Les Démons de Tosca is one of French cellist Vincent Courtois’ latest projects, questioning the notion of Demons in the artistic invention. The music is inspired by the libretto of Puccini’s famous opera, the main root throughout of the creative process. The project is a mix between acoustic and electric, with a lot of improvisation. While always remaining melodic, the music has to remain free but controlled, demanding but generous, deep and crystal clear, and ultimately providing for everybody present an instinctual, primitive, intimate and unique experience.

Strengthened by his many experiences and influences, cellist Vincent Courtois has developed an individual exploration of music. His creative process builds on musical relationships, the balance of personalities and energies, the impact of contrast, ideas of sound, images, incertitude and silence. Creating a musical form where freedom is paradoxically managed with utmost rigour and attentiveness, he gives collective creation a chance and each collaborator a unique position in a spirit of trust and mutual involvement. Vincent Courtois’ classical training endowed him with technique, precision, and instrumental control. His curiosity and eclecticism led him to play with brilliant musicians from different backgrounds: Rita Mitsouko, Christian Escoudé, Michel Petrucciani, Michel Portal, to name a few. With Sylvie Courvoisier, Dominique Pifarely, Joëlle Léandre and Joachim Kühn, Vincent Courtois revealed his instrument’s classical aspect. His collaboration with Louis Sclavis, with whom he shares a cinematic approach of music, revealed his fine sense of melody, while his work with Rabih Abou Kahlil displayed him as a marvellous soloist.

Courtois’ fellow musicians in the trio are outstanding members of the French and European scene. Saxophonist and clarinettist Robin Fincker, dividing his time between the British and the French music scenes, is a hyperactive project instigator and an in-demand sideman, with a taste for new experiences as well as a desire to draw from a musical spectrum that is free from stylistic concerns. Seb Brun is one of the best in the younger generation of French drummers, leader and participant of numerous projects.

vincent-courtois.com 
sebbrun.com