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SONNEURS (free event)

SONNEURS (free event)

  • Sunday, 4 May 2025

    2:00 pm

  • LESS and surrounds

    Dairy Road Precinct, Fyshwick, ACT

  • In Association with

Set in Canberra’s striking contemporary pavilion, LESS, this free outdoor event offers a unique fusion of tradition and modernity. A quartet of French pipers will bring vibrant energy to this brutalist yet majestic structure, nestled within the reimagined industrial landscape of Dairy Road in Fyshwick. 

The program includes a series of carefully curated contemporary works for pipers, culminating in a large-scale participatory work for wind, bagpipes, and brass players, created by renowned composer Otomo Yoshihide. 

SONNEURS blends tradition and innovation through its distinctive quartet, featuring the biniou, bagpipe, bombard, and trelombard. Known for its raw, resonant sound and rich tonal colors, this ensemble introduces these culturally significant instruments into a contemporary setting.

Led by master French piper Erwan Keravec, SONNEURS offers a fresh, powerful perspective on traditional sounds, inviting audiences to experience folk-inspired compositions in a groundbreaking new way. 

Designed by Pezo von Ellrichshausen, LESS is located at Dairy Road, an innovative industrial neighborhood surrounded by nature, set at the edge of a wetland habitat. 

Brass, wind players, and pipers are invited to join us for SONNEURS, playing alongside the formidable piping quartet from Brittany. Register your interest here.

Program

Pierre-Yves Macé – (Re)Commencer
Otomo Yoshihide – Walk on By
Susumu Yoshida – Inori
Pierre-Yves Macé – Chaconne Express
Erwan Keravec – Sans Titre Provisoire
Pierre-Yves Macé – Ne Pas s’arrêter
Susumu Yoshida – Ode Funèbre à Tristan

Artists

Erwan Keravec with Mickaël Cozien, Erwan Hamon, Guénolé Keravec, plus local musicians.

Producer
Offshore, an association subsidized by the DRAC Brittany (Ministry of Culture and Communication) and the Regional Council of Brittany.

Co-producers
Le gmem-CNCM-Marseille, La Muse en Circuit-CNCM-Alfortville, Le Quartz-Brest, Le Lieu Unique-Nantes

Pieces by Pierre-Yves Macé – commissioned by Radio France for Alla Breve programme

Presented with support from
L’Etat – Préfet de la région Bretagne – DRAC Bretagne, la Région Bretagne.

L’Adami, le Centre National de la Musique, l’Institut Français, la Maison de la Musique Contemporain, Spectacle Vivant en Bretagne, Spedidam.

 

Embassy of France in Australia

Photo credit – Atelier_Marge_Design

ARTIST Learn more about the artist

Artist Erwan Keravec - highland bagpiper, composer and improviser

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Erwan Keravec is a highland bagpiper, composer and improviser. In seeking out the more unusual sounds, and ways of playing and listening to his instrument, far from its original cultural setting, he is exploring improvised music, free and ‘noise’ jazz, and establishing a repertoire of contemporary music for solo pipes, trio with solo voice and with choir. With an interest in movement and in settings associated with reinvention, he also writes, plays and improvises for dance.
Since 2007, he has pursued his quest for a style of piping that’s removed from its original setting, with the projects Urban Pipes I (2007) and Urban Pipes II (2011). To make his intentions clear, he commissioned composers to write solo pieces for the instrument as part of the Nu Piping series (since 2011). So far, he has been behind 19 works by 17 composers. For the quartet SONNEURS, he commissioned 12 pieces. This research will lead to IN C // 20 PIPERS (2022) and 8 PIPERS FOR PHILIP GLASS (2024).

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