His acousmatic compositions are intended not only for concerts but for exhibitions (Charlotte Marchal, sculptor; Axel Miret, painter), for dance (Michèle Noiret) and for fashion design (Azniv Afsar). Collaboration with artists working in other fields, especially in the visual arts, has opened doors to the experimentation that has enriched and brought into focus the space that music should occupy; it has also allowed him to develop the imaginal qualities of sound material for his concert music.
Stephan Dunkelman obtained a graduate degree in acousmatic composition (1999) as a student of Annette Vande Gorne at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Mons (Belgium). His music has won honours at a number of international competitions: a jointly awarded Public’s Prize at Métamorphoses 2000; the award (1998) and a mention (1993) at the Stockholm Electronic Arts Award; an honourable mention at the Prix Ars Electronica (1995); and was a finalist in the Luigi Russolo Competition (1991).
My work unites living Time and Space.
It does this, on the one hand, by developing expressions of space for music and then integrating them into already existing expressions of time, or better still, by designing them during the process of creation, when new expressions of time are revealing themselves.
On the other hand, it does this by modulating sound patterns (chosen for their morphological or imaginal qualities) by revealing their roots in ways that make them dynamic and by playing with the mental images that are suggested, allowing us to perceive the nature of the living phenomena that result.
The spirit of the dance and the need for silence are the emitters/transmitters that I have chosen to guide me.
During the composition phase, the presence of these assert themselves and then wane, allowing the spiritual to guide the sensuous.
The result is “vertical hearing” between Heaven and Earth.