Monique Jean studied electroacoustic composition at the Université de Montréal. Besides her acousmatic creations, her works are also regularly associated with experimental film and video, dance and installation. Her harbour symphony, L’Appel des machines soufflantes (The Call of the Whistling Machines) – sponsored by Radio-Canada – was created in March 1998 in the port of Montreal. In 1999, she was guest composer for the city’s Rien à Voir series. Her works, from 13’13 (for disfigured voices) to Figures of Time, form a cycle where voice, tensions, fractures and material shocks effect a transformation of the political towards the poetic (‘…a disturbing portrayal of human anguish, shot with crazed, obsessive voices.’ – The Wire). Since Low Memory #1, her work situates itself at the meeting of instrumental sound as immediacy and individuality and electronic sounds as violent sonorities and movements; dense and profound as an opening to alterity at the very heart of the sound structure. Her works have been performed in numerous concerts and festivals such as: Electra (Montreal), Festival Futura (France), L’Espace du son 2000 (Bruxelles), Cyber@rt (Spain), Florida Electroacoustic Festival 10 (United States). Her music may be heard on the PEP and Empreintes DIGITALes labels.
7 February 2001
