Forum Wallis D4

1 JUN 2025 - MEbU Münster

7pm - Konzert
Carte Blanche à Simone Conforti
ÉCHO VITRÉEN
mit Simone Conforti und Alberto Gatti

***

PROGRAMM

Écho Vitréen
for Flute, Electronic Wind Instrument,
Electronics, Video, and Resonators

A performative space that combines
mixed music, acousmatic music, media design,
interactivity and multimodal improvisation

MITWIRKENDE

Simone Conforti
Alberto Gatti

IDEE

Every object possesses a sound that represents it, whether concrete or abstract, derived from direct experience or the projection of a sonic memory. Sound emerges through interaction: it can be direct, such as placing a glass on a table, or indirect, such as the ringing of a phone. By separating an object from its inherent sound and associating a different acoustic dimension with it, we can explore a deeper relationship with the object that transcends the physical consequences of sound. This turns the object into a medium for projecting and sculpting new sonic sources. Using exciters on various materials reveals a vast, unexplored universe of resonances. Écho Vitréen is a musical project that expands acoustic reality through sound diffusion and projection. It reflects the global tension surrounding water resources and humanity’s complex relationship with this essential element, highlighting its dual role as both a life-sustaining necessity and a critical indicator of ecological crisis. Water is presented as both a 'contained element' in objects such as glasses and bottles, and as a 'space' in reservoirs, valleys and dams. These containers are an integral part of our daily lives, yet we often take for granted their sounds, materials, shapes, uses, and most importantly, their contents. The project is a musical performance involving two performers and resonant scenography made up of everyday, water-related objects. Each object has scenic and sonic significance, fusing matter and form in a way that transforms their function through technology and turns them into archetypes of our relationship with water. Immersed in this landscape alongside the audience, the wind instrument player interacts with and resonates through glass objects, creating a timbral, spatial and formal counterpoint that prompts listeners to question whether the environment is changing due to human intervention or vice versa. The extended reality that emerges during the performance is the result of the connection between loudspeakers and glass resonators, the extension of the acoustic instrument through electronic means, and the embodiment of the wind controller. It is also the result of the visual and scenographic dimension, which is a mixture of cross-modal interactivity between sound, light, and video.

Simone Conforti. Composer, computer music designer, sound designer and software developer, born in Winterthur, graduated in Flute and Electronic Music. Computer Music Designer professor at IRCAM and Co-founder and CTO of MUSICO. Formerly co-founder of MusicFit and MUSST, has worked for ArchitetturaSonora, and as researcher for the Basel University, the HEM Geneva, the HEMU in Lausanne and the MARTLab research center in Florence. Specialised in interactive and multimedia arts, his work passes also through an intense activity of music oriented technology design, in this field he has developed many algorithms which ranges from sound spatialisation and space virtualisation to sound masking and to generative music. He has been professor in Electroacoustic Composition and Computer Music at the Conservatoire of Cuneo and Florence and worked as computer music designer at CIMM of Venice Biennale. https://simoneconforti.eu/?page_id=8

Alberto Maria Gatti. https://www.scuolamusicafiesole.it/docenti/alberto-maria-gatti/

***

Vom 28. Mai bis zum 15. Juni 2025 verwandelt sich das Oberwallis zum 18. Mal in einen Neue Musik-Hotspot: angesagte schweizer und internationale Acts der zeitgenössischen Musik reichen sich dann am Festival Forum Wallis die Klinke und gewähren einen faszinierenden Einblick in das bunte und vielfältige Schaffen der Neuen Musik. Das Festival erstreckt sich über drei Wochen und insgesamt 6 Spieltagen: Am MEbU (Münster Earport) im Goms finden die akusmatischen Konzerte (28./29. Mai) statt, auf Schloss Leuk die experimentellen Live-Acts (31. Mai), und am 13./14. und 15. Juni Konzerte mit dem Fokus auf neu beleuchteter Volks- und Weltmusik, wo das Festival mit den Konzerten des Oberwalliser Volksliederchors zusammen mit dem Ägypter Wael Sami Elkholy auch in verschiedene oberwalliser Dörfer ausschwärmt. Mit dabei sind in der 18. Festivalausgabe die schweizer Freejazz-Grössen Manuel Mengis und Hans-Peter Pfammatter, Roberto Domeniconi, Francesco Miccolis, Flo Götte, Patrice Moret, UMS’nJIP und das griechische dissonArt Ensemble. Die Ars Electronica Forum Wallis Selection Concerts, welche 2025 vom zum 10. Mal stattfinden und von Simone Conforti (IRCAM Paris) kuratiert und performt werden, finden am MEbU (Münster Earport) im Goms statt. 26 Werke kamen in diesem Jahr in die Ränge, für 14 weitere gab es eine Special Mention. Eingereicht wurden 279 Werke von 249 KomponistInnen aus 39 Ländern und allen Kontinenten. 

***

Das Forum Wallis ist ein internationales Festival für Neue Musik und findet im Wallis in der Schweiz statt. Seit 2006 hat das Forum Wallis über 300 Uraufführungen mitproduziert und Werke von über 500 KomponistInnen aus aller Welt präsentiert, darunter Stockhausens Helikopterstreichquartett zusammen mit dem Arditti Quartet, André Richard und Air Glaciers, Holligers Alp-Cheer und Cod.Acts Pendulum Choir. Zu den regelmässigen Gästen des Festivals gehören Weltklasse-Ensembles wie recherche, Zafraan, UMS’nJIP, dissonArt, Steamboat Switzerland, Klangforum Wien oder Ensemble Modern. 

***

Das vollständige Festivalprogramm ist online auf http://forumwallis.ch zu finden.

Link zur Website: http://forumwallis.ch