“Orbis” for augmented electric harp: world premier, 18.09.21

Latest

September 10, 2021

Camac’s MIDI harp, first launched in 2011, has been the subject of several deep dives into new sonic waters. Arnaud Petit’s ORBIS is the latest in these fascinating projects, and will be premiered at InnovaSound Paris next week. 

Ghislaine Petit-Volta

ORBIS was written over the course of several residencies at the GIPSA-Lab studios in Grenoble, as part of a research project into the MIDI harp’s signal and system usage. Ghislaine Petit-Volta and Arnaud Petit worked together to create the work, using an interface developed by Jean-Philippe Lambert and performance tools built by signal specialists James Leonard and Jérôme Villeneuve. 

The result is a marriage of science, engineering and art, particularly exploring the interaction between the real instrument, and a modelled virtual one. This facilitates harp playing in unusual or impossible configurations, combined with narrative samples, opening the doors to new fields of expression. 

Thematically, “Orbis” surveys the world from antique times until the present. Advances in instrument-making have always redefined the repertoire created for it – and the challenge for the instrumentalist lies in the extension of their precise mastery of sound. 

“Orbis” has been commissioned by Camac Harps, and made possible with support of GIPSA-lab (Grenoble Images Speech Signal and Control), the Grenoble Institute of Technology, the French Ministry of Culture, the Université Grenoble Alpes and the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique).

The premiere will take place at 17:00 on Saturday, September 18 2021, at CENTQUATRE, 5 Rue Curial, 75019 Paris. Tickets are available here.