An Italian composer born February 4, 1980.
A pianist by training, Eric Maestri has a diploma in composition from the Conservatories of Brescia and Turin (2006). He took advanced studies at the Conservatory of Strasbourg (2007-2009), followed the classes at Acanthes, the Fondation Royaumont-Voix Nouvelles, as well as composition and computer music courser of Ircam (2009-2011). A pupil notably of Gilberto Bosco, Ivan Fedele and Yan Maresz, Maestri holds a degree in philosophy from Turin University (2004), a doctorate in composition (PhD) from the Huddersfield University in the UK (2014), and a doctorate in musicology from the universities of Strasburg and Saint-Étienne (2016). He is particularly interested in the history and analysis of electroacoustic music, mixed music and the links between art and research.
In 2009 he founded the ensemble L’imaginaire, of which he is the artistic director. He is also cofounder of /nu/thing, a composers’ collective.
Eric Maestri practises composition in the broad sense, as a thoughtful activity that brings together the whole of subjective musical experience, dealing no less with the physical experience of sound production as with the experience of listening to the sounds. His style, conceived as ‘archi-écriture’, as it were a blend of architecture and the compositional process, invites him to “imagine composition as a complex act illuminating the natural and psychological phenomenon linked to growth”. He composes instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic music as well as mixed works, for which he collaborates closely with performers and draws inspiration from their suggestion.His works include La musica che non ho in mente, dramma di scrittura musicale for soprano, piano, blackboard, two typewriters and four metronomes (2001); Celestografia...musica musicans for voice, violin, piano and two synthesisers, first performed by Elisabeth Calleo and the ensemble Musikfabrik conducted by Enno Poppe in Paris at the Agora Festival (2011); Tre case for clarinet, piano and string trio commissioned by Radio France and first performed by L’Instant Donné at the Venice Biennial (2013); Blu for electric guitar and string trio, commissioned by Norio Sato and the Ensemble Nomad, first performed at the Tokyo Opera Hall (2016); L’obscurité environnante se déchire, s'éclaire for oboe, violin and cello, commissioned by the Ensemble Recherche, first performed in Stuttgart (2017); Rest for electronics (2018); Comme le vent c’est nu c’est de l’encre for ensemble and electronics, commissioned by Ircam, first performed by L’Instant Donné at the festival ManiFeste (2019).
A teacher at the University of Strasburg (2010-2016) and at the University of Lorraine (2016-2017), he currently teaches at the University Paris 8 Vincennes–Saint-Denis, where he is a member of the laboratory CICM/Musidanse (Centre de recherche en informatique musicale et création musicale/Musidanse).
