Having received the VIII Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera, composer Georges Aperghis reflects in this interview on his decisive contribution to contemporary music and experimental musical theater. Aperghis explains how his work, marked by vocal exploration, rhythmic polyphony, and the integration of stage gestures, breaks down the boundaries between music, words, and movement. Through examples from his career, he describes his creative process and the importance of collaboration with performers in developing new forms of sonic expression. His testimony offers a profound look at artistic innovation and the constant search for languages that expand the possibilities of contemporary creation.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Contemporary Music category goes in this eighth edition to Georges Aperghis for reinventing musical theater and taking i
Having received the VIII Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera, composer Georges Aperghis reflects in this interview on his decisive contribution to contemporary music and experimental musical theater. Aperghis explains how his work, marked by vocal exploration, rhythmic polyphony, and the integration of stage gestures, breaks down the boundaries between music, words, and movement. Through examples from his career, he describes his creative process and the importance of collaboration with performers in developing new forms of sonic expression. His testimony offers a profound look at artistic innovation and the constant search for languages that expand the possibilities of contemporary creation.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Contemporary Music category goes in this eighth edition to Georges Aperghis for reinventing musical theater and taking it in entirely new directions. Aperghis has opened up a unique path in the territory of musical theater employing new scenic devices whereby everything becomes music, starting from the performer’s gestures and including sounds made by scenic elements or objects used as percussion instruments.
00:00 Introduction
00:05 The jury has recognized you for your innovation in musical theatre. How do you conceive musical theatre, and why have you devoted such a large part of your work to it?
00:49 Why have you chosen to dedicate so much of your creative output to this genre?
01:17 You work with different elements such as speech, stage space, and lighting, integrating them into your music. How do you achieve this integration?
01:47 Your work is distinctive in that performers—whether musicians, singers, actors, or dancers—are included in the compositional process. How would you describe this collaborative creative work?
02:30 In the theatrical laboratory you founded in 1976, l’Atelier Théâtre et Musique (ATM), you work with non-professional performers, including local residents. Where is this laboratory located, why did you decide to work with them, and what does this experience bring to you?
