24 October – 10 November 2011

Co-producers:
Marseille-Provence 2013, the Ville de Marseille and the Télémaque Ensemble

Alice Berni was born in Cesena in 1981.

She began playing the piano at a very young age, and quickly became interested in different styles of music (including classical, folk and modern). She furthered her knowledge of the classical and modern repertoire at the Bruno Maderna Conservatory of Cesena, studying under Victoria Pontecorboli and Alessandra Rocchetti.

In addition to her pianist activities, she studied analysis and composition (also at the Bruno Maderna Conservatory), and graduated with flying colours. She attended workshops and master classes on composition, non-traditional notation techniques, musical philosophy and improvisation taught by Alessandro Solbiati, Silvia Colasanti, Klaus Huber, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Luca Macchi, Sangjick Jun and GRIM-Italia (a musical research and improvisation group). She also organises events, one example being Cesena’s Metamorfosi del contemporaneo festival.

Berni has also studied at the Mannheim Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende under Sidney Corbett. Her compositions have been performed by several chamber music and orchestra ensembles, as well as musicians such as Maria Grazia Bellocchio, Dario Savron, Laura Catrani, the Quartetto Fonè, Paolo Chiavacci, the Orchestra giovanile trentina and Coro Genzianella. She is currently studying towards a Master’s degree in composition from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan.

Since 2010, she has put her interest in composing for the stage and interdisciplinary projects to use by working with the Teatro Valdoca. Under the direction of Cesare Ronconi, she has worked with Mariangela Gualtieri, Danio Manfredini, Raffaella Giordano and Leonardo Delogu. With Enrico Malatesta and Luca Fusconi, she created musical and sound environments for the production Caino, which toured many of Italy’s most renowned theatres (including the Teatro Stabile di Torino, the Palazzo del Ghiaccio di Milano, and the Teatro Palladium di Roma), dealing with the implications of using field recordings and electroacoustic materials live.

She has worked with the newly created theatre company Opera (for Sonno), the poet Laura Fusco and the director Mila Vanzini (for Anatomia di una fuga).

This residency welcomed both Alice Berni, an Italian composer, and musicians from the Télémaque Ensemble, under the musical direction of Raoul Lay. The musicians rehearsed Berni’s piece written in situ for accordion and percussion instruments. In addition to working together on a daily basis and taking part in informal dialogue, artists also met with firefighters from Saumaty and other fire stations over the three-week period.

These meetings involved not only the artistic team, but also technicians and the person in charge of public relations. They were therefore key to building bridges between the different people taking part in the residency – one of the project’s main objectives being to bring together professions that generally do not mix. School visits (with the Collège Henri Barnier and the Ecole Estaque Gare) also took place during this period, at the fire station and out in the community.

Like the Paris firefighter brigade, the Bataillon des Marins Pompiers de Marseille (Marseille Firefighter Battalion or BMPM) is unique because it is a military force whose only mission is to protect the city.

Its role is to protect persons, property and the environment of the city of Marseille, the Grand Port Maritime, the Marseille-Provence airport, and the Eurocopter zone. The battalion also works in risk prevention.

Every year, the BMPM responds to nearly 120,000 incidents of all kinds. This includes national reinforcement missions and detachments sent abroad. Originally created on 29 July 1939, the BMPM’s importance to French civil security was confirmed by the law of 13 August 2004 modernising civil security. This law gives the battalion the prerogatives of a regional firefighting and rescue service in all its areas of competence.

This force, which is part of the French Navy, is led by a General Officer. It operates under the direct authority of the Mayor of Marseille, who also finances almost all staff and material costs. The battalion leader is also one of the director generals of the city of Marseille.

Since it was created in 1994, the Télémaque Ensemble has focused on the creation and broadcasting of today’s music. Under the direction of Raoul Lay, this musical company has developed original forms of interaction with other performance arts. Its artistic partners include Olivier Py, Bernard Kudlak, Catherine Marnas, Nathalie Pernette, Olivier Pauls and Alexandra Tobelaim.

The Ensemble has performed on some of the most innovative stages in France and abroad (including the Festival d’Ile de France, the Festival Présences, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Auditorium National of Madrid, and the Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam). Télémaque also aims to make today’s music accessible to audiences by adopting an open-minded approach. It supports creativity by commissioning work from young composers such as Alicia Diaz de la Fuente, Thierry Machuel, Alexandros Markeas and Jean-Luc Hervé.

Télémaque is one of the founders of the European Contemporary Orchestra (ECO), alongside Belgian and Dutch ensembles. In 2011, the Ensemble set up within the walls of the old Rio Cinema at L’Estaque in Marseille to create the Pôle Instrumental Contemporain (contemporary instrumental pole or PIC).