Biography

Geneviève Ackerman was born in Montreal and has been involved in music since early childhood. Initially trained as a cellist, she went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in composition under Nicolas Gilbert at the Conservatoire de Montréal, followed by a Master’s degree in composition, awarded with distinction. She also studied with Jimmie Leblanc and Maxime McKinley. Her works have been performed by Ensemble Paramirabo, Quatuor Quasar, Orchestre de la Francophonie, Jean-François Laporte, at the Unisson Festival, and under the baton of Véronique Lacroix. She has collaborated with artists from various disciplines, including visual artist Marion Lessard, filmmakers Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk, electroacoustic composer Hugo Tremblay, director Cristina Iovita, Théâtre de pièce cassée, and poets Frédérik Dufour, Manuel Bourget, and Xavier Neszvecsko. She has a particular interest in musical theatre, a genre for which she has composed several works: Misérable miracle, with an original text inspired by Henri Michaux’s eponymous book; Logosphaïros, based on fragments of Heraclitus and an original text by Frédérik Dufour; Tombeau du silence et du repos, inspired by the life of the postman Cheval; Les rendez-vous de la chair, using excerpts from Claude Gauvreau; and a cycle of Hommages aux poètes (Henri Michaux, René Daumal, Saint-John Perse, René Char, Frédérik Dufour). She is also drawn to performance art, where composition, text writing, and improvisation intertwine. She has performed on numerous occasions at Casa del Popolo, Sala Rosa, Casa Obscura, Théâtre de la porte rouge, and at the Coeur du centre des sciences de l’UQÀM. How is music—a vivid but wordless form of expression—altered by the presence of meaning? And how is meaning—woven through poetry—shaped by the pure expression of sonic realities, at once visceral and abstract? Each of her works is an opportunity to explore these questions. And they do answer—but always enigmatically…