Éliane Radigue

Co-conception of the program: Carol Robinson.

With: Julia Eckhardt (viola), Silvia Tarozzi (violin) and Deborah Walker (cello).

After six events presented in autumn 2023 and in spring 2024 with pioneering electroacoustic composer Éliane Radigue, the Nomadic Nights are pleased to continue the very first retrospective devoted to her OCCAMs. Fascinating instrumental pieces, which she refers to as her “sound fantasies”; bespoke compositions are created in collaboration with her performers. This new program has been designed with Éliane Radigue and Carol Robinson especially for the Fondation Cartier.

“One needs to dream on a large scale, because, in the process of realization, one is always forced to give up something. If the dream is big, there is a lot left, and if the dream is small, there is little left. The OCCAMs represent something enormous in that they are incomplete by nature. This is what attracted me to a genre of pieces conducive to a wealth of possibilities and combinations. It prevents me from saying that I have finished, as long as all these marvelous musicians fill me with the joy of their magnificent talent” – Éliane Radigue.

Programme:

- OCCAM IV for viola (2012) interpreted by Julia Eckhardt (21’)

- OCCAM RIVER II for violin and cello (2013) interpreted by Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker (24’)

- OCCAM DELTA III for violin, viola and cello (2013) interpreted by Silvia Tarozzi, Julia Eckhardt and Deborah Walker (23’)

Biographies

Éliane Radigue (born in 1932, in Paris) is renowned for her electronic music, produced with feedbacks and reinjections, and in particular with the ARP 2500 synthesizer. Her compositions are defined by micro-events due to subtle changes in harmonics that dance above a seemingly static tone. The result is deeply moving. In 2005, Radigue began to compose for acoustic instruments with fellow musicians, first with Naldjorlak, her masterpiece for two basset horns and cello, and later with OCCAM OCEAN, her endless cycle. These new works have been presented in museums, concert halls and festivals in the world... She recently received the great prize of the SACEM, the Giga-Hertz Award from the ZKM in Germany, the Open Oor Composition Prize in the Netherlands as well as a special mention from the jury of the Evens Foundation.

Carol Robinson is a Franco-American composer and clarinetist specializing in experimental creation. She performs in major international venues and festivals, and regularly collaborates with choreographers, photographers and musicians from various backgrounds. She is the author of more than a hundred works for various formations, which often incorporate electronics. Besides her own music, her recent discography includes those of great contemporary composers, alternative rock, jazz and classical music. Carol Robinson has worked closely with Éliane Radigue since 2006.

Julia Eckhardt is a musician and organiser in the field of the sonic arts. She is artistic co-director of Q-O2 workspace for experimental music and sound art, and of Oscillation festival in Brussels. She has performed and released internationally and has been engaged in a number of artistic collaborations, among which extensively with composer Éliane Radigue. Julia is (co-)author of books such as The Second Sound – Conversations on Gender and Music, Grounds for Possible Music, and Éliane Radigue – Intermediary Spaces/Espaces intermédiaires. She is a researcher at the philosophical faculty at VUB Brussels, and has been teaching and lecturing on topics related to sound, music, gender, and space.

Silvia Tarozzi is a violinist, composer and improviser. The oral transmission of music and the form created through a deep immersion into the sound are traits of her musical research and find expression in several collaborations with composers as Éliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Pascale Criton, Cassandra Miller, Martin Arnold, Pierre-Yves Macé, Philip Corner. Her projects are released by I dischi di Angelica, Unseen Worlds, New World Records, Potlatch. Her concerts have been recorded and broadcasted by BBC Radio and France Musique. She performs regularly in festivals and venues in Europe, North America, Canada, Mexico.

Deborah Walker is an Italian cellist based in Berlin. She evolves in several contexts of contemporary experimental music, interested in varied forms of notation, explorations of sound and gesture and interaction with other disciplines. She is part of the Dedalus ensemble and the experimental orchestra ONCEIM. Since 2003, Deborah has played regularly with violinist Silvia Tarozzi; their repertoire includes pieces specially written for them, as well as transcriptions and arrangements of traditional songs from Northern Italy. After a Master’s degree in “Musical and sound creation” at the University of Paris 8, Deborah Walker obtained a doctorate from the University of Lorraine with a thesis on the performances and editions of Fluxus artists in Italy.