Page 84 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

After composing and recording the music for several Tippet Rise films, including “The Stainless Stealer Steals the Universe” and “Reflections,” pianist, composer, and improviser Julien Brocal joins us to present the first concert of the summer season.
Devanney Haruta: What inspired the theme for the program title, “Reflections Between Man and Nature”?
Julien Brocal: My roots from my family come from the soil, from the peasants. Recently, this strong interest for what is growing came back to me. I started a garden project, where I grow my own food. This is a big step in my life to gain autonomy with what I am eating. So, the music was the reflection of my own research in my life. Of course, Ravel and Mompou didn’t have a garden and grow their vegetables and things like that, but they were interested in showing the beauty that is surrounding us.
DH: How does your practice
with improvisation influence your approach to giving a concert performance?
JB: Concerts have to be made in the way that the music came for the first time in your fingers and in your ears. You’re discovering and hearing at the same time as the audience, for the first time. It’s the same with improvisation. Improvisation can be something you have in your mind for a while. You have these sounds that are disturbing your nights. Even though you had them in your mind, when you put your fingers on the keyboard, it will be the first time you play them. So, for me, the concert time is like an improvisation, because every time will be different. It can’t be every time the same, it has to be every time unique.
84 The Music at Tippet Rise
CONVERSATION WITH
JULIEN BROCAL