Les mercredis de STMS welcome Benny Sluchin and Mikhail Malt, researcher from the Musical Representations team at the laboratory. They will be presenting ‘Solo for Sliding Trombone, by John Cage, Performances of an open work using Somax2’.
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John Cage’s Solo for Sliding Trombone, Performance Cases of an Open Work using Somax2
This presentation explores the performance of John Cage’s Solo for Sliding Trombone using artificial intelligence (AI) generative tools within the Somax2 environment. By integrating AI agents as virtual performers and employing techniques like “coloring the silence” and “expansions,” the project investigates the interplay between human interpretation, AI-assisted performance, and Cage’s concepts of silence, indeterminacy and unintentionality. The research highlights how AI can recontextualize musical relationships, creating “listening topologies” that transcend traditional linear structures. This approach, termed “playing with music,” challenges conventional performance practices while raising crucial questions about copyright, authorship, and the ethical implications of AI in musical creation.
For further information : https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eJ3SSSbJl5k
Biographies
Benny Sluchin
Benny Sluchin, born in Tel Aviv, began his musical studies at the Conservatory of his hometown before furthering his education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music. At the same time, he earned a Master’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Tel Aviv University. After performing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jerusalem Radio Symphony Orchestra, he trained at the Cologne University of Music with Vinko Globokar. A founding member of the Ensemble intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez, he specializes in contemporary music and participates in numerous premieres. A Doctor of Mathematics, he conducts research in acoustics at IRCAM and teaches computer-assisted music notation at the CNSMD of Paris. As an author and educator, he has published several award-winning works and produced numerous recordings, particularly focusing on John Cage and Iannis Xenakis. His DVD Iannis Xenakis, Le dépassement de soi was released in 2015.
Mikhail Malt
Mikhail Malt, with a dual scientific and musical background in engineering, composition, and conducting, began his musical career in Brazil as a flutist and conductor. He holds a doctorate in musicology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he focused on the use of mathematical models in computer-assisted composition, as well as an HDR. He was an associate professor at Sorbonne Paris IV from 2006 to 2012, taught musical computing (including computer-assisted composition and sound synthesis) at IRCAM’s educational department in Paris, France, until 2021, and was a researcher in the Musical Representations team. He is currently a composer associated with the Musical Representations team at IRCAM and a research associate at IReMus-Sorbonne in Paris. He continues his creative and research activities on generative music, creative systems, the epistemology of representation, and various listening strategies.