‘Islets of memories’ is the experimentation space of a new laptop project based on the diffusion of a mixture from my discography as a soprano saxophonist and specific field recordings that I have gathered over the years. Following a randomly constituted soundmap, islets of memories aggregate themselves in the moment to create a soundscape crossed by both personal and collective history that I fortuitously revisit.
(Stéphane Rives)

Stéphane Rives studied classical music in various conservatories in the region of Paris and at the ‘Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris’. Twelve years later Rives shifted to the saxophone and devoted himself to improvised and experimental practices. For the past fifteen years, his work has focused on the contemporary evolution of the instrumental sound of the soprano saxophone. He has played with numerous musicians throughout Europe, the United States and the Middle East, and has performed in many festivals (Poesie/Nuit, Irtijal, Total Meeting Festival, Jazz a Mulhouse, Portuguese Music Today, Seatle Music Festival, NPAI, La Force de l’Art, Minim, Musiques Demesurees, Musique Action, Densite…). Rives has organized concerts in Paris at the Theatre Sur le Pave, and lead educational projects (Lycee Les petits champs a Paris , workshops in France and Lebanon). He works regularly on compositions for contemporary dance with the company of Catherine Diverres, with the dancers of Butoh (Gyohei Zaitsu, Maki Watanabe Yukiko Nakamura), and for oriental dance performances. His music was also used by visual artist and videographer Sirine Fattouh in her work La Traverse. Rives worked for four years as a technician at the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) on restoring the sound of the archives of Radio France (acetates, analog tapes...). He left the INA and moved to Lebanon three years ago, where he has been active in developing the experimental art scene of the region as a musician and technician. Rives has also collaborated in the creation of the Oriental dance work Mouhawala Oula by Alexande Paulikevitch and is currently working on the creation of Le temps l’emportera by Lotus Edde-Khouri. Simultaneously, he created the department of sound restoration, dedicated to the development of ways to preserve the audiovisual heritage of Lebanon and the region, for the sound studio Tunefork along with Fadi Tabbal.