Biography

I have always been fascinated by the physicality of the performers and have attached great importance to their presence on stage. Hence, in this piece, I hope to explore the duality of musical gestures between what is seen and what is heard. The use of motion sensors allows me to explore the idea that theatre itself produces sounds, and sounds produces theatre. This use of such technology is also a way of returning the autonomy of the electronic processing back to the performer. In Arboretum of myths and trees, the singer interprets the electronics: what she does , both physically and musically will affect the electronics.

The soprano is thus a central figure that is both supported and contradicted by the ensemble. I wrote and composed a series of gestures that the singer must perform in addition to singing. Hence, with her hand movements, she controls and interprets the execution of electronic treatments on the harp and piano, while the sounds of the flutes can we viewed as an extension of the vocal writing.

The composition of the music and gestures are, naturally, subjected to the psychological states of these mythic characters Daphne and Apollo. This myth is well known: to avenge the taunts of Apollo, Eros makes him fall in love with the nymph Daphne, while generating a total disgust in the latter; To escape the rape of Apollo, Daphne transformed into a laurel tree.

The version given by Jamie R. Currie - English writer, poet, philosopher and musicologist - is a modern semi-abstract narrative. When writing the text, he had in mind the statue by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) in 1625, which can be seen today at the Villa Borghese in Rome: the gesture of Apollo almost touching Daphne, the silent cry that appears on the her face, the frightened young girl already half transformed.

Arboretum is a botanical term for a collection of trees meant for scientific study. Here it is a metaphor for the form of this work which presents 3 versions of the myth. The commonality between myths and trees lies in structure - that of a tireless arborescent development. The figures of myth are protean and inconsistent: each era projects onto the same myths its own nuances and metaphors to better illustrate the societal issues of the day. The myth here serves both as sounding metaphor and reality: the choice of which is at the same time irrelevant ( I could choose another one ) and absolutely crucial because it gives the work its coherence and its shape.

Each of the 3 versions offers a different perspective of the scene - in a different mode of expression and syntax.

In the first part , Apollo dream - I imagine a drunk, leaning against the bar, remembering his deed, trying to dissolve his problems in alcohol. Then comes the flight of Daphne: the text is in the present, panic speech with rushed words and little regard for coherent meaning. In the third and last part is the singing of the tree: we hear the creaking of the tree bark, the rustling of leaves and one voice remains, that of the poor Daphne.

The myth of Apollo and Daphne is not for me eternal love story but rather a story of possession and eternal regret.

This English version is an edited transcript of an interview by Jeremy Szpirglas, Manifeste 2013.