Aurélie Saraf 
Harpist, performing artist 
Aurélie Saraf is dedicated to creative work (contemporary music, improvisation, musical theater). A graduate of the CNSMD in Lyon in Fabrice Pierre’s class, she studied under Frédérique Cambreling and completed an advanced training program with Ursula Holliger at the Hochschule in Freiburg. She has performed on major stages in France and internationally, notably with the Klangforum Wien, the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, the Musiciens du Louvre, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She is regularly invited to perform with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France. 
She has performed as a soloist at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Teatro Mayor in Bogotá, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris, Radio France, and at festivals such as Darmstadt, Rainy Days, Archipels, Impuls, Festival d’Automne, Musica, and Why Note… As a harpist with the Ensemble Multilatérale and the New Gates Trio, she has collaborated with numerous composers and has had over 70 pieces dedicated to her. 
In theater, she premiered the productions*Le Savon* byF. Ponge and*Écrire* byM. Duras (Cie Petits Formats),*L’Instruction* byP. Weiss (Cie de la Lune Blanche),*Kiosk’Aperghis* (Singulière Compagnie), Chants d’Est withSonia Wieder-Atherton,Une saison en enfer by A. Rimbaud (l’Oblio di me),Trois Somme Eberluée byC. Tarkos (Musiques de Notre Temps), andEmile dans la nuit (Cie Azabache). She collaborates with Musiques à Ouïr on various improvised performances and in the showsÔ Brigitte,Poulpes et Diatomées,L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, andComme ça. Aurélie Saraf holds a CA degree; she teaches at the CNSMD in Lyon as part of the Music Education Training program for Contemporary Music Pedagogy and at the Hochschule in Basel for the Master’s in Contemporary Music. She teaches harp at the Pôle d’Enseignement Supérieur de Musique in Bordeaux. 

Alexandros Markeas 
Composer 
Born in 1965 in Athens, Alexandros Markeas studied piano and music composition at the National Conservatory of Greece, then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He specializes in improvised music and performs frequently as a soloist or in ensembles. At the same time, he devoted himself to composition. He took classes in music theory, analysis, and composition at the CNSMDP with Guy Reibel, Michael Levinas, and Marc-André Dalbavie. He won first prizes in piano, music theory, and composition, a discipline in which he completed the advanced program. 
He was also selected to participate in IRCAM’s annual program in composition and computer music, as well as the Composition Academy of the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
For 30 years, his works have been performed in France and abroad by various ensembles such as the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Ensemble Modern, Proxima Centauri, Court-Circuit, l’Itinéraire, TM+, Ars Nova, Musicatreize, Sequenza 93, the Habanera Quartet, the Arditti Quartet, the Diotima Quartet, the Percussions de Strasbourg, the Radio France Philharmonic and National Orchestras, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, and the Orchestre National de Lille. 
His work is characterized by his desire to decode and alter the mechanisms of musical perception. He often draws inspiration from existing music to reinterpret and deconstruct its aesthetic frameworks, creating forms that freely alternate between references and pure sonic abstraction. Traditional Mediterranean music, the Renaissance repertoire, rock, and jazz are essential sources of inspiration for him. He also draws inspiration from various fields of artistic expression, such as architecture, theater, and the visual arts (installations, events, video, web), to seek alternatives to the traditional concert and create unique musical listening experiences. 
His pieces are characterized by a theatrical spirit and the use of multimedia techniques. Since 2004, Alexandros Markeas has taught improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique.