Viola player and composer Séverine Morfin presents her long-matured work Mad Maple on tour in Estonia and Finland, from 20 to 28 September 2025. Both joyful and dramatic, this music is performed by Séverine Morfin with Elodie Pasquier on clarinet and monotron, Guillaume Magne on guitar and Céline Grangey on audio tapes. In Finland the duo of singer Selma Savolainen and bassist Eero Tikkanen shares the bill with Mad Maple. The tour booked by Vapaat äänet agency aims to sustainability and low-carbon emission. In Finland, it is coproduced with the Finnish Jazz Federation and part of Better Live, a project co-financed by the European Union’s Creative Europe program.
If trees could give their point of view on the state of the world, what would they say? Perhaps we’d realize that they’d gone mad…
Inspired by the work of Baptiste Morizot, Philippe Descola and Vinciane Despret, Séverine Morfin’s Mad Maple questions our relationship with nature and sounds – from the sounds of nature to the nature of sounds.
Blending writing and improvisation, Mad Maple takes the form of three suites for viola, guitar, clarinet, monotron and soundtrack. Composed as a fourth voice, the tapes include a montage of forest, glacier and storm sounds, as well as viola and monotron, in an approach inspired by both field recording and musique concrète. Fascinated by sounds and archives (she has a Master’s degree in History), Séverine Morfin has long been interested in the sound side of the world. Her viola solo Chorèmes (2015), which in geography refers to the schematic representation of a space, already mobilized recordings. Here, the tapes are played by Céline Grangey using INA’s GRM Tools. Manipulated, modulated and spatialized (added retrospectively on the album; in real time and immersively multi-broadcast in concert), they come to life in the same way as the instruments.
Mad Maple’s music is joyful and intensely poetic, even if it is inhabited by concern for the state of the earth (the glacier we hear collapsing in “Glacés” has already disappeared). The wind blows with the viola, the birds of the forest sing along with the clarinet, a glacier converses with the guitar… Thanks to the overlapping of timbres, we no longer know which sound belongs to which. At the end of “Glacés”, the guitar begins to sound like a viola played pizzicato; “Dans la forêt”, the clarinet soars high and flirts with its own limits. This multiplication and indistinction of sources lends the music a thickness, a gentle density, and, paradoxically, a simplicity and obviousness. In Mad Maple, the sounds are all welcomed in the same way, and the four voices merge into a single moving, living body.
“Maple” is also the material from which Séverine Morfin’s viola is made. It was made especially for her by luthier Patrick Charton, to whom the piece “Les murmures” is dedicated. From the wood of the instrument to the wood of the forest, Mad Maple reconnects us with the natural elements – wind, water, trees. We are part of the whole, these imaginary landscapes seem to say. By reactivating a reciprocal relationship with our environment, Mad Maple gives birth to a new world.
Céline Grangey, Séverine Morfin, Guillaume Magne, Elodie Pasquier (c) Maxim Francois
Séverine Morfin, viola, compositions
Elodie Pasquier, clarinet, monotron
Guillaume Magne, guitar
Céline Grangey, audio tapes
Tour program from 20 to 28 September 2025
ESTONIA
20/09 Tallinn, Fotografiska / Jazzkaar Autumn Season
21/09 Kuressaare, Cultural Centre (Saaremaa Island)
FINLAND / Vapaat äänet Tour 2025:
double bill with Selma Savolainen & Eero Tikkanen
22/09 Helsinki, Hietsu is Happening!*
23/09 Tampere G Livelab*
24/09 Oulu, Teatteriravintola Aulis / OMJ Jazz & Etno*
26/09 Seinäjoki, Kalevan Navetta / Jazzoikoon!*
27/09 Äänekoski, Painotalo
28/09 Joensuu, Näyttämö / Jazzkerho 76*
* Better Live concerts
Tour production: gArden
Tour booking and management: Vapaat äänet
Tour partner: Finnish Jazz Federation, AJC Association Jazzé Croisé
The tour is part of Better Live, a project co-financed by the European Union’s Creative Europe program.
Tour support: Institut Francais, Institut Francais d’Estonie, Spedidam, Finnish Music Foundation
poster by Seppo Laine