Drone[s]: Multichannel Electronics
This performance features cellist Gaspar Claus, accompanied by Alexander Vert on live electronics and visual artist Thomas Köppel.
The work begins with a drone — a continuous layer of sound — generated by the cello. This sound is processed in real time using electronic and visual devices, notably a camera that films the instrument’s strings.
The stage setup is built around a circle of loudspeakers surrounding the audience. Gaspar, Alexander and Thomas are positioned in a semicircle within this space, while the audience sits in the centre. This configuration fosters physical and sensory closeness to the artists, enhanced by an octophonic sound system that envelops the listener.
The sounds produced by Gaspar are transformed, spatialised and mixed to offer a journey through different sonic layers. This immersive spatialisation, made possible by the circular arrangement of the loudspeakers, heightens the sense of movement through constantly evolving soundscapes.
The video, projected onto a screen behind the cellist, shows footage of the instrument’s vibrating strings. It adds a powerful visual dimension, highlighting the poetry of instrumental gesture and revealing even the slightest tremors of sound. The performance seeks to immerse the audience in the heart of the cello, to hear it from within and gradually lead them into a dreamlike, poetic universe where sound and image merge.