Since the creation of PIANO AND CO, Nathalie NÉGRO has ensured that her social commitments are reflected in all the company’s activities. Since 2007, she has been focusing on the issue of gender equality in the music industry. As part of this effort, the Musical Bounce Back project will feature artistic direction structured around the theme of women composers.

Musical Bounce Back, which is co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union, is a resilient and unifying project that emerged during the health crisis and that, thanks to an innovative teaching and creation curriculum, will raise awareness among music learners and teachers about the invisibility of female composers.

Participants will be involved in a creative process by collaborating through the LoLa (Low Latency) system: a high-quality, low latency audio/video transmission system that enables engaging encounters, which fosters creation thanks to direct and regular links with female composers.

This initiative is being carried out by six partners from the fields of music education, educational engineering, research, innovation, and musical creation:

PIANO AND CO (Marseille, France), leader, the Organisation of European Programmes and Cultural Relations (Limassol, Cyprus), Laboratory of Music Acoustics and Technology/ LabMAT at the National and Kapodistrian University (Athens, Greece); Casa do Professor (Braga, Portugal); the Komitas State Conservatory (Yerevan, Armenia), and the Laboratory of Collective and Artificial Intelligence/LICA (Marseille, France).

For the Musical Bounce Back project, PIANO AND CO is commissioning musical creations from the female composers Esthir LEMI (Greece) and Eve RISSER (France).

Cooperation meetings, workshops, concerts, and in-person and online rehearsals will be organized over three years to maintain the link between musicians and female composers.

The project will conclude with a one-week public event that will bring together European musicians and feature discussions, projections, concerts, and, above all, the presentation of the final creation in a unique venue in Marseille. This event will be a powerful moment that will turn the spotlight on the world première of a work by female composers.

New technologies are a major element of the artistic and pedagogical process. The LoLa system will permit participants to stay connected throughout the entire project. In addition, the launch of Echos Music – digital badges developed using blockchain – will emphasise the soft and informal skills that are acquired through musical practice and by participating in artistic creation projects.

Anne ALIX will produce a documentary about three generations of female musicians that will tackle the question of women in music.