Of other spaces
for five spatialized musicians
Commissioned by Ensemble Fractales

Ensemble Fractales

Of other spaces (2017) [use headphones!]

“João Alegria is an essential figure in the Portuguese underground music scene. With a prolific career spanning over a decade, the guitarist – as he prefers to be called – embodies artistic commitment, resilience, and a deep devotion to crafting dark, experimental soundscapes. The numerous albums the Lisbon-based musician has released testify to a sonic vision akin to its object of study: unhurried and unperturbable, yet continuous and tempestuous."

— João Morado (Beats for Peeps, Cosmofonia, Jazz.pt)

“You paint for fame & status, I paint for freedom & awareness”, reads one of the vertical graffiti that Mr.Paradox Paradise painted on some Berlin building. Likewise, there is nothing in João Alegria’s art that is done with the intention of fame or likes. He spent more than a decade editing with recognition limited to the “community” of sound nomads. “I’ve been doing this for some time and I don’t have a very wide audience”, he admits. However, who knows, knows. And who knows, like it. João Alegria’s music is for connoisseurs. Perhaps that will always be the case.
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However, the unique contours of his art, combined with a stubborn aesthetic consistency and prolificacy, are the characteristics that simultaneously nest and vitalize it. The unconditional and obstinate way in which this “guitarist” – as he likes to be called – has created his work is a rare case of perseverance. His motivation? It’s not entirely explicit, but somewhere between the love of music and the physiological need to create lives the truth of João Alegria. If he lives because he breathes, he seems to make music because he has to live. One senses in his speech an inevitability of cathartic genesis that surreptitiously emerges between the lines like a figure wandering through the night.
João Alegria can also move through the shadows, but his music definitely points to the heavens, full of verticality” 

– João Morado (Beats for Peeps, Cosmofonia, Jazz.pt)

Masahiro Aogaki (b.1991) is a Japanese composer currently based in Paris. In his recent compositional process, Aogaki has demonstrated a keen interest in redefining the identities and the integrities of instruments, voices, and texts, while also recontextualizing existing musical languages. Inspired by the poetry of Romanian surrealist Ghérasim Luca, he particularly explores the phenomenon of “stuttering” that characterizes Luca’s works, influencing his musical compositions.
In 2017, he obtained his Master’s degree in Composition from Tokyo University of the Arts under Ichiro Nodaira, and later graduated with highest honors unanimously from the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) in 2022, where he worked with Stefano Gervasoni, Luis Naón, Yan Maresz, Grégoire Lorieux, Yann Geslin, and Oriol Saladrigues. In 2022-23, Aogaki participated in the IRCAM Cursus led by Pierre Jodlowski and Simone Conforti. His first portrait concert took place in Paris in July 2023, and his piece Dé-monologue –Cinq poèmes de Ghérasim Luca– was nominated for Le Tremplin Musical of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco in the same year. From 2023 to 2025, he was appointed composer-in-residence at the Conservatoire Claude Debussy in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, collaborating with Ensemble Court-circuit.
His works have been performed by various ensembles such as Orchestre de Picardie, Orchestre de Caen, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Court-circuit, Ensemble Fractales, loadbang, Ensemble Reconsil, Ensemble Eins, Ensemble Muromachi, Ensemble Next, Collettivo_21, and Duo Jeux d’Anches, among others. Aogaki has participated in numerous masterclasses and received guidance from composers and ensembles including Tristan Murail, Allain Gaussin, Philippe Manoury, Thierry De Mey, Jean-Luc Hervé, Marco Momi, Jaime Reis, Sivan Eldar, Joji Yuasa, Misato Mochizuki, and Diotima Quartet.
He has been awarded grants from institutions such as the Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation, the Nomura Foundation, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, the Kakehashi Foundation, and the Centre International Nadia et Lili Boulanger.
Some of his works are published by BabelScores.

Giuseppe Franza is a composer whose works explore the tension between stasis and action, with a focus on the physical and spatial experience of sound. His music draws on sounds that emerge from everyday life, filtering them through imagination to reveal their hidden voices. What do these sounds have to tell us?

Giuseppe is particularly fascinated by the sounds of malfunction—unwanted, accidental noises that transform into central, noble materials in his compositions. He strives to create spaces and imaginary worlds where these sounds are held, transformed, and allowed to speak through a dreamlike grammar. His work embraces contradictions, celebrating the beauty in the broken and the accidental.

Giuseppe Franza studied composition at the Conservatory "San Pietro a Majella" in Naples and with Maurizio Azzan at the Conservatory of Mantua, while obtaining a postgraduate degree with Clara Iannotta at the MDW - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He has attended masterclasses with composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino (Accademia Chigiana), Frank Bedrossian, Francesca Verunelli, and Luca Francesconi, among others. 
He currently lives in Naples.

contact: giuseppe.franza@outlook.com

✍🏻 Composer
🇦🇹 Graz Kunstuni - Composition student
🎓 Classical Piano
🎧 listen to some noise!

Parsa Zandi – Persian Composer (b. 2004, Tehran, Iran)



Parsa is deeply drawn to the expressive potential of microtonality, blending delicate melodies with rich textures. Intuition and emotion play a central role in his music, guiding a natural balance between structure and expressivity. He strives to create an immersive musical experience where melody and atmosphere come together with sincerity and depth.

He studied composition with Mohammad H. Javaheri and Karen Keyhani in Iran. Parsa later studied composition with Beat Furrer and is now continuing his studies under the supervision of Annesley Black. He was also an Erasmus student at the University of the Arts Berlin (UDK).

Parsa Zandi has had lessons with notable composers such as Chaya Czernowin, Franck Bedrossian, Iris ter Schiphorst, Johannes Maria Staud, Klaus Lang, Mark Andre, Mathias Hinke, Pierluigi Billone, Samir Odeh Tamimi, Clemens Gadenstätter, and Artur Kroschel.

Parsa Zandi's compositions have been performed in several countries, including Austria, Canada, Germany, Iran, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the USA, Poland, and others. His works have been featured in festivals and programs such as Open Call Nodus 2022, Residencia Artística en Les Coves de Vinromà 2022, FestMus 2023 Castello, ICCS Young Talents 2023, Roadrunner Academy 2024, ClarinetFest 2024 in Dublin, Brass Academy Musikfabrik 2025, In Situ Graz, and the 54th International Contemporary Music Festival Poznań Musical Spring 2025.

His compositions have been performed by renowned ensembles including Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Zeitfluss, Ensemble für Neue Musik Graz, Sepia Ensemble, CSMC Brass Band & Contemporary Ensemble, and the Roadrunner Trio. Additionally, musicians like Thomas Piercy, Elena Arbonies Jauregui, Kathryn Vetter, Mario Porcar Rueda, and others have collaborated with him.