Thursday 9 May 2024 l 19:00 l Festival Propagations l CNCM-GMEM, La Module, Marseille (Friche la Belle de Mai, 41 Rue Jobin, 13003 Marseille)
Hosted and supported by the GMEM since 2021, the long-term empirical research and creative project “sheng! l’orgue à bouche (2019-2026)” is based on a specific amplification system developed by Wu Wei and Alexis Baskind for the thirty-seven-pipe sheng (mouth organ). This project encourages new writing composed for the augmented instrument, and also invites visual artists.
In this creative concert, the audience discovers a light installation by Caty Olive.
Julie Zhu makes us hear the sounds produced by the act of drawing, transforming them in real time.
Wu Wei and Alexis Baskind place the listener inside the sheng, in the image of the “Forest of Pipes”.
André Serre-Milan presents the sheng as a revelation of human breathing.
A traditional instrument dating back 3,000 years, the mouth organ repertoire is divided between the traditional (linked to the Song dynasty and the Japanese imperial court – Gagaku), the “classical” (pieces written after 1956 in China for renovated mouth organs) and the “contemporary” (created from the late 1970s onwards).
Program:
Julie ZHU: Ornithology for sheng, electronics and drawing box (World-premiere)
WU Wei: Forest of Bamboos n° 2 for sheng, electronics (World-premiere)
André Serre-Milan: Breaths of Life(s) for sheng, electronics
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Wu Wei
master of sheng
Julie Zhu
André Serre-Milan
Wu Wei
Composers
Alexis Baskind
musician, sound engineer, computer music producer
Caty Olive
lighting design
Paul Cameron
electronic design
Liao Lin-Ni
artistic direction
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Coproduction
CNCM-GMEM & TPMC – Tout Pour la Musique Contemporaine
Support
Drac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur ; University of Michigan ; MMC – Maison de la Musique Contemporaine
State commission
to write an original musical work 2022
Commissioned by GMEM
André Serre-Milan
Breaths of Life(s)
Acknowledgements
IReMus; Ircam – Centre Pompidou; Césaré (CNCM – Reims); Drac Île-de-France; Collegium Musicæ; GVL – Neustart Kultur; Stanford University; Musée des Confluences; Radio France and Chen Heng
Partnership
Friche la Belle de Mai
More information in English and French – https://gmem.org/festival-