Canada: Polytope XXI – Tribute to Iannis Xenakis

Polytope XXI is a concert in homage to Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), architect, engineer and composer, whose works for percussion are landmarks of 20th Century repertoire. It is also the name that composers Myriam Boucher and Dominic Thibault have given to their monumental instrumental project: a sort of giant, electronically augmented, audio-luminescent harp, whose strings will be struck by the percussionists of Sixtrum. Architect Stéphanie Castonguay and her collaborator Éric Deschênes (In Situ) will design the structure of the instrument, that will be equipped with various sensors to capture and amplify vibrations, and to control the integrated light and video system.

This project finds its inspiration in the first Polytope imagined by Iannis Xenakis, an ‘electronic sculpture combining light, music and structure’, that was presented inside the French Pavilion during Expo67 – the Universal and International Exhibition that took place in Montreal in 1967. This installation formed a gigantic web of cables suspended in the central space of the pavilion, each cable bearing a multitude of flashing lights that were synchronized with a musical tape – creating an artistic work inscribed in space and made of multiple layers of sound and light. This project was rooted in a scientific, architectural, and musical vision: a unique integration of science and art.

The second part of the program will be dedicated to the monumental work Pleiades, for 6 percussionists, that was on the repertoire of the very first concert of Sixtrum, and that will close the 15th season of the Montreal ensemble.

Acknowledgments : CIRMMT – Agile Seed Funding