To whom it may concern
Subject: Mr Jacopo Baboni Schilingi
I met Mr Baboni Schilingi in 1993, when he was selected to attend IRCAM’s Composition and Computer Music Cursus. At that time, I directed its Education and Production Departments.
In the years that followed, the entire institute’s team came to recognise that Mr Baboni Schilingi was a particularly brilliant young composer. He was soon engaged in various musical research projects, mainly concerning computer-aided composition, in the production of pioneering multimedia works, and in teaching, where he proved to be an excellent teacher, dynamic and with infectious enthusiasm.
He subsequently became Director of Education at the Tempo Reale Centre in Florence, directed by Luciano Berio, with whom he enjoyed a fruitful collaboration until the great composer’s untimely death.
I was able to visit the centre at that time and see the highly inventive educational programme for children that Mr Baboni Schilingi had established. I also saw that he had succeeded in bringing together and leading an excellent team.
Later, I followed his remarkable educational work at the Montbéliard School of Music, to which he brought international visibility: first through teaching that attracts young composers from all over the world, and more recently through the Ensemble de Musique Interactive [EMI], which he founded and directs, a world-class ensemble unique in its kind.
During the 2011–2012 academic year, while I was Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York, I was able to invite EMI for a series of concerts at the Miller Theater and the University’s Computer Music Center, including repertoire works and premieres. It was a great success.
Over the years, I have followed the progress of his research in computer-aided composition, which is particularly rich and among the most advanced in the world. I have also experienced his interactive installations and heard a number of his musical works performed in concert by various ensembles. In each case, these are significant creations that demonstrate his successful involvement in international musical and artistic life and an original personality, uniquely combining artistic research, creation and teaching.
I therefore recommend him most warmly for the directorship of La Muse en Circuit, for which he brings together all the necessary skills, both artistic and managerial, together with the motivation and dynamism required to develop projects and lead teams.
Jean-Baptiste Barrière