Deep Breathers is a wind instrument players collective.
It was created in Leipzig during the summer 2023 expanding on a previous residency program (LeipziXP) interested in ways of translating musically Octavia E. Butler’s representation of empathy (Mind of My Mind, Kindred, Parable of the Sower) by using listening methods developed by composer Pauline Oliveros.
Scores used by the collective have a similar structure to algorithms and children songs.
They are set to the slow pace of breathing cycles to allow time for observing musicians’ internal and external sonic environment. Beatings, unisons, harmonics, chords, microtones, dissonances and multi-phonics may occur.
Aside from musical performances Deep Breathers is also a space for sharing knowledge on wind instruments, the air we breath and body features involved in active breathing techniques.
Members of the collective include Artur Vidal who lives in London where he has recently been playing with composers Eva-Maria Houben and Huw Morgan, Cathy Heyden who develops her music practice in Paris as a soloist and in duet with accordion player Claude Parle and Sebastien Branche who runs in Leipzig the ZiXP music Festival and regularly travels in Europe as a member of the Swiss music ensemble Insub Meta Orchestra.
Recordings were made in Leipzig during the summer 2023 using a Sound Devices (48000 Hz/38 bit) with five cardioid microphones (two Jean-marie Mallet mircophones as a stereo couple and one Line Audio mic for each saxophone)
Bios
Sébastien Branche plays soprano, tenor and C-melody saxophones. He got started with improvisation through workshops with musicians coming from contemporary jazz or improvised music.
Interested in perceptive phenomenons, he works mainly with sound as a material, describing himself as a “sound crafter”. His interests also extends to body and space, as he regularly confronts his practice to contemporary dance, soundart, through collaborations mainly with photographer Diane Martinot and music and technology, through the use of programming language Supercollider. Based in Leipzig, Germany since 2015, he is an active member of the blooming local scene.
Interested in perceptive phenomenons, he works mainly with sound as a material, describing himself as a “sound crafter”. His interests also extends to body and space, as he regularly confronts his practice to contemporary dance, soundart, through collaborations mainly with photographer Diane Martinot and music and technology, through the use of programming language Supercollider. Based in Leipzig, Germany since 2015, he is an active member of the blooming local scene.
Cathy Heyden is a French self-taught saxophonist, free improviser, and music educator. Before joining European avant-garde scene, Heyden had been professionally involved in theatrical and dance performance, carrying academic studies on these topics. Currently based in Paris, Cathy Heyden teaches at CFMI d'Orsay, Philharmonie de Paris and music school,
Artur M. Vidal is a London/Paris-based and Spanish-born saxophone player who grew up in Paris where he studied music, philosophy, and history of Art. His work involves field recordings, sound walks, dance, and improvisation. He has been doing academic research on improvised music and environmental sounds and has become a certified teacher of Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening practice. He has published two collections of text scores: The Hum in the Valley (2021) and Friendly Algorithms (2018).
