Christian Calon

Calon, Christian

Calon, Christian. Composer, b Marseilles, France, 5 Sep 1950. He settled in Montreal in 1966. Self-taught for the most part, he did a year of graduate studies in computer music at McGill University and has also been influenced by his compatriot, friend, and mentor Francis Dhomont. He has several times been a guest composer of the Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Marseille (GMEM) and has received commissions from abroad and grants from the Canada Council and MACQ. His work has won awards from the 1985 Luigi Russolo International Competition (Italy) for Portrait d'un visiteur, the 1988 NEWCOMP (New England Computer Arts Association International Competition)International Competition (USA) for La disparition and the 1989 Bourges International Electroacoustic Competition (France) for Minuit. La Disparition was selected to represent Canada at the World Music Days of the ISCM in Angers in 1989. In 1990 the record label empreintes DIGITAL es released a CD titled Lignes de Vie (IMED-9001-CD) featuring his works. He also participated in its CD Instantannés électro/ Electro Clips (IMED-9004-CD) marking the New Music America 1990.festival.

Literature and the visual arts have had as much influence on Calon as music has and his interest in multiple forms of artistic creation has led to numerous collaborations with artists from other fields. His preferred means of expression is, however, electroacoustic composition with acousmatic diffusion (multi-speaker playback with spatial displacement) and he has worked extensively in large Canadian and European computer-based studios. Despite his preference for innovative technology he has stated that his goal is 'the expression of the human condition'. His style can be termed as expressionist and narrative, and his approach to sound organization is phenomenological (concrete-object oriented) as opposed to structural (abstract-symbolic). Calon is a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community.