ZION LEIBOVICI
bio//
Zion Leibovici (f.k.a. Stéphane Furic Leibovici), born in 1965 in Paris, attended the Conservatoire National in France and, on a Fulbright scholarship, Berklee College in the United States, where he studied double-bass with William H. Curtis, then principal bassist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At 25 he moved to New York, quickly emerging as a leading new-music double-bassist and performing worldwide in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Salle Pleyel, and various Japanese festivals. His early post-modern composer and musical director works were featured in a series of acclaimed recordings, among them the seminal “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (Soul Note, 1994).
In 1998, he broke with his recent musical past, clearing a space in which he could operate beyond specific genres. He undertook studies in mathematics and computer science at New York University, where he later taught programming, and studied linguistic semantics at the New School. After writing studies of Second Viennese School works, he went on to analyze and absorb recent advances in compositional concepts and praxis.
His innovative work in the 2000’s bridged late 20th century through-composed music with music for virtuoso improvisers; the Jugendstil recordings (ESP), premiered by Lee Konitz, Chris Speed, Chris Cheek, a.o., are representative.
In London (2008), he designed DELTA, a discrete probability distribution program using multidimensional scaling of proliferating tone series to assign structures and build density blocks in chamber-music composition. From 2010 to 2012, he was in Berlin, as musical director of Ensemble Jean Barraqué. A prize from the Machinsky Foundation enabled him to spend 2013 as composer-in-residence at Funkhaus Berlin.
His current output is resolutely atonal, asymmetrical, and rhythmically complex. The music is marked by a vehement tone that borders on opera, and yet this high-tension state coexists with a nocturnal nature poetry. His compositions include music for chamber orchestra and chamber ensembles, as well as solo instrumental and chamber vocal works.