Just this once, we ask that you keep your phones switched on during this unique concert! With this quintet of percussion, wind and string instruments, you will become connected maestros and maestras… Under the baton of conductor Sébastien Boin, and in response to your live text messages, the Ensemble C Barré will perform an open and interactive score, written especially for the occasion by composer Alexandros Markeas. Like a real-life social network or a real-time reality TV show, your actions, choices and comments will determine the composition, tempo and duration of the piece… and sometimes even the size of the orchestra!

Beyond the musical performance accomplished under the aegis of your digital incantations, this unique concert takes an attentive, critical and humorous look at our customs and connected societies. Requiem 2.0!

STATEMENT OF INTENT
By Alexandros Markeas
“I am extremely interested in the relationship between music and new technologies. I try to see how the conception and perception of music are modified by multimedia devices. The theatricality inherent in their use is at the heart of my work. These devices become sound characters in their own right, partners in play… I integrate them into my compositions as an element capable of guiding, accompanying and disorienting perception. I also try to question our new mechanisms for listening to music, linked to the technological world that is part of our daily lives. This world has changed our relationship with music. The link between music and its own means of distribution (streaming platforms, remote controls, videos, etc.) has imposed a particular way of listening: active, jerky, fast, fragmentary, repetitive, multiple, random. Our listening is moving away from preconceived forms, creating new ones, opposing the ritual of the concert and questioning its codes. I try to draw inspiration from this to seek out new poetic spaces in musical content, in its form of representation and in its relationship with the audience.”