Jean-Francois Charles

Over the years, I've been blessed to make music with incredible artists. Today, I am thrilled to annouce the release of the Tenebrae album , created in collaboration with eleven unique musicians and poets. Tenebrae by Jean-François Charles The album is a 21st century reverberation of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae responsories . Like the ship on the album’s cover, the music is suspended between the physical and the spiritual world. Two poetic bonus tracks, La bête and The sea , invite to meditate further on the place of life on planet Earth. First nocturne On the Mount of Olives , with Ramin Roshandel, setar Ramin Roshandel and I created the Jamshid Jam duet in December 2019. We released Jamshid Jam as an album and performed it across the United States. Together, we have also played soccer, enjoyed Persian food, and listened to a lot of music while traveling. Sorrowful is my soul , with Nicolas Sidoroff, trumpet & objects As students, ">Nicolas Sidoroff an...

Here is for great holiday music: Baby Bossa Nova, written by Mike Simpson for Dick Schory and the Percussion Pops Orchestra in 1963. Percussionist Dan Moore invited me to play clarinets on his album The Long Way Home . I play the small Eb clarinet, the Bb, the basset-horn, and the contra-alto clarinet. He wrote the arrangement and performed all of the percussion parts. He also shot and edited the video! Check out the album , it features great tunes and great musicians. Happy Holidays!

Here is a video that I shared in 2021 with composer Davide Ianni while he was composing Dedalo Nero, a solo for contralto clarinet . The instrument is a Leblanc paperclip contra-alto clarinet in Eb, known as model 350. The instrument I have used might have been made in 1967. Davide was looking for pale multiphonic sounds. All of these sounds are preferably played pianississimo to piano. Some can be played forte. The basic technique to look for multiphonic sounds on a clarinet consists in playing different partials/pitches on a given fingering - using throat shape and air pressure variations. Then try to play these different partials at the same time. I learnt all of these techniques from working with clarinetist Armand Angster .

You might remember the premiere performance of composer Davide Ianni's Dedalo Nero, for contralto clarinet . With Davide Ianni, we had the great pleasure of sharing behind-the-scenes details about the piece during the International Clarinet Association New Music Weekend 2024 . You will find below the video of this masterclass:

I loved meeting with Mike Viola, a passionate musician . We had an enlightening conversation with great questions from the audience. I think that a fan made a video of the interview, but I'm not sure it's available online. Don't hesitate to link it if you stumble upon it!

I met Steven Schick when I attended the Centre Acanthes in 2000 . Among other pieces, he had performed Bone Alphabet , which Brian Ferneyhough had written for him. Steven Schick was a guest at the University of Iowa in October : he was born in Iowa and got a Bachelor and a Masters at the University. It was a treat to hear him perform Bone Alphabet again, but I also enjoyed a lot hearing two performances of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Zyklus , a wonderfully playful piece. Steven Schick also conducted a beautiful rendering of Varèse's Ionisation , a sensitive piece of percussion chamber music. I had the pleasure of performing with the Center for New Music conducted by David Gompper . The most important piece on the concert was George Lewis 's Soundlines , a piece during which Steven Schick tells the story of a walk he took from San Diego to San Francisco. During the summer, I re-built the live electronics set-up designed by George Lewis; I took care of the live sound perfor...

If you live neat Iowa City, consider attending the International Screendance Festival at FilmScene on September 28 at 6pm. Our Agnus Dei music video, a musical setting of François Villon's Ballade des pendus, has been chosen in the Official Selection! Tickets are available at FilmScene . P.S.: the video is also online: Agnus Dei, musical setting of François Villon's Ballade des Pendus .

Following-up on a great 2022 concert , Timothy Gill and David Gompper recently released the album Exchanges on Albany Records. They included my composition Petrified, for cello & live electronics (link to score & Max patches) . I love how the amazing Timothy Gill made the interpretation his own. He really contributed his original creativity in the three improvised cadenzas. This work fits in the long tradition of compositions for cello and electronics. A classic one is Kaija Saariaho 's Petals for Solo Cello and Electronics (1988). Listen here to a recording by cellist Madeleine Shapiro on Albany Records. Brian Ferneyhough composed Time and Motion Study II for cello and live electronics (1973-76). The piece uses tape delays and ring modulation, very much in the tradition. Here is a recording showing the score . Dai Fujikura 's The Spirit of Beings is composed for cello and fixed electronics (backing track). Here is a live recording . Composer Kar...

Like most genres of music, Reggae is a hybrid. I was lucky this year to add to my collection the 3-CD edition of Bob Marley and the Wailers's Catch a Fire - an album to listen to! Then, reggae has been hybridized with other genres, for instance from pop or hip-hop cultures. Here are a few tracks from 2001 to 2016 that I find interesting, enjoyable, and very well crafted! Jay-Z : Hola' Hovito , in The Blueprint , 2001 Produced by Timbaland Britney Spears : Showdown , in In The Zone , 2003 Produced by Bloodshy & Avant Lady Gaga : Dancin' In Circles , in Joanne , 2009 Produced by Jeff Coplan, Robert Ellis Orrall Rihanna : Man Down, in Loud , 2010 Produced by Sham, Kuk Harrell, Bobby Campbell Madonna : Unapologetic Bitch , in Rebel Heart , 2014 Produced by Madonna, Shelco Garcia & Teenwolf, BV, Diplo, Ariel Rechtshaid Beyoncé : Hold Up, in Lemonade , 2016 Produced by Diplo, Beyoncé, Ezra Koenig

When we performed at the Stanley Museum of Art, there was quite a bit of ambient noise. This pushed us to create music like we had never made together yet. Especially, the second part of the concert ended with an incredible constellation of sonic stars . Here is the video: You could already listen to the first part of the concert .

Ramin Roshandel and I were invited to perform for the release party of the book In a Time of Witness - the event took place on September 22, 2023. We were super excited to play for the first time as the Jamshid Jam duet at the Stanley Museum of Art. Plus, we were super lucky that Negar Soufi showed up with two cameras and her friend from Cinematic Arts Malik Ford . Here is the first part of the concert: If you like the music, have a look at our Jamshid Jam Tiny Desk Contest video !

In his talk A Missa brevis for Jumping Timelines , Dr. Matthew Arndt proposes to listen to the Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème (sung by Anika Kildegaard) synchronized with the drama Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . Here is a playlist with the first part of the movie synchronized to the nine movements of the mass: Indiana Jones and the Abbey of Thelema on youtube .

On Feb 21, 2024, Associate Professor of Music Theory Matthew Arndt gave a presentation on my Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème . This presentation opened the roundtable event organized with poet and author Christopher Merrill, and Professor Kristy Nabhan-Warren. Dr. Arndt sets his analysis of the mass in resonance with the writings of Philip K. Dick (Graphics by Dr. Arndt). He also proposes an analogy with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon , and a synchronization with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . I hope you enjoy!

I'm glad to invite you to this upcoming event: A Missa Brevis for Jumping Timelines: On Music, French Poetry, Dance, and Faith Wednesday February 21, 4-5:30 pm Voxman Music Building, Opera Studio An event organized with the support of OVPR, CLAS, and the School of Music. Refreshments will be served. Roundtable discussion inspired by Anika Kildegaard and Jean-François Charles's Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème and music video Agnus Dei , featuring Matthew Arndt (School of Music) Christopher Merrill (International Writing Program) Jean-François Charles (School of Music) Q&A moderated by Kristy Nabhan-Warren (Departments of Religious Studies and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Office of the Vice-President for Research)