Jean-François Zygel: “A film concert is not like a cinema screening… It’s an extraordinary form!”

Jean-François Zygel offre un atelier d’improvisation ce samedi 30 mars au Cratère. Naïve – Franck Juery

The composer is a guest of the Itinérances d’Alès film festival, with a film concert and shared workshops on the program this Saturday, March 30.

The Itinérances d’Alès festival has existed for 42 years. What did you know about this particular festival ? What made you want to accept his invitation ?

I am a lover, a fanatic, a concert film fanatic! Already, because for me, the silent, that is to say roughly the first third of the 20th century, is the golden age of the ;history of cinema. All these geniuses, you realize ? Charlie Chaplin, Griffith, Eisenstein, Murnau, Fritz Lang, Abel Gance, Renoir… and of course Buster Keaton!

Actually, Buster Keaton is the actor in "Sportif par amour", a 1927 film that you accompany live on the piano! It was therefore an essential choice for you?

This is a proposal from Antoine Leclerc, the general delegate of Itinérances. This will be a first for me, because although I have of course often had the opportunity to put Buster Keaton to music, I had never done this one. This requires responsiveness, rhythm, energy, and even a certain digital virtuosity…hellip; because in my mind the piano must be on par with this extraordinary actor-stuntman-gymnast who was Buster Keaton!

The concert film remains a fairly rare event in cinemas. However, it brings real additional richness for the cinema. What do you think??

A film concert is not like a cinema screening, since it is both a concert and a screening. It is an extraordinary form, in which cinema presents itself as a performing art, which it was at the beginning of its history. And then it’s always of great modernity, and even of great “novelty,” since it is musicians of today who invent the music from a film shot a century earlier.

Your career reflects the desire to share your passion for classical music with the general public. This will be the case with your improvisation workshop with conservatory students. However, improvising on the piano seems to be a real challenge, especially for young musicians! What do you tell them to invite them to look into this exercise?

First of all, this workshop is open to everyone, without any exclusion, from 7 to 107 years old! There is something for everyone, from those who believe that classical music or jazz is not for them, to the most experienced music lovers. Everyone will be able to come and improvise freely in my company, learning about the joys of music and shared listening. No prior registration, no entry fee, only the pleasure of a joyful, musical and particularly friendly end to the morning!

The love of improvisation

Pianist and composer, Jean-François Zygel is a specialist in improvisation, an art that took him to the world of music. &agrav; regularly sharing the stage with many artists including Chilly Gonzales, André Manoukian or even Ibrahim Maalouf. He also shares his passion for classical music à through the airwaves of Radio France and via broadcasts from France Télévisions.
For Itinérances, Jean-François Zygel is offering, in partnership with Cratère, a film concert with the film Sportif par amour, this Saturday March 30 & agrave; 4 p.m. at Cratère. À 11 a.m., same day, same place, he leads an improvisation workshop with students from the Maurice-André conservatory. This second appointment is free.

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