Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch
Musician
October-December 2025
- Music
- New York
“The connection with Maqam music arises from life encounters and a particular interest in microtonality. Thanks to electronics, which is fluid by nature and organized around frequencies rather than semitones, it is truly possible to engage with musical worlds that are very different from the Western musical system.”
I compose electronic music. Immersed in experimental and research electronic music, I build my language and sound universe from the codes of electronic music in its entirety and complexity.
Naturally hostile to any form of purism, and treating theoretical and practical elements from very distant cultures on the same level, I believe that composing music is more about connecting disparate elements in the contemporary world than starting with a blank page. However, I invent my own software and create my own sounds.
The result is a language where pure, crystalline synthesis coexists with very different acoustic universes. Relationship is the key to my project.
This is why space is a fundamental parameter for me. Music full of different places, large precarious, ephemeral, and dynamic environments.
The connection with Maqam music arises from life encounters and a particular interest in microtonality. Thanks to electronics, which is fluid by nature and organized around frequencies rather than semitones, it is truly possible to engage with musical worlds that are very different from the Western musical system.
In general, this is the goal of my project. There is thus no opposition but rather collaboration and sharing between myself and the Maqam musicians with whom I will work.
Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch is a composer and sound artist. His interests range from pure electronics to compositions for theater and dance, as well as interactive installations. Through projects such as those with Ballaké Sissoko or Amir ElSaffar, the creation of immersive sound installations like Square for Ircam – Centre Pompidou, Atolls for the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, and Open Land for the Fondazione Haydn, as well as collaborations with choreographers, musicians, and artists, he seeks to create connections between distant elements. He has received commissions from various institutions: Ircam-Centre Pompidou, Groupe de recherche musicale (GRM), Venice Biennale, Gothenburg Opera, Musée du Quai Branly, Saarbrücken Opera, Ballet National de Marseille, RuhrTriennale, Fondation Royaumont, Fondazione Haydn, FaceFoundation, and many others, and has performed worldwide.
The project is based on the artistic relationship I have with Amir ElSaffar, an Iraqi-American musician living in New York, with whom I have already completed several projects. Our research is far from finished, as it has generated a deep desire to continue the path we have started, extending it to other musicians.
The idea is to connect with musicians from the Arab community of the Middle East based in New York, invite them to improvisation sessions, delve into the Maqam scales, immerse myself in their compositional systems, and connect them with my own compositional approach based on real-time electronics.
Amir’s organization runs a project called The Maqam Project, which can support my residency and its organization in a very practical way. Many musicians who are a perfect fit to start the research are gathered around this project, which is exciting and facilitates things, at least in the beginning.
The encounter between ancient and ancestral instruments such as the oud, buzuq, santur, joza… and complex electronics that expand the possibilities of the acoustic instrument, like mine, is at the heart of this project.
By immersing traditional instruments in contemporary soundscapes, the blending of cultures takes on a tangible form. The research does not aim to produce a “world music project” by decontextualizing the sounds of traditional instruments, but rather to activate collaborations to build a common discourse in which the sounds are complementary and inseparable.
There is no opposition between two worlds—acoustic and electronic, traditional and contemporary, Middle Eastern and Western—but rather acceptance, collaboration, and risk-taking.
A large community of musicians with the profile I am interested in is concentrated in this place. The musicians I met during my previous travels to New York embody two coexisting cultures. On one hand, the traditional culture of their origins—Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt—and on the other hand, the culture of their host country, America.
In my previous projects, I observed that musicians with deep traditional cultural backgrounds, who seek to connect with other cultures such as Western ones, have open minds, curious ears, and the technical and artistic skills necessary to build a common discourse with me.
In this sense, I find that their openness is remarkable and unprecedented compared to the sphere in which I work in Europe, and it is very fertile for creating a shared sound that not only respects the historical depth of their traditions but also resonates with my sensitivities and technologies.
In partnership with
GMEM — Centre national de création musicale
Directed since 2011 by Christian Sebille, the GMEM accompanies artistic teams, notably during residencies, produces shows in musical creation, and conducts many pedagogical activities, teaching and training activities. It shares all these activities during regular presentations to the public (concerts, installations, meetings, residency outings…).