Antoine Souchav’ performs rich and energetic music on the harpsichord, where traditional and electronic music meet. Here, he takes us to Japan, with a selection from Yellow Magic Orchestra, the legendary Japanese synthpop trio led, among others, by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has inspired the likes of Daft Punk and David Bowie.
“For this concert, which I wanted to be accessible to all, I continue to explore the idea of decontextualisation, which has always been a source of inspiration in music. There’s no need to be familiar with the original music since these pop-infused pieces stand out in their own right. By blurring the lines of time (between baroque and contemporary), space (between Asia and Europe) and form (between experimental and popular music), I invite the audience to listen freely and creatively, something which the harpsichord allows naturally through its almost primitive way of producing sound.
For an hour, timeless cinematographic and narrative music will resound through the audience. I went to renaissance and neo-classical music to find striking pastel-coloured harmonies.” Antoine Souchav’
BIOGRAPHY
Antoine Souchav’
Antoine Souchav’ studied harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Poitiers with Dominique Ferran, and music theory with Jean-Luc Defontaine. In addition to his classical training, he explores contemporary music as a performing musician, composer and sound engineer.
The harpsichordist created the solo project Yellow Magic Harpsichord, adapting Japanese electronic music songs for the solo harpsichord.
He also plays electronic keyboards in France and around the world (Europe, Japan) with the electro-baroque duo, Scarlatti Goes Electro (with Benjamin Charles), and leads music workshops called Concerto Combo, which adapt Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas.
Antoine Souchav’ is a sound designer for Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), a composer and sound technician for the companies La Nuit Venue, Tombés du Ciel, Le Soleil Bleu in Bordeaux, and Ateliers du Panaorama workshops in Poitiers.
