Artistic Research : Erasmushogeschool Brussel, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
Orchestral piece : Commissioned by l'Itinéraire (with the support of Aide à l'écriture program, DRAC Regional Department of Cultural Affairs)
Collaborations: Inhotim Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Sao Paulo University OCAM, OSB Young Orchestra, Projeto Guri Santa Marcelina and Sao Pedro Theater
Official Season : Année France-Brésil 2025
At the beginning of music was Amoa Hi : the tree of songs. According to Yanomami myth, this tree with a thousand mouths was the source of all melodies that exist on Earth. These are immense trees, covered with a brilliant down of blinding whiteness. Their trunks are covered with lips that move constantly, one above the other. From these countless mouths continuously spring songs of incomparable beauty, as numerous as the stars in the heart of the sky. All the songs of the spirits come from these very ancient trees. (Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert, The Falling Sky)
Amoa Hi is the first movement of Symphonia Botanica. A numinous polyphony, where each voice sparkles without the need for homogenization within the group. My desire is to offer a freer way of making the string orchestra sound, where the wood, the bow, the materials themselves, would have a voice, the orchestra musicians dispersing around open spaces concertation with other forms of live.
Symphonia Botanica rethinks musical composition for collectives and orchestras. It proposes methods and practices for restructuring traditional orchestral hierarchies. The research cultivates a musical writing approach based on reorganizing the orchestra into heterogeneous subgroups (varying by instruments and musical proficiency levels). It nurtures interactions between musicians and their environment, creating deeper levels of listening and collaboration.
The theoretical framework establishes a dialogue between ecology-focused works (Gregory Bateson, Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari) and South American indigenous thought (Davi Kopenawa, Ailton Krenak). This research weaves together images, concepts and musical practice through a series of compositions and workshops designed for orchestras and ensembles.
Symphonia Botanica has a secular passion form, alternating solo, chamber, choral, orchestral, and electronic parts. It places the audience in the center of a forest of sounds. The presence of children reinforces the coexistence between different age groups, illustrating relationships of cooperation and symbiosis among plants.
Principles of vocal-instrumental writing:
1) The orchestra as a network of distributed intelligence.
Spatialized and rich writing that alternates between different formations: solo groups, tutti, orchestral groups, and polychoral arrangements following the model of a Baroque passion.
2) Guiding thread: a narrative inspired by research in neurobotany and ethnobotany as well as stories from indigenous peoples, as well as testimonies collected by the composer during her creative residencies in Brazil.
3) Its modular organization allows for additions, collaborations in dialogue with local groups in an expanding form.
4) A spatial and deep listenning experience thanks to the arrangement of orchestral groups, as well as the distributed electroacoustic diffusion system (small speakers manipulated and moved in the hands of children).
