When Vincent Royer switched from piano to viola at the age of 13, he laid the foundation for an extraordinary artistic career. He strives for freedom of sound and a form of “beauty of sound” that includes all aspects and spectra of sound and drives him on voyages of discovery again and again. However, his research into sound is not only material-oriented, but is always linked to human concerns, to psychological and existential dimensions. This is reflected in Royer’s comprehensive engagement with music in a wide variety of projects. Born in Strasbourg, after studying in Freiburg and Cologne, he founded the group ALEA together with the pianist Paulo Alvarès – an ensemble for collective composition and improvisation that also entered into fruitful dialogues with dance, video and literature. His current formations in the field of improvisation are the Quatuor Brac, the Duo Gratkowski/Royer and a duo with the architect and video artist Matthias Siegert.

The moment of sound research also plays a central role in his compositions. “Traverse” was honored in 2000 by the “International Computer Music Conference” in Berlin, and “Lumen” (2003) for viola and electronics was created in 2003 at the “Centre Henri Pousseur” in Liège, with which Royer has been associated since 2001.