Techno pioneer Richie Hawtin in conversation with PhD researchers

10 October 2023 - Press release

DJ, techno pioneer and electronic musician Richie Hawtin will visit the University of Huddersfield for an onstage discussion with music and music technology researchers and students on 17 October. 

Tickets for the two-hour event, which starts at 11:00am in the Oastler Building on the University campus, are free but need to be reserved in advance: eventbrite. 

The British-Canadian artist, who received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2015, will be in conversation with Pierre Griscelli, the winner of the Richie Hawtin PhD Scholarship in Electronic Music, Cultures and Production that was launched earlier this year and take questions from those in attendance.

Pierre, a 37-year-old French native has been awarded with a full three-year waiver of tuition fees for the full-time PhD study, starting this September. He will receive supervision from the facility's internationally renowned staff, including tutorial support from Richie Hawtin himself.

Richie Hawtin is a pioneering techno DJ who rose to fame in the boom in techno music in the early 1990s, cutting his teeth in the scene’s Detroit warehouse parties. He played a key part in the emergence of minimal techno and became well-known as a producer making his own music as Plastikman and F.U.S.E. and founded record labels Plus 8 ad M-nus.

He also launched his own ENTER. club night at space in Ibiza, has been involved in designing his own DJ mixer, creating music technology apps, and has his own sake brand.

As the winning applicant, electronic performer, sound designer and producer Pierre Griscelli was selected for his research proposal titled: “Techno Hardware-centric, Real-time, Improvisation, Performance and Production Solution” which seeks to explore the true creative and technical benefits and challenges of using hardware synthesizers in the production of techno music; as well as the distinct intersection of music production and performance.

In a 10-year career in sound design in the video games industry, Pierre has worked on blockbusters such as Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft), Batman Arkham Knight (Warner) [BAFTA for Best British Game], Kinect Sports (Microsoft) and Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft).