Purpose of residency: research.
Notre Musique ("a field, a mine or a sanctuary") is an augmented piano recital with and around works by composer Claude Debussy, featuring video, performance, experimentation and sound spatialization.
What's the current state of the " classique" recital? How does it relate to the world?
For the instrumentalist, the recital is a place for musical expression and aesthetic subjectivity. It is also a device in which the work seems to spring forth ex-nihilo, as if separate from and external to reality. In these modalities, both the performer and the work are reduced to an aspect of what they are, and consequently condemned⸱e-s to perpetuate the demiurgic myth of the masterpiece. What, then, might a recital be where questions of the performer's situation and the context of the work's making come into play?
Claude Debussy's piano repertoire emerged during the colonial period, and some of these works make direct reference toElsewhere and theOther. Their existence depends as much on the composer's talent as on the political context from which he benefited, enabling him to discover the gamelan or cakewalk so important to his writing. What do these works echo, and how do they resonate today? What questions and narratives does sound sometimes shield?
For Haga Ratovo, it's a question of playing Debussy's music as it is generally heard, through a musical program in which the pieces Pagodes and Petit nègre form the backbone. Through sound experimentation, he also wishes to play with the Debussy sound material, making it porous so that the ghosts it contains can take place and emerge, as well as the ideas, questions, images and musical, literary and poetic references linked to race that it potentially carries and arouses in Haga Ratovo. Finally, playing in Debussy also means bringing into play materials that characterize it in ways other than sound (the composer's piano scores, archives, videos of pianists on YouTube, representations of the composer's figure in public space, etc.).
Delegated production
La Pop
Haga Ratovo
Pianist
Trained at the CNSMD de Paris and involved in contemporary creation (Violeta Cruz, Othman Louati, Maël Bailly, Laurent Durupt...), Haga has developed a close relationship with the ensembles Le Balcon, directed by Maxime Pascal, and Links, directed by Rémi Durupt. His various stage activities have led him to perform in France (Philharmonie 1 et 2 de Paris, Festival Présences, Bourse de Commerce...) and abroad. He also collaborates with artists such as stage director Maxime Kurvers, visual artist Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc and dancer-choreographer Kaori Ito. Winner of the French civil service competition, Haga also holds a CA in piano and has been teaching at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Créteil since 2018.
Etienne Démoulin
Réalisateur en informatique musicale (RIM)
Etienne Démoulin is a computer music producer living in Paris, and creates mixed music works, focusing his research on alternative sound production techniques (transducers, embedded and distributed audio). He performs electronic music in concert, notably with ensembles such as Le Balcon and Les Percussions de Strasbourg. He provides sound for concerts and contributes to the development of new sound techniques for live performance. In September 2022, he joins the Next ensemble, as part of the 3rd cycle "Artist Diploma" program at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
Jela Hasler
Director
Jela studied photography in Zurich and Istanbul, and film in Lucerne. Her short films have been shown at festivals all over the world, including Locarno, IDFA, Hot Docs, etc., and most recently at Cannes Critics' Week with Über Wasser (Out of Water), where she won several awards. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Pro Short, the Swiss short film association, and of the Swiss directors' and scriptwriters' association ARF/FDS.
Haga Ratovo
piano and design
Etienne Démoulin
computer music production
Jela Hasler
video director
NN
direction, outside view, lighting design