Hibiki Mukai, composer-in-residence
Hibiki Mukai (b.1993) is a Japanese musician and composer who has received numerous prestigious international awards, including the Lawson-May Award in UK, 1st Prize at The Matan Givol International Composers Competition in Israel, "Marin Goleminov" International Composition Prize in Sofia, Festival Musica Academy's prize 2018 in Strasbourg, 1st Prize at the ORDA-2019 Composition Competition, 1st Prize at the 84th Music Competition of Japan, the Miyoshi Prize, the Iwatani Prize, the Meiji Yasuda Prize, as well as the 33rd ACL Young Composer's Prize.
He has been commissioned by notably the Ukrainian Institute (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Festival Musica Strasbourg, and Venice Biennale Musica [Venice]. Furthermore, his works have been selected for the Gaudeamus Music Week [Utrecht], Elektro Arts [Cluj-Napoca], Jurgenson Competition [Moscow], and the ICMC [Shanghai, Daegu]. In addition to these braces, he received his Bachelor's degree from Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, and completed his Master of Music degree in Sonology at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague in 2019 and his Postgraduate diploma in Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp with Summa Cum Laude in 2020. Hibiki is currently based in Porto, Portugal to pursue a PhD degree in Digital Media at the University of Porto as the fellow from the Agency for cultural affairs, Government of Japan.
Joël Mérah, arranger 'Picture at an Exhibition'
Joël Mérah is a musician, guitarist, and composer with a dual musical training that gives him a glimpse of experience in both traditional and art music. This background imposes an artistic vision that goes beyond a single specialty and is voluntarily part of a multi-faceted artistic approach.
He studied guitar and double bass, as well as music theory and composition with Peio Cabalette at the CRR Maurice Ravel in Bayonne. It was in contact with Claude Ballif that he decided to delve deeper into musical composition, subsequently studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Emmanuel Nunes, Gérard Grisey, Marc André Dalbavie, Gilles Léothaud, Michaël Levinas and Luis Nahon. Several scholarships and exchanges have brought him into contact with artistic personalities such as Wolfgang Rhim, Philippe Manoury, Jonathan Harvey and Magnus Lindberg. He also approached IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris to study sound synthesis and computer-assisted composition.
Among the ensembles and orchestras with whom he has collaborated are Ensemble Cairn, EIC, Ensemble Proxima Centauri, Oiasso Novis, Festival & Rencontres de Musique de Chambre du Larzac and Ensemble La falaise, Tokyo Opera Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique du Pays Basque, Euskadi Orkestra de San Sebastian, Collectif Ezekiel and Euskal Herriko Abesbatzen Elkartea.He has distinguished himself in many genres: works for solo instruments, chamber music, incidental music, musical storytelling, orchestral music, opera, ballet and music for film (Film: "Faire la parole" and "Atarrabi et Mikelats" by Eugène Green and Ciné-Concert: El tren Fantasma - a 1927 Mexican film premiered at the Biarritz Latin American Festival in 2011 with the Accordes.com ensemble).
In 1995, he won 1st prize at the Concours Européen de Composition pour chœurs et maîtrises de cathédrales de la ville d'Amiens, and in 2003, 1st prize at the prestigious "Toru Takemitsu" composition competition in Tokyo with "Allégories" for large orchestra, composed in memory of Gérard Grisey. In 2002, he was awarded a UNESCO fellowship and resided in Nairobi, Kenya, with the "Gàara" dance company, composing the music for the ballet "Abila" by Kenyan choreographer Opiyo Okach. As a performer, he was a member of the Garazi Philentropik Orkestra from 2003 to 2008 and is currently a member of Ensemble 0, which he founded with Sylvain Chauveau and Stéphane Garin. Joël Mérah is currently an art teacher, teaching musical analysis, composition, and orchestration at the CRR Maurice Ravel in Bayonne.