Sasha J. Blondeau (1986) is a composer of contemporary mixed instrumental and electroacoustic music. They hold a doctorate in musical composition from the IRCAM-Sorbonne University-CNRS program.
They have received commissions from the Philharmonie de Paris, the SWR Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Wittener Tage Für Neue Kammermusik (WDR), the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Radio France, IRCAM, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Festival Musica, the Ministry of Culture, the Festival Messiaen, the Percussions de Strasbourg, the GMEM (Festival "Les Musiques"), and Françoise and Jean-Philippe Billarant.
They are currently finishing a hybrid piece for François Chaignaud (voice and dance), large orchestra and electronics, with IRCAM and the Orchestre de Paris, based on a text by Hélène Giannecchini, to be premiered in June 2023 at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Sasha J. Blondeau was a resident at the Villa Médicis, Académie de France in Rome, for the year 2018-2019, then resident in 2020 and 2021. They are currently a resident at the Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia (Germany) in 2022-2023.
.2022.23 Artistic Research Residency
DRAMA, a model of musical dramaturgical prototyping
Research Theme:
Prototype musical dramaturgy through the notions of compositional space, alphabet, and scenario
Research Area:
Motion learning: exploring the relationship between motion, gesture and sound spaces
In collaboration with IRCAM-STMS Musical Representation team.
This residence, developed in collaboration with Jérôme Nika and Jean-Louis Giavitto, is intended to explore a field of research that has so far been relatively untouched by technology: that of musical dramaturgy. The term dramaturgy is often debated in the world of music, as are the notions of narrative, scenario, or narration applied to the development of musical discourse. However, it is a notion that we believe is fundamental to consider today, particularly in relation to other artistic disciplines, from theater to dance, via the visual arts.
Traditional tools for computer-assisted composition (OM, Bach...) focus for the most part on the composition of fairly well-defined processes, of materials that can be generated and manipulated by various calculations, with references, to varying degrees, to acoustical and/or mathematical notions. As a result, when it comes to composing large-scale, longer works we now have the same tools available to us as for works lasting a just a few minutes.
The models we want to develop are meant to be a dramaturgical prototyping environment: a space where form and musical dramaturgy can be put to work. These tools are related to music notation, MIR analysis, visualization and exploration of combinatorial spaces. They will be based on work already undertaken in more or less related fields through the notions of compositional spaces, temporal patterns and musical scenarios.
Thesis at IRCAM-STMS
Compositional Spaces and Multiple Times: The Form/Material Relationship
Thesis Defenses at IRCAM on December 13, 2017
Doctoral Advisors: Jean-Louis Giavitto (CNRS - IRCAM) and Dominique Pradelle (Sorbonne Université)