Eklekto

Ghost Ranch, by Félicia Atkinson (2022)

Acting: Aurèle Gerin, Chiao-Yuan Chang, Sarah Amar and Nicolas Curti

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Ghost Ranch is a path taken in reverse. Félicia Atkinson, who routinely uses the sounds of pre-recorded instruments in her compositions, asked Eklekto's percussionists to transcribe her electronic universe using their acoustic instruments.

Before being revived in the foyer of the Grand Théâtre in partnership with artgenève, the work was premiered in March 2022 at the Bâtiment des forces de motrice for the 30th anniversary of the Orchestre de chambre de Genève (OCG). Four instrumentalists activate a vast percussion architecture, like workers revolving around a machine in a factory. Eklekto's soberly harmonic composition and monumental interpretation are perfectly suited to the Chandoline power station.

Félicia Atkinson also proposes a site-specific installation in the power station's former "reception room".

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Eklekto

Collective founded in 1974 in Geneva

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The Centre international de percussion, which became Eklekto in 2011, was founded in 1974 by the percussionists of the Orchestre de la Suisse romande, and above all by the visionary Pierre Métral (1936-1996), an oboist and composer by training, and a self-taught percussionist who had already founded the Ensemble instrumental de Genève in 1961 to develop contemporary music at the end of Lake Geneva. Pierre Métral taught percussion at the Geneva and Sion Conservatoires.

Today, Eklekto works with over 20 percussionists from the Lake Geneva region. The collective has a collection of over a thousand instruments, which it uses as a sound laboratory. This "instrumentarium" is also used by the local cultural scene.

Eklekto is a real driving force for contemporary music. Since its creation, the collective has commissioned some one hundred works by composers from all over the world.

In addition to its concert season in Geneva and a biennial event organized from 2006 to 2014, the collective is a regular guest on international stages. Its current projects question the concert format through scenic projects, transdisciplinary works and mediation.

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