Biography
Born in 1961 in Ingwiller, Alsace/France.
Studies accordion from the age of 4, first with his mother, Christiane, who leads the small popular music orchestra that bears his name, then at age 9 in Gaston Jung's music school.
He then plays in his parents' orchestra, where he discovers for the first time an electronic instrument, the Elektronium, which fascinates him with its sonic possibilities.
He took also part in concerts with Gaston Jung's accordion orchestra, where he also played as a soloist. There he discovered popular music from various countries (notably Italian, Spanish, Russian and South American), pop songs, but also composers such as Brahms and Verdi, whom he particularly appreciated.
At the age of 12, he won a gold medal at the accordion music competition in Saverne, then decided to learn piano.
Around the same time, he began composing short pieces for accordion and piano.
He then studies piano for two years with Doris Mugler, who in addition to classical and romantic music introduces him to Bartok, Prokofiev and Debussy. She made him listen to numerous records by various pianists and sometimes took him to see concerts in Strasbourg.
In 1976, at the age of 15, he entered the Strasbourg Conservatory and studied piano, first with Paul Blumenroeder, then with Gérard Frémy. He began performing in public as a pianist in 1980. On completion of his piano studies, he was awarded a "Première Médaille" of piano in 1982, followed by a first Accessit in 1983.
During this period, he continued to compose piano pieces, and in 1978 began also experimenting with recordings, using several tape recorders. Using a light dimmer he built with an electronic kit, he varies the speed of a tape recorder, enabling him to modify the sounds he has recorded. Gérard Frémy was interested in this research and encouraged him to discover electroacoustic music.
Thanks to Gérard Frémy, he also discovers different styles of contemporary music that will also influence his compositions, notably John Cage, Luciano Berio and Steve Reich. He also takes part in workshops by composers Maurizio Kagel and Henri Pousseur.
From 1980, he participated in the "Atelier Musical Contemporain d'Alsace" directed by Gérard Frémy, with concerts in France, Italy and Portugal, then in the "Groupe d'Etude et Réalisation Musicales" directed by Pierre Mariétan, with concerts in France and Switzerland.
In 1982, Gérard Frémy invited him to play both classical and contemporary music with him for 4 hands and two pianos, resulting in numerous concerts in France, Germany and Italy. Their repertoire also included pieces for two prepared pianos by John Cage. On this occasion, he had the pleasure of meeting the composer John Cage on several occasions, working with him and benefiting from his advices.
Being interested in electronic sounds, he took part in a workshop with composer Eliane Radigue on the ARP 2500 synthesizer, which also allowed him to discover minimalist styles and process music. Subsequently, Pierre Mariétan enabled him to produce his first electronic composition "Extrapolations", for piano and tape, in the studio in Pontoise, near Paris.
It was during a concert with GERM in Switzerland that he discovered computer music, and took part in a workshop organized by composer Giuseppe Englert on the Synclavier I (both a mini-computer and a digital synthesizer based on frequency modulation). After learning the XPL programming language, he creates his first piece of computer music, "Quatuor", which is essentially algorithm-based.
At the same time, he composed pieces for piano and small ensembles, based in part on random processes.
He also begins giving piano lessons at various music schools.
In 1983, he entered the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, where he studied electroacoustic music in Guy Reibel's class. But the way of working, inspired by the philosophy of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales de Paris, did not interest him. He nevertheless produced an electroacoustic piece there: "Instants", with the voice of singer Emmanuelle Drouet.
In 1984, after attending a concert by Mesias Maiguashca, he decided to join his class at the Conservatory of Metz. In addition to tape recorders, FM digital synthesizers are used, programmed and controlled by computers using the MIDI protocol. He also studies other computer languages with François Pinot: Pascal and Assembler 6502.
In 1985 , he composed "Variations Electriques" in collaboration with sculptors France and Hughes Siptrott, to accompany their week-long exhibition in an art gallery in Strasbourg. This piece is both based on loops transformed by ring modulation and frequency modulation textures, and the durations are determined by random processes.
Mesias Maiguashca proposed a joint project, a video and musical installation based on Benoit Mandelbrot's fractal images calculated with the Apple II computer. He took charge of computer programming and image calculation, while Mesias concentrated on the musical composition. This resulted in the piece "Barcarola Bitistica", which was performed at several concerts in Germany and the Netherlands.
In 1986, he goes to IRCAM in Paris with Mesias Maiguashca, to learn how to work with Macintosh computers. using the Lisp programming language. On this occasion, they meet Frank Balde, who invites them to do a working residency at STEIM in Amsterdam. He has the pleasure of meeting the composer Joel Ryan, who helps him with the more complex aspects of his work. This results in the multimedia project Mandelbox, also based on Mandelbrot fractals, in Forth language on Atari ST 1040 computers.
In 1987, he composed two pieces also based on fractals, but using other methods to transform the sound calculations, He also composed a piece for piano and synthesizer "Symetriades" whose particularity is that all durations are calculated with the golden ratio.
At the same time, he continued programming Mandelbox, which, because of the slowness of computers at the time, required writing routines in 68000 Assembler.
In 1988, Mandelbox is ready and will be shown at the Donaueschingen Festival.
He composes "Voyage à travers un monde sonore", which will accompany another exhibition by France and Hughes Siptrott at the AMC in Mulhouse, and consists of a 48-minute tape and sequences triggered by photoelectric cells as viewers approach the sculptures.
In 1989, Gérard Frémy, who is also a composer, asked him to write computer programs enabling him to compose minimalist electronic music according to his own compositional methods. This resulted in several works, the most important of which was "Easyroad", which was presented at the Marseille contemporary music festival in 1990.
In 1990, he composed "Silence", a piece of repetitive music for 5-voice piano (playable by 1 to 5 pianists), with texts from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" describing the sounds of nature.
In 1991, Mesias Maiguashca, who had meanwhile become a professor at Freiburg's Musikhochschule, asked him to write software for his composition class. The software, which controls midi synthesizers, is called "MidiMica" and enables both the precise writing of scores with complex rhythms and the creation of algorithmic music. He works on it for two years, the first year writing the software, the second teaching it to his students.
After acquiring an Ensoniq sampler, which enables him to work with sound files, he wrote the "Synthesis" program, which uses both additive synthesis and waveform creation from fractal calculations, and the "Phases" program, which creates extreme time-stretching based on Trevor Wishart's wavesets.
In 1992, he developed "Hör-Information", for the Musikhochschule in Freiburg. This is a set of acoustic and psychoacoustic software programs that allow audiences to experiment with how we perceive different parameters of sound, including acoustic illusions. Four of his compositions that form part of the exhibition artistically illustrate certain characteristics of sound.
He also began developing a new software program for Gérard Frémy, "Harfang", which is both an improvisation instrument and a sequencer where notes, durations and dynamics are independent, and where sequences can be changed on the fly at the touch of a button. It also helps him choose and create his own timbres.
In 1993, he worked at Sudwestfunk's Studio for Experimental Music in Freiburg, developing C-language extensions to the Max program for the Macintosh, a software for controlling automated mixing desks and devices for spatializing sound. First of all, he had to create a specialized graphical interface he called "Window Objects". This software, Matrix Mixer, was used in numerous concerts and festivals throughout Europe. He worked on it until 1997.
At the same time, he set up a private music school, "Mica Music", with 5 other musicians. This school had a number of distinctive features: there were no music theory classes, students were free to choose their own pieces in a variety of styles, there were public concerts where students also presented their own compositions, and the school was organized democratically, i.e. students had the same rights as teachers and decisions were taken by vote. This school will also exist until 1997.
He continues to develop the Harfang software for Gérard Frémy, also adding a graphical interface, but in 2001, when the latter buys a new Mac computer, he notices that the system has changed, it's now Mac OS X, a NeXT clone that is used instead of Mac OS. As a result, the programs were no longer compatible, and everything had to be rewritten. Until 2006, he wrote a new version with the Carbon interface, a system relatively close to the old one, while adding other functionalities. He also transcribed the "MidiMica" program for Macintosh computers, thanks to Phil Burk's pForth library.
In 2003, he began writing his own piano method. For pupils who couldn't yet read sheet music, he created a simplified notation system inspired by that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (except that the numbers were replaced by note names), and used an original yet simple way of writing rhythms and chords. This enables children just starting out on the piano to play pieces that would otherwise be far too difficult quite quickly. He writes a number of simple arrangements of tunes in various styles, but with scrupulous respect for rhythm and melody.
He also suggests analyzing the pieces the students are studying right from the start. His methode includes plenty of documents that explain essential theoretical elements in a straightforward way, and suggests first playing the various elements of a piece (melody, bass, chords or arpeggios) separately. He also insists that a melody should always be played with one hand, and teaches different types of fingering. He also suggests listening to different versions of a piece before learning it, possibly reading the score at the same time. This method will be gradually added to in subsequent years.
In 2007, he composed "Bleu Ciel", for 3 flutes and piano, commissioned by flutist Christophe Benoist of the "Bilitis" flute group, a minimalist piece of music using processes similar to those of the Harfang program.
Hearing that Apple was going to abandon Carbon, he decided to find another solution, this time cross-platform, meaning that programs could run on both Mac and Windows, and even possibly on Linux. He learned the C++ language, and used the GLUI graphical interface, based on OpenGL. He integrates it to the Harfang program, which will now be able to run on both Mac and Windows.
As GLUI was too slow and used too many resources, he decided in 2008 to use the openFrameworks "creative coding" platform. He then created a new, much more complete graphical interface for the Harfang program and integrated the ability to play sound samples. Harfang became so an audio program as well as a midi program.
Increasingly fascinated by the spatialization of sound, he created another piece of software with openFrameworks: "Landscape", which allows sound to be moved around in space thanks to 4 loudspeakers located in the 4 corners of the room and can also synchronize previously recorded audio loops.
It was with this software that in 2011 he composed the music for the show "Théâtre et Musique" produced in collaboration with the "Jamaux-Jacquot" theater company.
In 2011, he also created the "9 Movies" software with openFrameworks, enabling the creation of a video from 9 different synchronized videos.
This software will be used to broadcast an original version of Steve Reich's piece "New York Conterpoint". The various tracks are played by clarinettist Adam Starkie, both live and recorded, but unlike the original version of the piece, it is also recorded on video (filmed by Svetlana Abracheva, who also occasionally alternates film footage with other images of New York).
In 2012, he collaborated with writer Anne Munch on a concert reading, improvising on the piano, while she reads extracts from her book "Seule dans la nuit de l'autre". The type of improvisation is very free and intuitive, and the only "score" used is the text. This new way of working based on listening will influence his later compositions greatly.
He continues to work on sound spatialization, and integrates it into Harfang. Gradually, the program becomes a genuine sample-based musical instrument that can be played with several midi keyboards plugged into it, with an important special feature: envelopes, spatialization and various real-time processing can be performed independently for each note.
In 2015, he will use the same software for another concert-reading with Anne Munch, "43 mon amour". A digital keyboard is placed on top of the piano, allowing both instruments to be played at the same time. Various sound effects underline the different moods.
Between 2016 and 2017, he created "Paysages imaginaires", a composition halfway between a traditional musical work and a soundscape, for the Harfang instrument controlled by 3 electronic keyboards: piano, accordion and percussion. Instrumental sounds, sounds of nature and sound objects are used as sound samples. Real-time transformations include ring modulation, frequency shifting, various types of filtering, and spatialization with different types of trajectories. The sound of other instruments, connected via microphones, is also transformed in real time.
As the project's computer programming became increasingly complex, he realized that writing everything directly in C++ was becoming too tedious. So he decided to rewrite his software in a specialized language for music composition and sound synthesis: SuperCollider. This took several months of work, but the result was far superior, and the working tool far more flexible.
In 2017, Mesias Maiguashca offered to work with him again, and he used SuperCollider to do so.
He creates a number of utilities for his compositions, including:
- General Amplitude Modulation", which superimposes several envelope followers.
- Vocoder Unit", which broadcasts sounds through a bank of filters whose frequencies are determined by the composer.
- Spectrum to Notes", which displays spectral analyses in note form with LilyPond.
The result is "Poema 21", and "Ele", two pieces by Mesias Maiguashca for electric guitar, electronically transformed and spatialized.
In 2019, he is creating further composition tools for Mesias Maiguashca, this time using the Csound language. Indeed, Csound has some very high-quality tools for frequency-domain manipulation (FFT/IFFT), notably the phase vocoder.
He created the "Harmonizer" utility, a pitch shifting and timestretching tool, with the option of preserving formants. He also created "DiskGrain", a similar tool, but using granular synthesis, which enables particularly creative sound transformations.
Between 2021 and 2023, he perfected Harfang, adding different types of reverb and delays with feedback, and greatly simplifying the creation of sampled instruments.
He also continues to develop his piano method, adding many tips on how to work in a very systematic way, and how to tackle difficulties in several stages. He puts a number of documents online, enabling students to consult them at home. Finally, he suggests using complex gestures, usually reserved only for the most advanced pianists, from the outset, explaining them in a very simple language. This makes it much quicker to acquire an easy, fast and personalized playing technique.
In 2023, he created "Le rêve d'un piano", a piece based on the transformation of live piano sounds, using several types of superimposed and spatialized delays and combining them with sounds of nature.