Concerts, performances, and musical carte blanche events punctuate a live program that pays tribute to the artists of the exhibition "Corps et âmes," including the American artist Philip Guston, exhibited in Gallery 4.
Free entry during the event, with discretion.
The Bourse de Commerce presents For Philip Guston, a piece for flute, piano, and percussion by American composer and leading figure of contemporary music Morton Feldman. The performance in the Rotunda features two soloists from the Ensemble intercontemporain, Emmanuelle Ophèle (flute) and Aurélien Gignoux (percussion), alongside Ninon Hannecart-Ségal (piano).
Composed in 1984, For Philip Guston is one of Morton Feldman's major works, a poignant tribute to his painter friend who passed away in 1980. This piece, lasting approximately four hours – written for flute, piano, and percussion – stretches over time, abandoning any dramatic development in favor of fragile contemplation. The work weaves subtle instrumental motifs, marked by infinitesimal rhythmic variations, where sounds seem suspended, as if in weightlessness.
The composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) and the American painter Philip Guston (1913-1980) maintained an intense friendship and artistic relationship, though their bond weakened in the late 1960s, crystallizing around aesthetic divergences. At that time, Philip Guston abandoned abstraction in favor of figurative painting, a choice disapproved of by Morton Feldman: "One day, he went to Italy; then he came back, and something happened; his work started to change, and when he came to me and asked, 'So, what do you think?', I remained silent for thirty seconds, and that half-minute cost us our friendship."
This lost friendship resonates in Friend – To M.F. (1978), a painting by Philip Guston depicting the composer, smoking as usual, his head slightly turned away. Ten years later, upon the painter's death, Morton Feldman recognized the radical freedom of his artistic gesture and said of him: "He stopped questioning himself." At that time, Morton Feldman noticed the evolution of his own practice, now choosing to compose musical works without concern for their length.
"The reason the piece is called For Philip Guston is that, during the last eight years of his life, we did not communicate. Despite this, he had asked his family—knowing he was going to die—to ask me to recite the Kaddish at his grave. Which I did." Morton Feldman, Writings and Words.
The American composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) is one of the major figures of contemporary music. A pioneer, alongside John Cage, of indeterminate and aleatory music, his instrumental pieces are often designed for unusual groups of instruments and feature experimental musical notation systems. Born in 1926 in New York (USA) into a Jewish family of Ukrainian origin, he began studying piano with Vera Maurina Press, who had known the Russian pianist Alexander Scriabin, an influence reflected in his early compositions. In January 1950, at a New York Philharmonic concert, Morton Feldman met John Cage. Shortly afterward, he moved into the same building as him, the Bossa’s Mansion, located on Grand Street near the East River. With the arrival of Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, and David Tudor in the building, the "New York School" emerged around them. Among Morton Feldman’s major works are Rothko Chapel (1971), Piano and String Quartet (1985), and Triadic Memories (1981).
Born in Montreal (Canada) in 1933 and passed away in 1980 in New York (USA), Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein) grew up in Los Angeles (USA) in a family of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants. His paintings, initially abstract, made him one of the founders, alongside Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning, of Abstract Expressionism, a movement of the post-war New York artistic avant-garde. Deeply involved in the civil rights movement, Philip Guston also created works marked by his political engagement. In a cartoonish style, his satirical drawings and caricatures of American President Richard Nixon caused scandal, as did the recurring appearances of Ku Klux Klan members in his figurative paintings, reflecting his fight against this supremacist and racist organization.
Emmanuelle Ophèle, flute
Aurélien Gignoux, percussions
Ninon Hannecart-Ségal, piano
Emmanuelle Ophèle studied with Jean-Pierre Chambon, Patrick Gallois, and Ida Ribera before continuing her training in Michel Debost’s class at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP), where she was awarded a First Prize in flute. At the age of 20, she joined the Ensemble intercontemporain. Committed to expanding the repertoire and exploring new expressive possibilities offered by technology, she quickly became involved in premieres integrating the latest techniques, such as La Partition du ciel et de l’enfer for MIDI flute and MIDI piano by Philippe Manoury (recorded for Adès) and ...explosante fixe... for MIDI flute, two flutes, and instrumental ensemble by Pierre Boulez (recorded for Deutsche Grammophon). She also participated in the recording of Le Marteau sans maître (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005) under the direction of the composer.
Drawn to percussion from an early age, Aurélien Gignoux studied at the Toulouse Conservatory, where he explored a wide range of instruments, including jazz vibraphone, drums, piano, and percussion. He refined his sound palette in Éric Sammut’s marimba class at the CRR de Paris. After entering the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) in Gilles Durot’s class in 2016, he deepened his orchestral and timpani practice in Germany with soloists from the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, as well as through international academies and collaborations with major French orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France). Expanding his solo and chamber music practice, he joined Trio K/D/M in 2019 and co-founded the company Les Insectes with Bastien David, centered around a microtonal percussion instrument, the metallophone. Since joining the Ensemble intercontemporain, he has explored the Basque txalaparta, the Cristal Baschet, and the cimbalom. Aurélien Gignoux is a Kolberg percussion artist and a Bergerault keyboard artist. He was awarded second prize at the 2019 ARD International Music Competition and was named a "Révélation" at the 2021 Victoires de la Musique Classique.
A graduate of the CNSM in Paris, Ninon Hannecart-Ségal was named an Adami Classical Revelation in 2021 and was part of the Debussy class at the Académie Jaroussky for the 2022-2023 season. Currently an Artist in Residence at the Fondation Royaumont, this pianist and harpsichordist stands out as one of the rare specialists of the modern harpsichord. She has performed at numerous venues, including the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique (where she recorded Komboi for harpsichord and percussion during the Xenakis 2022 weekend), La Scala Paris (where she created her program Queendom for piano and modern harpsichord), and the Radio France Montpellier Occitanie Festival. In 2025, she opened the Festival Présences with MengHao Xie’s prepared piano concerto at the Auditorium of Radio France.
