Research Catalogue

The current music scene is manifold in its means of expression. As music becomes more diverse and embraces other art forms it makes room for a new type of performers to flourish. My academic path, comprising jazz theory lessons and an uncomplete bachelor’s in composition beyond my classical piano studies, gave me the opportunity to develop a set of artistic skills that go beyond the standard performer curriculum. I saw in this artistic research the perfect chance to apply this knowledge. In my work I explore three distinct approaches to a specific piece of music: Constança Capdeville’s Avec Picasso, ce matin… (1984), starting from a more traditional analysis and progressively diverging from this path towards a subversive approach inspired by the concept of anamorphosis. Capdeville’s score is essentially an open work with a set of guiding instructions. However, the lack of documentation, clear instructions and reliable sources concerning the piece made the notated score more ambiguous than expected. This possible setback in its reconstruction turned out to be the perfect context to put my expertise to the test. While dabbling with Capedeville’s score I resorted to experimental processes, to my experience with composition, my transcription and editing skills, archive work and the use of different media in contemporary performance practice. I approached the score as a “script” rather than a “text” (Cook, Nicholas). In this research the score is no longer an end in itself, but rather an excuse towards the development of a musical project larger than it.

A presentation of the master elective With and Beyond Music combined with a description of own curatorial projects and the disclosure of findings of the research project Curatorship and Social Engagement, led by the lectorate Music, Education & Society.

This doctoral dissertation explores classical music performance from a curatorial perspective, reflecting upon and challenging the traditional configuration of performance environments. Beginning with a consideration for the historical origins of absorbed attention and silence as the dominant mode of performing and hearing classical music, the subsequent chapters of this dissertation investigate alternatives to this mode by exploring artistic creations developed during this research. Informed by my combined experience as a curator and performer in the contemporary music field, these artistic creations use what I call ‘metaxical amplification’: the amplification of environmental sounds that are generally considered noise in the context of classical music performances, and that are therefore rarely considered in relation to the artistic experiences generated by these performances. Metaxical amplification proposes a reconfiguration of the performance environment and the ways in which attention unfolds within it. It also challenges traditional notions of musical interpretation within a work-centred performance culture, since the performance mode emerging from this form of amplification is not oriented towards the interpretation of musical works, but rather to the sonic exploration of musical environments through these works. More broadly, it propels the development of a practice in which musical interpretation, improvisation, and curatorial thinking are tightly interwoven. I discuss these findings in close dialogue with literature from various fields including sociology, philosophy and media theory, as well as through related examples from the fields of music, theatre, and the visual arts. Engaging in such wide-ranging dialogues generates theoretical and artistic insights that may prove useful for other performers, curators, and teachers in the fields of classical and contemporary music, and beyond.

A dossier on different perspectives on higher music education held in conservatoires in Europe and beyond

Approaching Kunstlieder with the background as a jazz interpreter, has challenged me to find, not only, my interpretation of the lieder/songs but to also find my interpretation of my role(s) as the singer on stage between classical music and jazz scenes. Through performing music, the chosen body of work, we are not only repeating and interpreting the music but repeating and interpreting ways of performing it. This research focuses on the role(s) of the singer on stage and the moments between the songs; the open space between one piece of music and another that offers the possibility to communicate and connect with the audience. What happens in these moments? What stories do we tell and how do we tell them? What do I communicate with, through, in - and outside of the lied, the song, the piece of music. What do I perform in the open space between between the songs - my self(s)?