Beatriz Mercedes Ferreyra (born 21 June 1937) is an Argentine composer. She lives and works in Hameau de Hodeng, France.

Early work and study

Ferreyra was born in Cordoba,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and studied piano with Celia Bronstein in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. She continued her study of music with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and worked with

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...

and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM)

In 1963 she took a position in the research department of the Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise ( ORTF), working with the

Groupe de Recherches Musicales A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches ...

(GRM) directed by

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

. She assisted with Henri Chiarucci's and Guy Reibel's ''Rapport entre la hauteur et la fondamentale d'un son musical'', published in 1966 in ''Revue Internationale d'Audiologie'' and Pierre Schaeffer's ''Solfège de l'Objet Sonore''. During this time she also lectured at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Film music

In 1973, Ferreyra was invited to write the music for Fiorella Mariani's film ''Homo Sapiens'' (Fiorella is the niece of filmmaker

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

). The hour-long work was completely electroacoustic, for which Ferreyra also did the performing, editing, and mixing. Mariani's film weaves together footage of people in different groups interacting in both performative and quotidian tasks. The music by Ferreyra is important to weave together a sense of continuity as the film itself presents the contradictions of reality in these different scenarios.

Collaborations

She worked with Bernard Baschet and his Structures Sonores in 1970, and served residencies in electronic music with

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1976 and in 1998. In 2015 Ferreyra toured and released an album with Christine Groult, ''Nahash'', on trAce label. The work was commissioned by former of INA-GRM artistic director Christian Zanesi in 2011. The live recording features Ferreyra using "four Revox tape recorders, augmented with an analog matrix and a synchronizer box with self-designed variable speed drives."

Live performance and recordings in the 21st century

Ferreyra has released several albums in the 21st century to critical acclaim. While some of these are re-releases of important earlier works, she has also continued to create new work and perform live (see below, live performance from Festival Zeppelin, 2015), as well as give acoustic composition workshops. *''La Rivière des oiseaux'' (CD) Motus 2003 *''GRM Works'' (CD) Recollections GRM 2015 *''Huellas Entreveradas'' (vinyl) Persistence of Sound 2020 *''Echos +'' (vinyl) Room40 2020 Beatriz_Ferreyra.jpg, Festival Zeppelin 2015 @ Barcelona Beatriz_Ferreyra.1.jpg , Festival Zeppelin 2015 @ Barcelona

Works

Ferreyra continues to perform internationally commissioned works for concerts and festivals and has also previously composed for ballet, film, radio, television and music therapy. She is an honorary member of CIME/IMC UNESCO. Selected works include: *''Mer d’Azov, étude aux itérations'' (1963) *''Médisances'' (1968) *''L’orviétan'' (1970) *''Siesta Blanca'' (1972) *''Canto del Loco'' (1974) *''Echos'' (1978) *''Petit Poucet magazine'' (1985) *''The UFO Forest'' (1986) *''Souffle d’un petit Dieu distrait'' (1987) *''Ríos del sueno'' (1998–2000) *''Vivencias'' (2001) *''Cantos de antes'' (2002) *''La rivière des oiseaux'' (2003) *''Dans un point infini'' (2005) *''L’art de l’étude'' (2006) *''La condition captive'' (2006) *''Sourire de l’ange'' (2006) with Christine Groult *''L'autre Rive / The Other Shore'' (2007) *''Marche, quitte et va'' (2008) with Christine Groult *''Impasse'' (2008) with Inés Wickmann *''Les larmes de l’inconnu'' (2011) Her works have been issued on CD and vinyl, including: *''Petit Poucet Magazine'' (CD) Le Chant Du Monde 1998

External links

Official Website of Beatriz Ferreyra
(French)
Beatriz Ferreyra
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...

(excerpts of her works)
Huellas Entreveradas album

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferreyra, Beatriz 1937 births Living people 20th-century classical composers Argentine music educators Argentine women educators Women classical composers Argentine classical composers Women in electronic music Women music educators 20th-century women composers Argentine women composers