Jean-Francois Charles

Two recent takes on a wonderful instrument : the pipe organ . First, listen to this story of a Melbourne Town Hall's pipe organ controlled by gestures. Microsoft's Kinect connected to Cycling 74's Max has enabled composers to control music with gestures for a while. The interesting point in composer Chris Vik's approach is the mix of old and new, as well as the scenic aspect (although a computer screen on stage is not appealing). Check it out here: Kinect-Controlled Pipe Organ . Second, I'm glad that reverend Gomes ' project for Harvard Memorial Church is achieved: Memorial Church's new organ . Listen to the new Fisk Organ in Memorial Church The last event in the inaugural series is the ARTS FIRST Concert, taking place this Sunday, April 29, at 4:00 p.m. The Harvard University Choir presents a program showcasing the new organs in The Memorial Church, including works for two organs and choir.

Vincent Vigon is a mathematician, and a long time friend of mine. We studied together at the Insa de Lyon , in the Musique Études section. Come listen to his group Tadja - I'm gonna jam with them, too. Concert is this Thursday, April 19th, at 8:30pm at the Xanadu bar in Strasbourg. By the way, how does Tadja sound? Here is how they describe their music - en français dans le texte : Musique azimutée Est-Ouest, Celtique-Yiddish Musique Trad relookée, mixerisée, micro-ondée

I'm very excited to announce that Dudley House , where I had a lot of fun serving as a jazz band leader, is holding its first artist residency with saxophonist Dave Liebman . Residency starts tonight! At the warm Cafe Gato Rojo, the Dudley House Jazz Combo performs a free pre-residency kickoff concert: Liebman and More . The Cafe Gato Rojo is a lovely place - I spent quite some time there, meeting friends, studying, reading, composing, and even playing music: nothing like a jam session at the Gato! David Liebman Master Class On Wednesday, Dave Liebman is giving a master-class at the Harvard music department. It will be a great event. Dave Liebman is an amazing artist & composer who enjoys talking about theory. I discovered him through his book: A chromatic approach to jazz harmony and melody . World première: the Liebman Concerto If you're in the Boston area, don't miss the concert on Thursday, April 19th, in Harvard Paine Hall at 8 p.m. The Liebman Concerto , a...

I first met composer Cyril Michaud in Montbéliard, France, at the Conservatory. He has studied both guitar and composition, while pursuing a Master in Multimedia at the University. I was thrilled to learn that he was awarded the 1st prize at the 2012 Maurice Ohana composition competition . A singular composition competition This year, the composers had to write a composition for solo acoustic guitar in three versions : easy, medium level, advanced/professional level. Here is the first four bars of Cyril's score, in each of the three versions: easy: medium level: advanced/professional level: Nebula chroma Last week, Cyril kindly accepted to answer a couple of questions. He started by explaining to me the composition title: "I chose the word Nebula because I wanted to translate in the music a kind of perpetual harmonic fog. I play quite a bit with the instrument resonances." " Chroma simply stands for chromatic. The harmonic language of the piece is built ...