Jean-Francois Charles

Tonight, I wish I were in London with my friend Nabil Benabdeljalil to listen to the English Chamber Orchestra performing the UK première of his Adagio for Strings . We studied composition together with maestro Ivan Fedele at the Strasburg Conservatory . During this time, we spent one week together at the Villa Medici, meeting daily with composer Pascal Dusapin - the week when we met composer Davide Ianni . It was a great pleasure to spend time in Roma with Nabil, talking about music, culture, faith religions, and more. If you are not in London tonight, meet Nabil through his Moroccan Symphony (youtube link). Jazzy, Moroccan, classical, in the tradition, witty, this music is brillant! Listen to the beautiful Sacrifice at the end of the Third Movement: a Moroccan Sacre!

This study could be a first introduction to microtones for clarinet students. It's a playful short etude dedicated to Lionel Liebe, a former clarinet student of mine who took part to 60/60 . Have fun with the quarter tones (and no, you don't need a quarter tone clarinet to play this tune)! Listen to 12/60 on last.fm Performers are Petra Stump and Heinz-Peter Linshalm. They recorded several albums. Online, you can get Pierluigi Billone: 1+1=1 More clarinet quarter tones For advanced students, a great clarinet solo with quarter tones is If by Pascal Dusapin . I was lucky to learn it with Armand Angster at Conservatoire de Strasbourg . I highly recommend to meet and learn from him!

During my studies at Strasbourg Conservatory , there was an important interaction between the Conservatory and Festival Musica (and I am sure it is still the case.) I performed in the festival in 2000, 2001 and 2002, to play the music of Pascal Dusapin, Thierry De Mey (a Maximalist! program,) and Javier Torres Maldonado . In Fall 2003, Ivan Fedele proposed me to take part to an exciting project: a collaboration with film makers around the topic "the building of the new Conservatory." The Cité de la Musique was in construction, and Marie-Claude Ségard, director of the Conservatory, had the idea of this collaborative art work. The result has been " En Chantier ", a collection of 16 short films produced by the Festival Musica, the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg, and the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg . Production I worked on the short film Dérives , directed and realized by Sophie de Quatrebarbes , Élise Launay and Adeline Meilli...