Mikel Urquiza
composer

Mikel Urquiza born in 1988 in Bilbao] studied composition at Musikene (San Sebastian) with Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, then at the CNSM in Paris with Gérard Pesson and Stefano Gervasoni. In 2014 he attended the Voix nouvelles program at Royaumont. In 2019-2020 he is first sponsored by the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, then boarder of the Académie de France in Rome -Villa Médicis. As a doctoral student in the SACRe program, he is interested in the interaction between music and memory. His chamber music pieces are often performed: his piano trio Cinq pièges brefs has been performed by Meitar Ensemble, New European Ensemble, United Instruments of Lucilin, and mdi ensemble, among others; Pièges de neige, premiered by Trio Catch at the Cologne Philharmonic, has also been performed in Berlin, Hamburg, and at the Maison de la Radio in Paris. The Diotima Quartet played Indicio at the Pontino Festival in Italy, at the BBVAd e Bilbao Foundation, at the Ensems Festival in Valencia and at Musik protokoll Graz. He collaborates with many French ensembles, such as Ensemble C Barré, L'Instant Donné or Ensemble Intercontemporain; in Germany, he works with Trio Accanto, Ascolta, Ensemble mosaik and Musikfabrik. His music has also been performed at the Festival Présences, ManiFeste, Festival ECLAT, Wittener Tagefür neue Kammermusik, MATA New York, Gaudeamus Muziekweek and the Venice Biennale. He has written several song cycles, such as Alfabet for Sarah Maria Sun, Inalt be clode on the frolt for Marion Tassou and Songs of Spam for the Neue Vocalsolisten. His piano piece Contrapluma has traveled through the ECHO network by the hand of Mariam Batsashvili - from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw to the Vienna Musikverein - and has been proposed to the Ferruccio Busoni Competition and the Concours International d'Orléans.

Sébastien Boin
conductor

Sébastien Boin is part of this new generation of conductors who are passionate about musical creation and who have vigorously forged their own ensemble in their image. Thus was born the instrumental ensemble CBarré, dedicated to musical creation, with which he experiments the double responsibility of artistic and musical direction. Passionate about both instrumental and vocal music, which he believes are naturally complementary, he has a dual career as a conductor and choir director. He has collaborated with the Radio France Choir, the regional orchestra of Avignon-Provence and the regional orchestra of Basse Normandie. In 2016 he was invited by the Festival d'Aix to conduct Ana Sokolovic's opera Svadba during a three-year international tour. He currently teaches choral conducting at theCFMI in Aix-en-Provence and conducting at the Conservatoire de Marseille.

Neue Vocalsolisten
vocal ensemble

... Researchers, inventors, idealists. They work with specialist ensembles and radio orchestras, with opera houses, independent theaters, electronic studios, and with organizers of festivals and concerts of modern music in Europe. The Neue Vocalsolisten - a contemporary vocal music ensemble founded in 1984 as part of Musik der Jahrhunderte - has been an artistically independent vocal chamber music ensemble since 2000. The seven soloists, ranging from coloratura soprano to countertenor and deep bass, bring their creative power to bear on their chamber music work in collaboration with the composers and other performers. A group of specialized singers completes the core team, depending on the cast. Research is at the center of their interests, searching for new tonalities, new vocal techniques and forms of articulation; dialogue with composers is an important part of their work. Each year, they ensure the creation of nearly 20 new works. Opera and interdisciplinary work involving electronics, video, visual arts and literature are part of the group's artistic project, as are collages that contrast elements of early and modern music.