Raphaël Imbert
The art of multiplicity
By Clotilde Roux
© Muriel Despia
During his childhood spent in Provence this nature and ecology enthusiast had his lightbulb moment when he put his mouth on his first saxophone. «It was like I’d always done it.» At the age of 17, he entered the jazz class at the Marseilles Music Academy and won first prize there three years later. Since then, he has followed an atypical path, leading both practice and research in musical anthropology. His creative and exploratory work is characterized by his desire to transcend musical genres and to promote intercultural dialogue. For 25 years, he has chanelled his multifaceted artistic talents through his Nine Spirit Company, which he founded in 1999, teaching, creating, performing, running educational projects, publishing essays, producing radio shows and holding conferences. «It’s this diversity that has always inspired me. Having a career as a teacher, musician, conductor, academy director and intellectual allows me to find the right arguments to speak to students, musicians and scientific historians.» Since 2019, he has added a string to his bow by becoming the director of the Marseilles Music Academy. Without reducing social and artistic privileges, he and his team have invented an open and creative place, with a rich programme schedule this summer. In September, this insatiably creative artist will also publish a book on the role of music academies and record a live album with his quartet. «Being an academy director does not prevent you from being an artist.»
L’été du Conservatoire
du 3 juin au 3 sept 2023
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