Presentation

In 2018, Roberto imagined an improvisation and experimentation trio with percussionist Michele Rabbia and double bassist Nicolas Crosse, a member of the Ensemble intercontemporain. They regularly record their improvised sessions to explore new sound materials and stimulate their creative process. The idea then emerged of developing these intuitions into a larger orchestral project, with the Ensemble intercontemporain as partner.

Roberto draws not only on the colours inherent in the ensemble’s very “contemporary” instrumentarium (two trumpets, a horn, flute and clarinet, double bass, cello, harp, vibraphone), but also on each musician’s ability to engage in the improvised gesture and to take a concrete part in building the piece.

Proposing architectures that sharpen over the course of the encounters, Roberto Negro seeks here to immerse the listener in an organic and dynamic music, based on hybrid processes between the acoustic and the electronic. Multiplying games of illusion through a whole network of echoes and sound superpositions, the composer aims to go beyond the concept, however subtle it may be… “I want it to be intense, strange and fun! I want to bring all of this to life with lyricism, melody, play of contrasts and movement.” In other words, to get the best of both worlds and project oneself resolutely into the music of the 21st century.

Stéphan Olivier