Didier Casamitjana
BiographIE
Percussionist with classical and contemporary training. Sound therapist and Reïki trainee.
Joins a number of cross-disciplinary projects in the performing arts of dance and theater, contemporary music and signs a multitude of stage scores.
In music, he crosses paths with the Art Zoyd group for live cinema concerts (musician - composer) and contemporary music projects for orchestra. He founded the Wooshing Machine collective in Brussels with dancer Mauro Paccagnella, and took part in the creation of choreographic pieces by Myriam Gourfink. Since 1989, as a percussionist, he has created numerous pieces by Kasper T. Toeplitz.
Following work on gongs with Valenciennes' Espace Pasolini in 2013, he launched his Gong Bath project in sonotherapy, relaxation sessions using the sound and vibration of gongs, and in solo concerts with Gongs:
- Nap Gong, sieste avec les Gongs, a project of intergenerational sessions
- Gongs à l'Hôpital, energetic awareness of the sound and vibration of gongs in hospitals
- Gongs au troisième âge, energetic awareness in geriatric settings
- Gongs en milieu scolaire.
THE "accelerando" PROJECT
The "Accelerando" project marks the rebirth of an emblematic work by Gérard Hourbette, which appears several times in different formats and titles in his Œuvre. "Accelerando" is the final track on Art Zoyd's album Faust (1994), which sets to music the 1926 silent film directed by F. W. Murnau. As the name suggests, it's an 11-minute accelerando of infernal percussion, requiring a rigorous, almost mathematical interpretation.
Revisited and performed by Didier Casamitjana, this piece is marked by the absence of a structured, playable score. The one left to us by composer Gérard Hourbette remains a "mystery" in its use. The project is to guarantee the replayability of this piece with the quality of the electronic sounds used at the time of its creation. An electronic percussive piece par excellence, Didier Casamitjana has already performed "Accelerando" in various versions, notably in the Faust cine-concert, or as a duo with Gérard Hourbette and the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble in a version entitled "Expérience de Vol #1" at the Düsseldorf Festival. In the Groupe F fireworks project "Un peu plus de lumière", Gérard Hourbette played it alone in synchronization with the fire.
For the past six years, Art Zoyd Studios has been committed to preserving the works of the Fonds Gérard Hourbette and artists in residence since 1999, thus ensuring the longevity of its creations. On the occasion of Art Zoyd Studios' preservation work on its repertoire, Didier Casamitjana decided to replay the piece alone on pads.
"Accelerando" will be performed at the Phénix, scène nationale de Valenciennes, on December 13, 2024, as part of the Marché de Noël électronique.
This reconstruction was made possible with the help of Oudom Southammavong, Music Informatics Director, and the Art Zoyd Studios preservation team.
SOON...
IT'S ALREADY PAST!
