Constellation Guérande — Christophe Havard and Jocelyn Robert

The work takes into account certain characteristics of the church itself: due to its location in the centre of a fortified town, its surroundings—composed of pedestrian lanes, medieval buildings, and cobblestone squares—already offer a large diversity of acoustic spaces, which, on certain days of the week, welcome large crowds of people and vendors. Through the thin stained glass windows on the east side, one can easily distinguish the sound of the organ, even when it’s being played in its most delicate registers. At the opposite end, when the large doors of the church are open, the most powerful registers can be heard across the square, up to a distance of thirty metres.

Our work will take into account the acoustics and porosity of the spaces as well as the sounds of the town, which change constantly depending on the time of day.

Depending on the sweet spot and time of the score, the music being played on the organ will stand out from the soundscape or become mere suggestion.

To appreciate the interaction between the instrument, the architecture, and the urban sounds, audiences will be invited to experience the work by walking carefully timed and pre-determined paths, starting outside and going inside, being sometimes far from the church and sometimes close to the pipe organ.

L’orgue à lumière — Jocelyn Robert, project started with Nataliya Petkova

The project translates fluctuations of light passing through the leaves of a tree into the main movement of a sound work for the pipe organ. A few dozen photocells will be placed in a tree’s shadow, and the light that will manage to pass through the leaves will play the instrument. The project is in an experimental phase at four levels: in terms of the sensitivity of the photocells, the wireless transfer of data between the photocell system and the organ, the type of code needed so that the visual system is translated by the sound medium, and the resulting composition.

L’océante — Jocelyn Robert

This residency will focus on a series of works that are already partly composed. During the residency, Robert will finish writing the works and finalize the right register for playing them.