Dhomont, Francis

Dhomont, Francis, French composer; b. Paris, Nov. 2, 1926. He studied in France with Ginette Wald-meier, Charles Koechlin, and Nadia Boulanger. In the early decade of his career as a composer, he wrote works for acoustic instruments, but by the early 1960s was composing exclusively with and for electroacoustic media. He is a five-time winner of the Bourges International Electroacoutic Music Competition in Paris (1976, 1979,1981,1984,1988), where he was also awarded the Magisterium Prize in 1998. He received second prize at the Prix Ars Electronica (1992) and numerous other international distinctions and awards, including the Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (1991, 1992) and first prize in both Prague’s Musica Nova competition (1999) and in Italy’s Prix Pierre Schaeffer (1999). In 1999 he also won first prizes in both Sao Paulo’s CIMESP and Budapest’s EAR competitions. He is the author of various theoretical texts and essays. He ed. “L’espace du son,” a series of special issues of the journal Lien, Belgium, as well as the issue of Circuit, “Electroacoustique- Quebec: L’essor,” publ. by Les Presses de 1’Universite de Montreal. He has produced radio programs for Radio France in Paris and, with Diane Maheux, the series “Voyage au bout de 1’inoui” for Radio Canada in Montreal. Dhomont is currently an assoc. composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a founding and honorary member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC). His Frankenstein Symphony (1997) is an unusual electroacoustic adventure, containing parts from works by 21 composers in addition to portions of earlier works by Dhomont himself. A hybrid, 4-movement work, it is made up of recycled snippets of works that are juxtaposed into surprising new configurations and relationships.

Works

(all for Tape unless otherwise noted): Cite du dedans (1972); Assemblages (1972); Syntagmes (1975); Puzzle (1975); Asie (1975); La liberte ou la mart, incidental music (1976); Espaces sonores pour des textes de Jean Tortel (1976); Mais laisseronsnous mourir Arianna? (1976); Metonymie ou Le corps impossible (1977); A cordes perdues for Double Bass and Tape (1977); Sows le regard d’un soleil noir (1981); Points de fuite (1982); Transits elementaires (1983); …mourir un peu (1984); Droles d’oiseaux (1985); Signe Dionysos (1986–90); Les traces du reve, soundtrack for film (1986); Chiaroscuro (1987); Poe-Debussy/Autour de la Maison Usher, incidental music (1988); Chroniques de la lumiere (1989); Novars (1989); Espace/Escape (1989); Qui est la?, electro-clip (1990); L’electro, electro-clip (1990); Simulacres: un autoportrait, radiophonic work (1990–91); Figures de la nuit/Faces of the night, radiophonic work (1991); Studio de nuit, electro-clip (1992); Previews, electro- clip (1994); Convulsive, electro-clip (1995); Lettre de Sarajevo (1995–96); Nocturne a Combray (1995–96); Objets retrouves, “In Memoriam Pierre Schaeffer” (1996); Foret profonde (1996); CPU Pendler Music (1997); Frankenstein Symphony (1997; a collective work); L’air du large (1997–98); Ricercare, an 8-track piece (1998); En cuerdas (1998); AvatArsSon (1998); Les moirures du temps (1999); Je te salue, vieil ocean! (1998–99); Vol d’arondes (1999).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire