & 11th April, 2026

The first microtonal festival in London since UKMicroFest 4 in 2012! The first microtonal festival in the UK since ‘Beyond the Semitone’ in Aberdeen in 2013! Hyperchromatic Festival returns in 2026, organised by our partner-in-microtones, Joseph Gusmano!

The festival, which is in collaboration with Goldsmiths University and the Royal Music Association, and supported by Microtonal Projects, opens on 10th April with afternoon lectures and an evening Listening session. On 11th April the afternoon lectures continue with a concert in the evening to round the festival off.

Please note corrected concert day on poster!

Info

Enquiries to: jhgusmano@gmail.com

Brilliant opportunity in London to meet up with like-minded people, watch lectures and hear live microtonal music.

Donate to help cover the costs of the artists appearing:

Eventbrite Link

The festival is in collaboration with Goldsmiths University and the Royal Music Association, and supported by Microtonal Projects.

Convention for contemporary microtonal and xenharmonic music of all genres

22nd–24th May, 2026 
Münchner Kammerspiele & FatCat, Munich (DE).

The call is now open. All information about categories, deadlines, and submissions can be found here

To honour the birthday of our dear friend and founder, Donald Bousted, Microtonal Projects has added his PhD to the Microtonal Projects Resources Folder on Dropbox. His daughter, Dorothy was delighted to give us permission to do this. It is entitled, ‘Rhythmic, diatonic and microtonal structures in musical composition: method and notation, 1993-1998’, (2001).

If you would like to have access to this- which contains lots of information about microtonal topics, then request it at info.microtonalprojects@gmail.com

Germany, France, Switzerland

22th November – 30th November 2025

In honor of the Mexican composer Julián Carrillo (1875-1965) on his 150th birthday.

The “Trinational MicroFest” celebrates the artistic, cultural and personal exchange between three countries. A new story that connects France, Switzerland and Germany through music and that builds a bridge between the musical heritage of microtonality and the latest approaches from current composers who explore the possibilities of this thinking of sound in order to share it with a curious audience.

In collaboration with various institutions, musicians and musicologists from France, Switzerland and Germany as well as international partners from Carrillo’s home country Mexico and Latin America, the festival presents various activities related to the music of Julián Carrillo: concerts, lectures, symposiums, exhibitions, educational projects and a competition for female composers in the form of a “Call for scores”. In addition, the festival presents works with numerous premieres by current composers, particularly from France, Switzerland, Germany and Latin America, with a focus on special microtonal instruments.

The “Trinational MicroFest” invites you to powerful and surprising experiences. When you hear microtonal music and instruments for the first time, it leaves a lasting impression!

“This moment marked my fate. […] The previously known cycle of twelve tones that were only related to each other was broken and opened the doors to infinity for music.” Julián Carrillo

This summer, the Stephen Weigel interviewed Stephen Altoft about the Microtonal Trumpet project and Microtonal Projects’ work. Listen to the podcast here.

‘Now and Xen is the microtonal podcast – launched by Sevish, and now run by Stephen Weigel. We talk to seasoned veterans of microtonal music about the techniques they use to play their instruments, music theory, composition, performance, education, and the role of microtonality in society. We generally focus on contemporary music, though we dig into older music quite a bit as well. If the Patreon account gets to 60, we will create monthly episodes!’