Le grand Plongeon is a performative investigation into the myth of Atlantis, with the eponymous orchestral piece Atlantis (1995) by Peter Eötvös as the common thread.

Performed at La voirie Bienne/Biel 2021
Performed at Gare du Nord Bale 2021
Performed at Kleine Theater Luzern 2021
Performed at Walcheturm ( won IGNM call to scores) 2020
Premiered at Dampfzentral Bern 2019  ( won Nicati Compeition)





Le grand Plongeon features three performers, in a context of a somewhat lost bar-restaurant, located in an abandoned city by successive exoduses.

The title comes from the French-American archaeologist Augustus Le Plongeon, who would have spent his life speculating (and gambling?) on the location of the lost continent of Atlantis.
This prognosis – in retrospect – was ultimately an engine to give meaning to his life. This is inspiring, especially for our frustration of action in the face of contemporary global-problem ( climate change, biodiversity collapsing.) – especially since the latter has always reported to us through the media. Isn’t predicting, predicting also a participation in life?

Our transcription, arrangement of Atlantis (*1995) is assisted by real-time processing, the sampler, scenography, by video and text. This video-opera format makes it possible to go back and forth between the score and the archives, comments as well as a contemporary re-contextualization. The contribution of real-time processing makes it possible to multiply the possibilities of the instruments: Having a child’s voice, playing a brass orchestra with a midi keyboard, adding all kinds of effect such as delay, reverb, filtering – important to thicken the sound – and ultimately have an orchestral tone to a reduced number.