Lê Quan Ninh | Percussion solo

Description

Lê Quan Ninh
Percussion Solo
VANG VIII. Avant-garde Music

In its eighth season, VANG presents a journey through music that transforms the perception of time and sound. Each concert constructs a space where time and sound expand, intensify, or become transparent.

Lê Quan Ninh
Percussion Solo
October 24, 2026

The classically trained French percussionist Lê Quan Ninh treats the orchestral bass drum, his principal instrument, as a melodic instrument capable of creating expansive layers of sound. Thanks to his technical advancements with the instrument, he manages to create sounds and timbres that transcend any conventional acoustic reference for percussion. His performances offer a captivating musical discourse, highlighting a mastery of the space-time in which the different materials unfold.

Lê Quan Ninh has led a musical practice that combines the performance of contemporary music with free improvisation since the early 1980s.

In 1986, he was a founding member of Quatuor Hêlios, a percussion ensemble active until 2012, whose repertoire included works by Jean-Pierre Drouet, George E. Lewis, Kaija Saariaho, Jean-Christophe Feldhandler, Jean-Louis Charpille, Daniel Koskowitz, Vinko Globokar, Giorgio Battistelli, Chrichan Larson, Luc Therminarias, Georges Aperghis, and others.

In 2006, he founded the ensemble h[iatus] with cellist Martine Altenburger. Its members are both improvisers and performers of works by, among others, Vinko Globokar, Peter Jakober, Steffen Krebber, Jennifer Walshe, Anthony Pateras, Jürg Frey, Elisabeth Harnik, and others. He has also been a member of the trio Krči+N (with Emilie Škrijelj and Loris Binot) and has actively collaborated with other musicians in duos such as Mateo Chamagné and Gaëlle Rouard.

Throughout his career, he has actively collaborated with various groups and collective projects related to improvisation and listening, such as the Ryoanji Association in l’Épicentre, the La Filibuste association (Toulouse 1988–2002), the Ouïe/Dire collective, and the Lavandera association, which brings together French-speaking audio-naturalists.

Closely linked to the world of dance, he has collaborated with, among others, Franck Beaubois, Marie Camboya, Clara Cornil, Olivia Grandville, Iván Masaki, Patricia Kuypers, Bien Kwiatkowski, Yukiko Nakamura, Michel Raji, Kirstie Simson, Moeno Wakamatsu, Toru Iwashita, Emmanuelle Pepin, Anna Pietsch, Chikako Kaïo, Dafni Stefanou, and others.

He is the author of *La Voie Négative*, in which he shares his reflections on the experience of improvisation. Initially published in 2002, its latest revised edition was released in 2024.