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Accordionist Vincent Lhermet commissions a series of pieces for young musicians
A great advocate of contemporary music, accordionist Vincent Lhermet, who also teaches at the Ecole supérieure de musique et de danse de Lille (ESMD) and the CRR de Boulogne-Billancourt, has launched a series of commissions in partnership with Sacem.
Name? O.U.I.E.S. Yes as in yes to creation, yes as in hearing. And yes, without a doubt, to the young generation of accordionists. Because being a young musician in 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, is particularly difficult, many musicians are mobilizing to support students.
Vincent Lhermet performs in all kinds of repertoires: transcriptions of Baroque pieces, classical works, oral tradition, contemporary works, solo or with ensemble and orchestra. The accordion is a huge inspiration for today's composers," he explains. It's an instrument that lives with the times, as there are over 10,000 accordion pieces worldwide.
The musician wishes to share with his students his taste for musical creation, an essential approach in his eyes. "Participating in the creation of a work is unique! It's a moment of research, of sharing, of putting things into perspective, but it's also a sign of confidence in the unknown, in the unheard-of", assures Vincent Lhermet.
It all began on Proarti, the crowdfunding platform specializing in music and, even more so, new music. The "Mise en œuvre(s)" program, run in conjunction with Sacem, enables a number of musical projects to be financed in part by funds raised through crowdfunding, in part with support from the Société de droit des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique. And since 2019, the Banque Populaire Foundation, which rewards a handful of performers and composers each year, has joined the scheme.
The aim is simple: to encourage the Foundation's prize-winning performers to commission composers who are also Foundation prize-winners to write an instrumental, vocal or electro-acoustic work. Three projects are to be discovered and supported, in 2021, on the Proarti platform. Among them is that of accordionist Vincent Lhermet. The musician would like to commission five new pieces - miniatures of 3 to 4 minutes each, at the end of conservatory or beginning of higher education level - from five male and female composers, all of whom, as a matter of principle, are Banque Populaire Foundation prizewinners: Matteo Franceschinini, Caroline Marçot, Benoît Menut, Vincent Paulet and Gabriel Sivak.
Read the interview with Matteo Franceschini http://www.vincentlhermet.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Matteo-Franceschini.jpg and listen to The act of Touch:
The Proarti fund-raising campaign is now over and has raised €8,585 or 126%, which is fantastic! Thanks to these donations, the objectives have been exceeded and funds have been raised for a 6th project for young people. We'd like to give you the exclusive name of the winner: Clara Olivares, a young Franco-Spanish composer living in Strasbourg.
Creation of the works is scheduled for late spring 2022
Suzanne Gervais
