Jean-Francois Charles

On April 16, 2026, we performed with Ramin Roshandel (the Jamshid Jam duet) new music to an excerpt from Lotte Reiniger 's film The Adventures of Prince Achmed . Here is the live recording: This performance was a first step towards the creation of a complete soundtrack for the 65-minute movie as a trio (Ramin Roshandel, Nicolas Sidoroff, and myself). One of the next steps consisted in the creation of a kind of storyboard for the movie: To be continued...

Tonight at 5:30pm, Ramin Roshandel and I, i.e. the Jamshid Jam duet, are playing new music to an excerpt of Lotte Reiniger 's wonderful movie The Adventures of Prince Achmed , at the invitation of film and media historian Michael Cowan and the organisers. Come if you are available! If not, stay tuned: we are working on more music for this film! To be continued...

This year, we are fortunate that Gabriel Kahane is visiting the University of Iowa several times and meeting with the composers. Given his experience with orchestral writing and arranging songs, we are excited that he is going to coach students on arrangements of songs for singer (optionally playing guitar or piano) and string quartet. Gabriel Kahane shares some of his ideas on arranging on this post, including some song examples . Favorite arrangements featuring strings Among my favorite song arrangments, I want to first highlight the work of Stefan Malzew for Ute Lempper . Their collaboration on the 2012 album Paris Days, Berlin Nights is masterful. In Stefan Malzew's string writing, we can hear his love not only for the songs but also for the string quartet and its history. Here are two excerpts: First, two Kurt Weill songs: Surabaya Johnny , from Happy End and Die Moritat von Mackie Messer , from Die Dreigroschenoper (i.e. Mack the Knife , from The Threepenny Opera )...

This is the video of the premiere of the piece Montagne Pelée , for solo baritone saxophone , with optional Rubens tube . Montagne Pelée was inspired by saxophonist Kenneth Tse ’s interaction with the flames of a Rubens tube built by Dale Stille at the University of Iowa. It is also an echo of the 1902 catastrophic eruption of Mount Pelée in the Island of Martinique. The different parts of the piece trace a story from early fumaroles and eruptions to the pyroclastic surge to the remaining ashes and light. I composed the multiphonic sounds on a Yamaha baritone saxophone, model YBS-62ii. In the score, the pitch notation of the multiphonic sounds is approximative; in most cases, only two pitches are written even if more may be heard. The performer may adapt the fingerings if necessary. The piece was premiered on October 6, 2025 at the University of Iowa, featuring an introduction by Professor of Physics Frederick Skiff. Interesting: the Rubens tube was invented in 1905, 60 years a...

The Tortured Poets Department Taylor Swift Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème Anika Kildegaard Composed & produced by Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, and Taylor Swift Composed & produced by Jean-François Charles Fortnight, written by Taylor Swift , Jack Antonoff , and Austin Post The Tortured Poets Department, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, written by Taylor Swift Down Bad, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff So Long, London, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner But Daddy, I Love Him, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner Fresh Out The Slammer, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Florida!!!, written by Taylor Swift & Florence Welch Guilty as Sin?, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?, written by Taylor Swift ...

David Christoffel is a composer, an author, and a radio producer. I was thrilled to be invited on his classical music program Metaclassique . We met in July in Paris. The program is now available (in French): Metaclassique #349 - Allier - electronic & acoustic music . We discussed the music from Jamshid Jam (duet with Ramin Roshandel) and my Electroclarinet series. On the program Collaborations between electronic and acoustic music are laboratories for musical forms that are invented through timbre alloys. A three-part journey with Patrick-Astrid Defossez , Jean-François Charles , and co-composers Olivier Delevingne and Benoît Menut .