© Henri Vogt

100 CYMBALS
RYOJI IKEDA

Programme
Ryoji Ikeda 
100 cymbals (2019) 35’ 
Philip GlassTwo Pages (1968) | Music in Fifths (1969) | Music in Contrary Motion (1969)

Ryoji Ikeda and Philip Glass embody two poles of repetitive music – that born of Japanese electronic culture, between sinusoid and white noise, and that of 1960s New York, processual, psychedelic and sensual.

In 100 Cymbals, Ryoji Ikeda and the Percussions de Strasbourg highlight the potential of cymbals by following the thin line between noise and harmonic resonance, while Erwan Keravec brings together a group of pipers, bombardes and binnies to explore some of Philip Glass’s earliest works. A unique listening experience to curl up with the vibrations.

Premiered in 2019 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in the sumptuous hall designed by architect Frank Gehry, 100 cymbals is both a stage performance and an audiovisual installation. Ryoji Ikeda highlights the rich potential of cymbals by following the thin line between noise and harmonic resonance. The apparently rudimentary instrument, a convex disc made of an alloy of copper, brass and bronze, more commonly used to accentuate certain beats of the bar, is transformed into a powerful polyphonic resource. The different, more or less conventional, playing modes sustain a fusional – almost choral – sonority and allow harmonic strata and other acoustic results to emerge within a process that a single line could represent: an infinite crescendo, leading from an almost imperceptible murmur to the brilliance of the final fortississimo.

The 8 pipers
Gaël Chauvin, Mickaël Cozien, Erwan Hamon, Gweltaz Hervé, Erwan Keravec, Guénolé Keravec, Vincent Marin, Enora Morice

Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Minh-Tâm Nguyen
Théo His-Mahier
Emil Kuyumcuyan
Hyoungkwon Gil
Matthieu Benigno
Lou Renaud-Bailly
Olivia Martin


⏰ Concert at 9pm, after at la Douche Froide from 10pm
🎫 Info and booking
More on 100 cymbals here