Romain Dubois has decided to overthrow the apparent sobriety of the piano, by concentrating on the audio potential of an instrument from the 1970s – the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano. This is a unique instrument which picks up string vibrations note by note using piezoelectric microphones, thereby emphasising the acoustic dimension while also offering a wide range of possibilities for amplification and sound processing (looper, sampler, spatialisation). This is an “augmented” piano, not just a prepared piano, allowing him to play with the codes of electronic, contemporary, romantic and traditional music.
He works in a performance / concert format with sculptor and performer Olivier de Sagazan to explore the bodily relationship between the musician and his instrument. Conjuring up the old image of Man and Beast, they create a very powerful physical and animal relationship, seeking the savagery of a state of trance in this hands-on work with the keyboard, sound and repetitive beats. Through shouts and tranquillity, melody and energy, beats, syncopation and metamorphoses, the self-effacing Romain Dubois transforms into a strange fully possessed character behind his piano, taking us into an accelerating, excessive, furious, hypnotic and vivid trance, for a performance with outstanding energy.
BIOGRAPHY
> ROMAIN DUBOIS (France)
Romain Dubois is a pianist, composer and performer, whose work strikes a balance between musical research and technical IT tools for live performances. Since 2011, he has been a musical composer for the circus arts and contemporary dance companies in Britanny (e.g. Tango Sumo, Pratos, Pied En Sol, Spring, Achilles). Between 2012 and 2014, he was a performer for the Chanson Française artist, Auden. Since 2015, he has worked on the Architectural SonarWorks sound installations by urban visual artist, Cédric Brandilly. He also composes pieces for monumental video mapping and projections onto historic buildings. In 2014, alongside Emilien Robic and Samson Dayou, he founded a musical dance trio, Fleuves, one of the leading traditional music bands in Britanny. In 2010, he received his Master’s in Image and Sound from the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest), where he has worked on the teaching staff since 2019. Una Bestia (2012) is his first solo project.
DISTRIBUTION
Romain Dubois : piano, composition
Olivier De Sagazan : scénographie, regard extérieur
Vincent Haffemayer : lumière
Olivier «Olier» Arnaud : son
Frédéric Le Floch : production, management, booking