© Régis Bourguignon

MYOTIS V – Anthony Laguerre

Composition & Sound : Anthony Laguerre
Percussions : Théo His-Mahier, Léa Koster, François Papirer, Enrico Pedicone
Artistic Direction : Anthony Laguerre, with the collaboration of Minh-Tâm Nguyen
Coproduction : Motrice / CCAM Vandoeuvres-lés-Nancy / Festival Météo Mulhouse / Perussions de Strasbourg

Since 2017, Anthony Laguerre has been investigating the use of amplified drums in a solo project called Myotis. The first creative move he made from this perspective was to embrace the energy of rock music – a genre he has been playing for 20 years – to saturate the acoustic space with cavernous, tribal sounds. He subsequently devoted much of his research to exploring sound materials with a pianissimo dynamic.

In seeking the very opposite of this elemental energy, he found a way to bring inaudible sounds into play by amplifying them through the use of microphones. By adding speakers to his drums, he introduced an extra dimension that greatly enriched the sound material. This system enabled normally inaudible sounds to be brought to the fore. The looping of the drum kit’s amplification, combined with acoustic feedback meant that a stream of spectral melodies could be produced. The over-amplified resonance of the drums ended up creating a sonic mirror image of itself.

These two parallel research activities enabled him to develop an improvised drum kit. He then set about crafting his own language. Playing around with these sounds very quickly made him want to hear them used, played and interpreted by other musicians. This sparked Anthony’s idea to compose a piece for a percussion ensemble. To play the full range of possible sounds contained in this music, what better way than to enlist the help of a quartet.

Anthony has chosen to work along these lines with an ensemble of percussionists who have long played together professionally and who have developed their own sound, with the aim of getting down to the essentials. It is also a question for him of bringing his vision of what percussion sound can be and of sharing it.

The creation of a meeting space where the musicians can play together enables the emergence of a specific language for this work and provides a neutral ground where their respective sound worlds (rock music and contemporary music) can interrelate. The Percussions de Strasbourg and their historical background offer an enormous field of research in terms of their immense technical skills and the number of instruments they have at their disposal.

DATES :


2 July 2021: Jardin des Deux Rives, Strasbourg, France
28 August 2021: Festival Météo, Mulhouse, France
2 October 2021 : CCAM Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
12 October 2021 : Un pavé dans le Jazz, Toulouse, France
28 January 2022 : Théâtre de Hautepierre, Strasbourg, France
23 February 2023 : Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers – Scène Nationale, France
3 March 2023 : Le Petit Faucheux, Tours, France

En concert :
2 Juillet 2021 : Jardin des Deux Rives, Strasbourg
28 Août 2021 : Festival Météo, Mulhouse
2 Octobre 2021 : CCAM Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy
12 Octobre 2021 : Un pavé dans le Jazz, Toulouse
28 Janvier 2022 : Théâtre de Hautepierre, Strasbourg
23 Février 2023 : Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers
3 Mars 2023 : Le Petit Faucheux, Tours
3 mai 2023 : Musiques Démesurées, Clermont-Ferrand

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