Keiko Murakami
Imagination is a very powerful creative force

Interviews 25.02.2021

Keiko Murakami: "We wanted to build deeper, more lively collaborations between those who write music and those who play it.

Flute, piano and saxophone. This is the unusual line-up of the ensemble L'Imaginaire, created in 2009 by students of the Strasbourg Conservatory, a fertile ground for musical projects dedicated to creation! Meeting with Keiko Murakami, flutist, who tells us about this ensemble with a name as poetic as it is militant.

Choosing a name is often a big deal for a young ensemble. Why "L'Imaginaire"?

This term has a collective as well as an individual dimension. Imagination is a very powerful creative force that brings together the most scattered, fragmented, intimate ideas until they take the form of a collective work. In our case, a musical work. It is a precious process, which we defend. I like very much Gaston Bachelard's quote: "The Imaginary is in the human psyche the very experience of openness, the very experience of novelty. " I believe that this is precisely what an ensemble like ours, which defends new and contemporary music, is for. This appetite for the new, this curiosity, is an integral part of the human experience. In fact, it's often what makes it worthwhile. As a musical ensemble, we present opportunities to experience the new and to create a space for sharing. After our anniversary concert to celebrate the ensemble's 10th anniversary in 2019, we distributed flower seeds. A small symbolic gesture, but one that speaks volumes: the concert does not end at the end of the performance, there is a wake, an echo of this experience.

Flute, piano and saxophone: why did you choose these three instruments?

When we created L'Imaginaire in 2009, we also had a percussionist with us. At the time - and this is still true today! - we dreamt of a space that would be a laboratory, where we would allow ourselves, performers and composers, to take our time. A small luxury... The economic system of contemporary music functions essentially according to the following logic: the composer receives a commission, the ensemble receives the score, the concert is given. We wanted and needed to build deeper, more lively collaborations between those who write the music and those who play it. We had to create a whole repertoire for our ensemble and therefore solicit composers. Today, we have a catalogue of about 80 works. The anniversary year was very rich with more than 23 commissions! A great harvest of new pieces...

What is your approach to composers?

The idea, once again, is not to receive the score once it is finished, quite the contrary! We meet the composer very early in the writing process, even before he has written a single note. We test ideas together, we show the instrumentalists sounds or ideas that we like... It's too rare for creators to have the opportunity to test their ideas like that, with the musicians. It's precious for them and, for us, it's almost tailor-made music and it forces us to test new things, all the time, on our instruments that we could, by now, know by heart. The interpretation is different, more committed, when the musicians have participated in the development of the work. We therefore organise several workshops and seminars during the year.

Collective creation at the Musica 2020 Festival in Strasbourg

What do you think is the best way to bring today's music to the public?

It's a chance to be based in Strasbourg. It is extremely stimulating: the public is waiting! Between two editions of the Musica festival, many ensembles have their season, set up common projects... We dialogue, we collaborate with the other ensembles: this type of approach is the future, the future of the profession.

Our mission - and not the least - is to break the cliché of austere contemporary music. We have to go to the people instead of waiting for them to come to us. Having a season in a city is very precious because, in people's minds, you are associated with a place. You have to create a place for sharing, with a friendly atmosphere around the concert. All this is far from being anecdotal. For example, we do concerts in the morning, at 11am, followed by an aperitif with a local association: you mustn't hesitate to call on local players, to showcase their know-how... This network is like a sort of open community, which is growing. This network is like a sort of open community that grows. We never hesitate to speak during the concert either; the composers present their works. We don't hide our laboratory, on the contrary: we open it up! We show the creative process, because that's what today's music is all about. At the same time, we have to create a high quality of concentration and listening.

To conclude this interview : There is more water than expectedOn France Musique, a creation by Patricia Alessandrini performed on the flute by Keiko Murakami, composer and former student of the Strasbourg Conservatory:

Interview by Suzanne Gervais

Keiko Murakami's playlist

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