About Sonic Generator & Ensemble Variances

Sonic Generator, Georgia Tech’s acclaimed chamber music ensemble in residence, joins forces with Ensemble Variances, a French contemporary music group renowned for its eclectic performances, for an evening of innovative music by French and American composers.

The program will feature a 15-musician cast introducing pieces by American composer Lisa Bielawa (performing here as a guest vocalist), French composer Thierry Pécou (director of Ensemble Variances), American composer and percussionist Andy Akiho, and a performance of Steve Reich’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Double Sextet.

The concert, a celebration of the ongoing cultural and scientific collaborations between Georgia Tech and its partners in Metz, France, is part of France-Atlanta 2015 and is the kickoff event of Sonic Generator’s 10th anniversary season.

At the crossroads of different styles and esthetics, Ensemble Variances’ musical creations are a blend of space, movement and music performed in various musical formations. Described as a “French cross-genre jazz-classical-world music” ensemble, Ensemble Variances – under the direction of founder, composer and pianist Thierry Pécou – consists of outstanding soloists and chamber musicians willing to create music around the unexpected and to experiment with it. The ensemble is in residence at L’Arsenal in Metz, France and is touring North America for the first time this fall.

Sonic Generator, Georgia Tech’s contemporary chamber music ensemble-in-residence, explores the ways in which technology can transform how we create, perform and listen to music. The ensemble, comprised of some of the top classical musicians in Atlanta, works closely with Georgia Tech students and faculty in the School of Music and elsewhere on campus to present concerts that bring cutting-edge technologies to the world of contemporary classical music. In 2014, the group made its first international appearance, performing with Orchestre National de Lorraine at L’Arsenal in Metz, France.

France-Atlanta is an annual series of events centered on innovation and designed to foster cooperation and exchange between France and the U.S. Southeast. Created in 2010 by the Consulate General of France in Atlanta and Georgia Tech, France-Atlanta offers each fall more than a dozen French-American events in the fields of science, business, culture, and humanitarian affairs. The 6th Annual France-Atlanta will take from October 27-November 9, 2015, placing a special focus on sustainable innovation. Events are free and open to the public.

The Office of the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology envisions an arts-infused campus that supports the active collaboration of art, science, and technology while providing students the creative tools, experiences, and inspiration to solve the world’s future problems.

This concert is made possible by France-Atlanta, the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Atlanta, the GVU Center at Georgia Tech, and the FACE Contemporary Music Fund, a program of FACE with major support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, SACEM, Institut Français, the Florence Gould Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The concert is presented in partnership with the Arsenal de Metz and Music Tech Metz. The Ensemble Variances is supported by the French Ministry of Culture (Drac Haute-Normandie), the Région Haute-Normandie, the Sacem, the City of Rouen and the Odia Haute-Normandie. North-American tour of the Ensemble Variances in partnership with the French Institut Paris, the Bureau Export, the Spedidam, the Adami and Alto - Solutions artistiques.

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Directions and parking: http://arts.gatech.edu/ferstcenter/directions-and-parking