Sophie Delafontaine

I am a female artist, composer, performer, and occasional dancer. My artistic journey has been proceeding from movement and sound since my childhood. Contemporary dance, which I have been doing since the age of four, opened the first door to music for me. While dancing I discovered numerous music genres, acousmatic music in particular. I also played piano, but quickly figured that it did not fit me as an instrument to compose on.

That is how I left my native Swiss mountains to land at the Conservatoire royal de Mons / Arts² — École supérieure des arts (Belgium) for new adventures. There I studied acousmatic composition under Annette Vande Gorne, Philippe Mion, and Ingrid Drese, and completed a Master’s degree in 2014.

I mostly compose acousmatic music, but I also compose stage music. My approach is influenced by my collaborations with theatre and dance. I draw inspiration from the moods, stories and characters that fuel those projects. More recently, since I became a mom, my inspiration has been more rooted in personal, intimate topics.

I am also an acousmatic music performer on the acousmonium. For me, composition and performance are intertwined and feed off each other. When composing, I am already thinking about what I will be able to do on the acousmonium in concert. I am even passionately teaching spatialized performance at Arts².

[English translation: François Couture, vi-26]

Sophie Delafontaine has received awards at the following contests:

• Concours biennal de composition acousmatique Métamorphoses, Ohain (Belgium): 2016
• Concurso de Composición Electroacústica Destellos, Mar del Plata (Argentina): 2013