The works of Ars Numerica, composed by Frédéric Le Bel, Benjamin Lavastre, Alithéa Ripoll and Elzbieta Sikora, attempt to bring together two distant worlds: that of science - associated with Cartesianism, and that of art - associated with spontaneity and raw emotion.
This concert includes a variety of technologies and compositional techniques ranging from the fixed tapes associated with digital art of the 1960s, to the most recent experiments in ongoing scientific research. Ars Numerica is a unique physical and technological experience.
TICKETS
Presale: 22$
Regular: 30$
Reduced (Students, Vivier members, over 65s, etc.): 15$
The tickets are can be purchased here.
PROGRAM
Frédéric Le Bel: “...que par un être dont le coeur bat…” , 2023 for percussion, saxophone and electronics - premiere
Benjamin Lavastre: Création , 2023 for karlax, saxophone and electronics - premiere
Alithéa Ripoll: Extraction - brouillé de noir , 2023 - premiere
Elzbieta Sikora: Axe Rouge II , 2007 for percussion, saxophone et électronique
PARTICIPANTS
LOUIS-PHILIPPE BONIN (saxophone)
Louis-Philippe BONIN holds a master’s degree (M.MUS) from the University of Montreal. After finishing his curriculum in Montréal, he took extensive courses with Timothy McAllister, University of Michigan, where he undertook a specialist degree in saxophone performance . He attends numerous events such as the World Saxophone Congress (France, Scotland), the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition (Thailand), the Saxophone European University (France) and the Arosa Saxophone Course (Switzerland) where he raffined his knowledge on the saxophone repertoire and pedagogy with the great European Masters.
He is regularly invited to perform either as a soloist or chamber musician with the Duo AIRS or the Ensemble SaxoLogie with organisations such as the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), the Société de Musique Contemporaine (SMCQ), Code d’Accès, Groupe Le Vivier and La Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur. In 2020, his first solo album “Une auto, un boulevard, un vélo et de la neige” is released by ATMA Classique
DAVID THERRIEN BRONGO (percussion)
Italo-Uruguayo-Quebecer percussionist based in Montreal, David Therrien Brongo has a career as a performer, educator and researcher. Founding member of the Duo AIRS and Orchestre de l’Agora, David is also a member of Ensemble Paramirabo. He regularly performs with the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Sixtrum and the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal (ECM +). Active on the international scene, David has performed in England, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, France and across Canada. Holding degrees from the University of Montreal and the Superior School of Music of Catalonia in Barcelona, he is now pursuing his doctoral studies at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. His researches are funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
COMPOSERS
Frédéric Le Bel began his studies in jazz performance in 2004 but since 2007 he devoted himself entirely to composition. In 2011, he graduated from the University of Montreal (Canada) where he studied with Philippe Leroux. In 2013, he received his first prize (M.Mus) with high distinction from the Conservatory of Music in Montreal where he studied with Serge Provost. After obtaining an artist diploma from the same institution in 2014, he attended both Ircam Cursus Program and is now pursuing a PhD degree in the same institution under the direction of Mikhail Malt (Ircam) and Alain Bonardi (Paris 8) working on the development and the integration of machine-learning techniques into its creative process.
Frederic has also participated in several international academies such as the Impuls Academy in Graz (Austria), the ManiFeste Academy in Paris (France), the Young Composer Meeting in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne International Forum for Young Composer (Canada). His music has been awarded several times by the SOCAN Foundation in Canada and has been performed in different festivals such as the Montreal New Music Festival (Canada), the Cheltenham Music Festival (UK), the Time of Music Festival (Finland), the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), the Mise-en Musique festival (USA) and at Expo Milano (Italy).
His repertoire consists of instrumental music, mixed music and acousmatic music. From soloist to symphonic orchestra, he has worked with exceptional people and ensembles such as, Brice Martin, Cameron Crozman, Ricardo Descalzo, the Quasar saxophone quartet, the TANA String Quartet, the Dr. K Sextet, the Curious Chamber Players, the Divertimento Ensemble, the Barcelona Modern Project, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Klangforum Wien, the Orkest de Ereprijs and the CMM Youth Orchestra. For him, composing is a strange mix of research, discovery and confused sensations. The expression by the sound phenomenon through an architecture bearing knowledge and meaning remains its greatest artistic preoccupation.
Benjamin Lavastre was born in Aix en Provence, France. He studied composition at the CRD in Noisiel with Valéry Aubertin, at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève with Michael Jarrell, Luis Naon, Eric Daubresse and Pascal Dusapin and at the Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, Germany with Michael Obst and Ulrich Kreppein. He is currently following a DMUS with Philippe Leroux at McGill University. During his training, he met Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail, Francesco Filidei, Franck Bedrossian and the Ensemble Intercontemporain during masterclasses.
He participated in the Impuls festival in Graz in 2019. In 2016, he was selected by the Archipel festival in Geneva and presented his piece Raptime for rapper, percussion and electronics. His electroacoustic pieces are performed and broadcast in the city of Geneva as part of the Mirrors 2015 and Mobility 2018 projects. His works were performed by MDR Orchestra, TANA quartet, Ensemble 21 and conductors such as Guillaume Bourgogne, Ulrich Kern and Kanako Abe.
Holder of a Master's degree in composition from the Haute Ecole de Musique, he obtained a Prize awarded by the Conseil d'Etat de Genève. Also a guitarist, he performs and specializes in contemporary music, taking lessons from Mats Scheidegger, Dusan Bogdanovic and Arnaud Dumond. His pieces Suite de Gobi for 2 guitars and electronics or L'aire du Verseau for 4 guitars, ensemble and electronics were performed in 2018. In 2019, he was selected for the ARCO Composition Academy in Marseille and presented his quartet überschritten played by the TANA string quartet.
As part of the Bauhaus 100th anniversary celebrations, he composed Variationen über ein geometrisches Thema nach Kurt Kranz based on the artist's film with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. The piece was premiered on November 28 in Leipzig conducted by Ulrich Kern. His last piece, Mouvements de l’Arve, for flute, ensemble and electronics created in 2020 was awarded the Paléo Festival Nyon prize.
Following her Master's qualification with high distinction in Composition in 2014 at the Royal Conservatory of Liège (BE), Alithéa Ripoll is teaching as an assistant there in turn. Recently, she started a Mus.D. in Composition and Sound Creation with Ana Sokolović at the University of Montreal.
Fueled by the interdisciplinary approach, she develops various projects by collaborating with many artists. Nearly sixty compositions have been created, mainly as a result of commissions from chamber music ensembles such as Musiques Nouvelles (BE), Tana (FR), Laps (BE), Hopper (BE), Paramirabo (QC), Sepia (PL), Trio Spilliaert (BE), Fractales (BE)... and then Radio France - as well as from many other non-musical artists. She has performed at several Belgian and international festivals in the Netherlands, France, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Chile and Quebec.
She received the André Souris Prize in 2015 and the Pousseur Prize in 2020. Through the UdeM, she obtained a residency with the ensembles Sixtrum, Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan at the end of 2021 and a reading by NEM in 2022. Many new commissions are in the works.
Elzbieta Sikora was born in 1943 in Lwow, Poland. She has studied music composition with Tadeusz Baird and Zbigniew Rudziński in Warsaw, Poland, with Betsy Jolas in Paris and electro-acoustic music composition with Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle in Paris. In 1973 she founded, with Wojciech Michniewski and Krzysztof Knittel the Group of Composers KEW. Scholarships from the French Government at IRCAM, Paris, the City of Mannheim, and the Kosciuszko Foundation at CCRMA (Computer Center for Research in Music and Acoustics), Stanford, have enriched the composer’s international outlook.
Elzbieta Sikora has received among others: II Prize for her opera Ariadna, at the Composers Competition in Dresden, Germany, Prix Magisterium for Aquamarina in Bourges, France. She has been awarded by SACEM, received the SACD Prize Nouveau Talent Musique, in Paris, France for her opera L’Arrache-coeur. She received the Cross of Merit from the Polish Government in 1997. In 2004 she was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. From 1985 to 2005 Elzbieta Sikora thought at the Music Conservatory and at the Fine Art School in Angoulême. In 2004 and 2007 she was visiting professor at the University of Chicago. For her last opera Madame Curie she received several prizes in Poland and in France. From 2011 to 2017 Elzbieta Sikora was artistic director of Musica Electronica Nova Festival, Wroclaw, Poland.
Elzbieta Sikora lives and works in Paris, France.
Her works, published by PWM, are performed around the world.