as part of Fabbrica Europa 2024
Trumpeter, santur player, vocalist and composer Amir ElSaffar joins electronics performer and composer Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch in a project exploring electro-acoustic spaces, maqam, microtonal harmonies, and improvised and composed structures in a modular musical composition that accommodates a variety of musical styles across genres.
Together, they create an immersive sound that transcends notions of form, musical language, electronic, and acoustic categories in music.
Inner Spaces is a modular composition combining pre-determined structural elements with freely improvised sections, played live by ElSaffar and Bianchi Hoesch. The work explores electro-acoustic spaces in a microtonal environment that embraces the sonic spectra of multiple musical languages.
Bianchi Hoesch and ElSaffar create a transcultural collaboration in search of boundary-less spaces in music.
Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch: electronics and composition
Amir ElSaffar: vocals, trumpet, santur and composition
Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch is a composer and sound artist. His interests range from pure electronics to compositions for theater and dance, from soundtracks for images to interactive installations. In his compositions he is always interested in the idea of creating new connections between otherwise distant elements. Through projects outside of Western aesthetics, such as those with Ballaké Sissoko or Amir Elsaffar, the creation of immersive sound installations such as Square for Ircam – Centre Pompidou or Atolls for the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, or even collaborations with choreographers and directors such as Adolphe Binder, Michele Di Stefano, Richard Siegal or Stijn Celis, he explores composition and performance in relation to the spatial component of sound and the movement of bodies. In this sense, much of his work is devoted to 3D sound, multichannel and holophonic composition. He has received commissions from various institutions including Ircam – Centre Pompidou, Musical Research Group (GRM), Venice Biennale, Gothenburg Opera, Musée du Quai Branly, Saarbrücken Opera, Ballet National de Marseille, Ruhrtriennale, Royaumont Foundation, Fondazione Haydn, FaceFoundation and has performed all over the world.
Composer, trumpeter, santur player and vocalist, Amir ElSaffar has been described as “uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music” (the Wire) and “one of the most promising figures in jazz today” (Chicago Tribune). A recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2018 US Artist Fellow, ElSaffar is an expert trumpeter with a classical background, conversant not only in the language of contemporary jazz, but who has created techniques to play microtones and ornaments idiomatic to Arabic music that are not typically heard on the trumpet. Additionally, he is a purveyor of the centuries old, now endangered, Iraqi maqam tradition, that he performs actively as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the subtle microtones found in Iraqi maqam music to create an innovative approach to harmony and melody, and has received commissions to compose for large and small jazz ensembles, traditional Middle Eastern ensembles, chamber orchestras, string quartets, and contemporary music ensembles, as well as dance companies.
photo: Andrea Macchia
