Skip to main content

Gilles Gobeil

Gilles Gobeil’s works are out there! They have been performed in concert in Aarhus, Aberdeen, Ankara, Banff, Bangor, Barcelona, Beijing, Belfast, Berkeley, Berlin, Birmingham, Bogotá, Boston, Bourges, Bowling Green, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Cagliari, Calgary, Cascais, Cluj-Napoca, Cologne, Corfu, Crest, Dijon, Dresden, Drummondville, Edinburgh, Edmonton, Essen, Glasgow, Goms, Halifax, Helsinki, Huddersfield, Karlsruhe, Keele, Kingston, Kraków, Leicester, Lisbon, Livron-sur-Drôme, London, Lyon, Magdeburg, Manchester, Marseille, Mons, Montpellier, Montréal, Morelia, New York City, Nîmes, Norwich, Oberlin, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Rethymno, Rome, Saignelégier, San Francisco, Santiago, São Paulo, Scarborough, St Catharines, Stanford, Sydney, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, Toronto, Troy, Udine, Uppsala, Valdivia, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, Victoriaville, Vienna, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Vorst, Weimar and Winnipeg…

Following a bachelor’s degree in compositional techniques, Gilles Gobeil undertook a master’s in composition at Université de Montréal under Serge Garant. In the final years of his studies, he was introduced to electroacoustic practices by Marcelle Deschênes and Francis Dhomont. This discovery stimulated in him a desire to commit entirely to the exploration of unfamiliar forms and original timbres, exploring and making the most of the full range of tools offered by the studio. Since the completion of his studies, he has focused his creative interests almost exclusively on the composition of acousmatic and mixed works. His practice falls within what is known as “cinéma pour l’oreille” (cinema for the ear). Many of his compositions are inspired by literary or cinematic works and seek to “visualize” them through the medium of sound. Although his catalogue is comprised mainly of acousmatic and mixed works, he has also made forays into the fields of dance and film. Traces of his experiences with instrumental music are often found in his works.

His work has been recognized internationally and has earned him a number of prizes and distinctions, among them Ars Electronica (Austria, 1995, 2005), Bourges (France, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2009), Ciber@RT (Espagne, 1999), CICEM (Monaco, 2014), CIME (2017), CIMESP (Brazil, 1997, 1999, 2001), Città di Udine (Italy, 2023), Destellos (Argentina, 2011, 2012, 2015), Luigi-Russolo (Italy, 1987, 1988, 1989), Métamorphoses (Belgium, 2000, 2002, 2022), Musica Nova (Czech Republic, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), Música Viva (Portugal, 2015), SOCAN (Canada, 1993), and Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (Sweden, 1994, 1997).

He is regularly invited to undertake residencies abroad in order to create new works (Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden). Between 2005 and 2017, a close relationship was developed with the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe (Germany) through a dozen residencies. In 2008 he was guest composer at the DAAD — Berliner Künstlerprogramm (Artists-in-Berlin Programme, Germany). Starting in 2011, Gilles Gobeil has gone on several tours in the UK, Germany, Canada, and the USA with ondist Suzanne Binet-Audet in order to present his trilogy of works for ondes Martenot and fixed sounds.

He has received commissions by groups and institutions such as Codes d’accès (Montréal), DAAD (Germany), empreintes DIGITALes (Montréal), Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB, France), Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM, France), Musiques & Recherches (Belgium), Société Radio-Canada (SRC), Totem contemporain (Montréal), and ZKM (Allemagne), as well from individuals such as Uli Aumüller, Folkmar Hein, Camille Mutel, and Oscar Wiggli, and from performers such as Suzanne Binet-Audet, Yves Charuest, Arturo Parra, and Rick Sacks.

An amicable collaboration with guitarist and composer René Lussier led to the album titled Le contrat. Among his six solo releases, all published on empreintes DIGITALes, three were finalists for the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM)’s Prix Opus for Disc of the Year and his compact disc Trilogie d’ondes won the 2004-05 Prix Opus.

From 1991 to 2017 he was a professor of Music Technology at Cégep de Drummondville and has also been a guest lecturer at the Université de Montréal and at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

Gilles Gobeil is a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), and co-founder of Réseaux, a presenter of media art events.

[English translation: jef chippewa (shirling & neueweise), François Couture, i-24]

Gilles Gobeil

Sorel-Tracy (Québec), 1954

Residence: Montréal (Québec)

  • Composer
  • Improviser

On the web

Gilles Gobeil [Photo: Isabelle Gardner, March 26, 2006]
Gilles Gobeil [Photo: Isabelle Gardner, March 26, 2006]

Calendar

Broadcasts

Date Work Programme
April 27, 2024 Gilles Gobeil, Associations libres (1990), 3:00 Sonic Abstractions — Material Behavior / Stegi Radio (Greece)
February 24, 2024 Gilles Gobeil, Le vertige inconnu (1993-94), 8:23 Sonic Abstractions — City Dream Machine / Stegi Radio (Greece)
January 27, 2024 Gilles Gobeil, Le miroir triste (2007), 13:42 Episode 1182 / Martian Gardens Podcast (USA)
May 21, 2023 Gilles Gobeil, Ombres, espaces, silences…: Vol de rêve (2005), 10:38 Episode 1152 / Martian Gardens Podcast (USA)
April 23, 2023 Gilles Gobeil, Le miroir triste (2007), 13:42 Sonorama / Radio Campus Orléans 88.3 FM (France)
August 21, 2022 Gilles Gobeil, Voix blanche (1988, 89), 13:02 Radio Horizon 93.9 FM (South Africa)
August 9, 2022 Gilles Gobeil, Là où vont les nuages… (1990-91), 11:20 Radio Horizon 93.9 FM (South Africa)
February 11, 2022 Gilles Gobeil, Golem (2012-13), 10:35 Radio Horizon 93.9 FM (South Africa)
February 6, 2022 Gilles Gobeil, Sibylle (2010), 15:17 Radio Horizon 93.9 FM (South Africa)
May 16, 2021 Gilles Gobeil, Le miroir triste (2007), 13:42 Pulsar / CISM (Canada)
April 4, 2021 Gilles Gobeil, Entre les deux rives du printemps (2006), 18:08 Sonorama / Radio Campus Orléans 88.3 FM (France)
September 27, 2020 Gilles Gobeil, Le miroir triste (2007), 13:42 Pulsar / CISM (Canada)