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Exprosion Improsion

Back in 2011, I was laying the first words for a book project that would be named Exprosion Improsion. The original idea was to see whether or not abstraction was possible in literature, and this idea initiated an inner voyage that brought me far away from the initial plan. During 12 years, I carved, mixed, questioned and let the text happened, sometimes leaving it still for several long months and then plunging intensely into it, always with the same great pleasure.

Exprosion Improsion is now published in the Inventions collection from the wonderful éditions MF, , an incredible haven for unusual literary works, a house with a rare level of requirement and freedom, where I am proud to be welcome again after my previous book La Funghimiracolette. Just like every book of this collection, the article is marvellous thanks to the graphic designers Jauneau Vallance. You may order it at your bookshop or here.

So that to extend the reading, the book is coupled with a musical audio version that will stroll along the whole text, embodied by Carlo Brandt, Claire ingrid Cottanceau, Clara Ysé, the actors of La Cie Catalyse and myself. The 24 episodes will be patiently delivered during the coming months. This newsletter will be announcing every new episode.

The ideal posology would be to start with the book, so as not to pull the rug out from under your inner voice, but do just as you do like and know that episode 1 is already online.

Two events to start with and celebrate the release. On the 20th, we’ll be at the Maison de la Poésie in Paris with Carlo Brandt and Claire ingrid Cottanceau to exprose and improse during a reading-concert; on the 28th we’ll be at the Monte-en-l’air in Paris for another performance followed by a conversation with Bastien Gallet, mastermind of MF Editions, who will grill me on what I probably do not know yet about this book.

But many other things will take place in June. On the 10th, for instance, on Dieppe’s beach, some thirty percussionists will stoop down to gather a couple of pebbles so that to interpret my new composition for pebbles, created for the OXC – Éclats d’Orchestre, a musical journey conceived by comrade David Gauchard with the Scène Nationale and the Conservatory of Dieppe.

On the 11th at 8.00pm on France Culture radio, you could travel back to 326 BC, at the heart of the battle and the cross-impetus of Indian kings, while listening to our version of Alexandre the Great by Racine, recorded live a few days earlier with the Comédie Française.

In the evening of the 21st, may you wander the Alibi in 11 rue Lapeyrère, Paris 18e, you might come across a wild improvised concert in duet with my dearest friend John Greaves.

Pollock & Pollock, the wonderful film by Isabelle Rèbre, a portrait of the humble yet powerful art by Charles Pollock, a slice of history viewed through letters written by free spirits, a urban ballet where New York City is unprecedented filmed, a score I was happy to compose and have it interpreted by wonderful Régïs Boulard and Eve Risser, will be on-screen at the Saint-André des Arts cinema in Paris every day as from June 7 at 1.00pm, and in the presence of many guests. I’ll be there on the 27th to talk about musical composition with Isabelle.

Just one glitch and the release of the Cores album is slightly delayed: it will eventually be available at the end of June. Meanwhile, it is possible to dive into it on platforms and also to order it, would you fancy the bath.

For a total immersion into Adrien M & Claire B’s works, the Dernière Minute installation -30 minutes long- is to be seen at the Théâtre de Chaillot from 2 to 10 and still in Yverdon in Switzerland or in Lahti in Finland, while the performance Acqua Alta will edge the Atlantic coast in Rochefort and La Rochelle.

My music will also sound here and there, in the undying Nosferatu created 20 years ago for the Bob Théâtre and about to go and fall about laughing with some happy Galician and Castilian folks, just after Ersatz by Julien Mellano troubled the Slovenian people.

To end with, will you be in Avignon in July, you could see a whirlwind text by Nane Beauregard and blew away by Laure Werckmann at the Artéphile theatre J’aime. Will you come close to the wonderful Abbaye de Noirlac the 17 or the 18 June during the Traversées festival, hear the texts of La Funghimiracolette ricocheting on the stones among Sylvain Lemêtre’s percussion.

That is the harvest to end the season. I wholeheartedly hope that the words of Exprosion Improsion will get to you and have the opportunity to instil your Summer time. Let us meet in September. By then, enjoy your books.

Olivier Mellano

Concerts and live events

Other events

• 1-3 June: Acqua Alta by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | Rochefort (17) La Coupe d’Or
• 2-10 June: Dernière Minute by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | Paris (16e) Chaillot
• 6-9 June: Acqua Alta by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | La Rochelle (17) La Coursive
• From 7 June: Pollock & Pollock by Isabelle Rèbre (27 June in the presence of Olivier Mellano) | Paris (6e) Saint-André des Arts
• From 11 June: Alexandre Le Grand by Jean Racine with La Comédie Française | France Culture
• 17-18 June: Sonore boréale by Sylvain Lemêtre – words by Olivier Mellano | Abbaye de Noirlac (18) Les Traversées
• 7 – 26 July: J’aime by Laure Werckmann | Avignon (84) Théâtre Artéphile
• Until 1 October: Dernière Minute by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | Lahti (FIN) Malva
• Until 8 October: Mirages & Miracles by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (84) CAMPREDON art & image
• Until 7 January 2024: Dernière Minute by Adrien M & Claire B – music O. Mellano | Yverdon-les-Bains (CH) Maison d’ailleurs

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