The music of Josep-Maria Balanyà should be listened to with predisposition and attention, because it is complex and stirs up hidden registers. It is a music that is difficult, but at the same time honest. I ask him if he follows a specific pattern when he improvises. He sits down at the piano and shows me an example, playing a base of intervals of fifths and ninths, on which he creates and undoes tensions and rhythms, with the confidence of someone who perfectly masters a strange language and knows how to use it to communicate and express himself.
Balanyà is kind, attentive and very expressive. I photograph him in his bright studio in the neighborhood of Raval, a few days before he returns to Brussels, the city he shares with Barcelona as his place of residence.
Observing how he moves and how he speaks, one can understand the statement that "his concerts are energetic rituals - one could say that he plays the piano with his whole body - where one can perceive the presence of music made matter."
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Josep-Maria Balanyà is a pianist, composer, improvisational orchestra conductor, sound artist, painter and photographer. With more than 40 years of work on stage, 25 recorded albums and more than 140 works, his career ranges from classical music and jazz to improvisation, experimental acoustic art and performance, fields in which he enjoys high international recognition. Balanyà explores the limits of music in his compositions and performances. He is particularly interested in the combination of different arts and the transfer of art to music.
He studied painting and printmaking at the European Academy of Fine Arts in Trier, Germany. His pictorial production focuses on abstract paintings with mixed techniques, and acrylic on canvas.
His photographic work has followed a process that goes from pictorialism, to direct photography, street photography, macro technique, the study of the human body and movement.
Regarding his main field, music, Balanyà has studied in Barcelona and Switzerland (Swiss Jazz School and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Bern), has attended composition seminars with Helmut Lachenmann, Ivan Fedele and Walter Zimmermann, and improvisation workshops with Borah Bergman in New York. He has done intensive research on nature sounds in Mexico, working with oceanographers and biologists, including mastozoologist Bernardo Villa.
Most of his works have a significant improvisational part. His works as a solo pianist combine the pure sound of the instrument with prepared or manipulated piano techniques. He has presented several multimedia projects for piano, voice, real-time electronics, video, Butoh dance, as well as pieces for percussion on sculptures, sound objects and fine arts utensils. He has worked with leading musicians, including Joachim Kühn, Hans Koch, Claudio Pontiggia, Carlos Zingaro, Michiel Borstlap, Walter Quintus, Ksenija Lukic, Hannah Marshall, Das Neue Ensemble Hannover, Americo Rodrigues, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders, Ramón López, Hannah Mi (dance), Ulrich Mitzlaff, Mimi Barthélemy, among others.
