samuel sighicelli
COMPOSER, IMPROVISER, “LISTENING DIRECTOR”
A graduate of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, Samuel Sighicelli is a pianist, improviser and composer of instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic works. He was an artist-in-residence at the Villa Medici / French Academy in Rome in 2003-2004.
His compositions, ranging from works for soloists to full orchestra, have been played and/or commissioned by institutions such Ina-GRM, Radio France, IRCAM, ensembles such as Court-circuit, Ictus, 2e2m, Cairn, Decoder, Quatuor Arditti, Collegium Novum Zürich, Percussions de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, and others.
In 2000, he and Benjamin de la Fuente founded the company Sphota, with which he has performed across Europe (Festival Musica, Tage fur neue musik, Traiettorie, Agora, Berliner Festspiel, San Sebastian, Roma Europa, etc.). In 2004, he co-founded the experimental rock band Caravaggio, which performs regularly in France and abroad (Pori Jazz Festival, Moers, Berlin, Jeunesse in Vienna, Graz, Rome, Jazz à la Villette, Centre Pompidou in Paris, etc.). and has recorded four albums.
Sighicelli’s artistic activity revolves around three main focuses: instrumental, vocal and electronic composition; group work (Caravaggio); and creating immersive and/or performance projects (L’île solaire, Marée noire, The Need For Cosmos, Chant d’hiver, Spirale, etc.). These projects expand Sighicelli’s role as composer into stage – or “listening”– direction, and explore interactions with visual representation and the moving image.
In 2012-2015, he was a composer-in-residence at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Oullins (Lyon), and in 2017-2019 at the Espace Malraux – national theater of Chambéry – and in Bonlieu – national theater of Annecy, supported by the DGCA/SACEM. In 2014-2019, he was associate-composer at the CRR Annecy and Chambéry.
In 2022-2023, Sighicelli was selected by an EOI process for the Ministry of Culture’s “Mondes Nouveaux” initiative, for his opera created in Rennes for a group of 20 young musicians and vocalists with the Pôle Supérieur de Bretagne, based on an original libretto by Maylis de Kerangal.
In 2023-2025, he was associated with the CCAM Scène Nationale de Vandœuvre along with the company Sphota. In 2026-2028, he will be associated with the Cité Musicale-Metz as part of Caravaggio.
A book of interviews with musicologist Guillaume Kosmicki, entitled La Musique en prise directe, was published by Éditions Musica Falsa in the fall of 2022.
He has recorded two albums devoted exclusively to his works: Marée Noire, based on the live show of the same name (D’autres Cordes Records), and 12 études pour piano et sampler (CUICATL Collection).
