Charles Plays Cello
Chat Plays Cello is built from a set of eight notes and rhythmic elements inspired by Charles Mingus’s Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Through a series of aleatoric rules of transformation and permutation, this material unfolds into a sequence of contrasting panels, each creating a distinct musical atmosphere. The title pays homage to Charles Mingus, who initially studied the cello before turning to the double bass. His decision was shaped by the racial barriers and discrimination faced by Black musicians in 1930s and 1940s America.
The piece is scored for two percussionists, violin, cello, bass clarinet, and flute.
The world premiere took place on 22 February 2025 in Canada, as part of the Hamilton International Contemporary Music Festival 2025, performed by the HICMF Ensemble and conducted by Chikako Iversen.
A live recording of the performance is available on SoundCloud [here], and a video of the performance can be found on YouTube [here].
Les deux chats
Les deux chats is a duet for violin and cello, structured in eight panels and built from two series of ten and eight notes, respectively.
Rather than a succession of musical events, I imagined the piece as a sequence of theatrical situations, in which changes of articulation—staccato, legato, pizzicato—as well as shifts in character are experienced as genuine changes of emotional state.
The piece takes its inspiration from Gioachino Rossini’s Duetto buffo di due gatti (Cat Duet). The guiding image is that of two cats. They observe one another, rest, play, provoke each other, fight, and eventually return to a state of quiet. They could just as well be two people, or any other form of relationship. What matters is not the story itself, but the tension that develops between the two protagonists.
The world premiere took place on 1 August 2026 in France, as part of the Festival Les Musicales d’Assy in Haute-Savoie, performed by Duo REGARDS (Pauline Klaus and Marie Ythier).
A live recording of the performance is available on SoundCloud [here], and a video of the performance can be found on YouTube [here].
The Shepherd and the Dolphin
The Shepherd and the Dolphin is a fable based on a historical reconstruction of the events surrounding the life of Nicolas the Pilgrim (1075–1094), a historical figure who actually lived and was canonized after his death. An emblematic figure of Christian devotion, Nicolas also represents a meeting point between the Christian traditions of East and West. His extraordinary pilgrimage gives him a mystical dimension, making him a figure of profound faith and a bridge between two cultures.
The work is written for narrator, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, and adopts a post-serial aesthetic. It is constructed through permutations and transformations of a symmetrical series of eight notes, enriched by rhythmic elements drawn from the Kyrie eleison of the Greek Byzantine liturgical tradition.
The Shepherd and the Dolphin (for narrator, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) was composed in 2025 and was selected as a Finalist for the 2026 Lawson-May Award for Composition.
A MIDI version featuring Ewen’s narration is available [here].
Other Recent Works
– Talks (string quartet) – 2024
– Klatsch und Tratsch (woods quintet) – 2024
– Les diableries (for piano and 5 instruments) – 2024
– Ecco che un’altra volta (for female voice and 8 instruments) – 2024
– Satie Diptych (for 8 instruments) – 2024
– Nighthawks (for 11 instruments and 2 percussionists) – 2024
– The Second Coming (for choir and saxophone quartet) – 2024
– Supporters (for male’s choir) – 2025
– Bobby’s whistling (for six clarinets) – 2025
– Dov’è Bobby? (for 14 instruments and percussions) – 2025
– Discussion sur le citron (saxophone quartet) – 2025 – Listen (MIDI): soundcloud
– Discussion sur le pamplemousse (string quartet) – 2025
– Et in terra (pax) (for string orchestra and piano) – 2025 – Listen (MIDI): soundcloud
– Falsa estate (for solo violin and string orchestra) – 2025 – Listen (MIDI): soundcloud
– Un valse para Violeta (for accordion, violin, cello and piano) – 2025
– Sentinel-1 (for flute and piano) – 2026
– Kyrie (for choir) – 2026
– Les deux libellules (for mallet duo) – 2026
– Aurora fracta (for symphony orchestra) – 2025/2026
Contact at maxmorici@gmail.com
