VICTOR SOMMA

Musicien

Victor Somma

Composition, performance and sound engineering

 Présentation

Minimal Dreams is an immersive solo performance for the flute family and live looping. Drawing inspiration from Afro-Amerindian flute traditions, Victor Somma creates layered sonic landscapes where composition and improvisation unfold in real time. Through breath, repetition, and resonance, the project invites audiences into a dreamlike space between memory, imagination, and deep listening.

Programme

Works from the Minimal Dreams cycle (2023–present), a collection of original compositions by Victor Somma for piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute, and live looping.

The programme combines composed works and real-time musical construction, creating an immersive sonic journey through layered flute textures, extended techniques, breath sounds, and live electronics. Inspired by the ancestral sonorities of Afro-Amerindian flutes, Minimal Dreams explores the intersection of contemporary performance practice, improvisation, and archetypal sound imagery. Each performance unfolds as a living musical environment in which composition and spontaneity coexist, inviting audiences into a shared space of listening, imagination, and presence.

Selected works may include:

Minimal Dreams No. 1 (flute, bass flute and live looping)
Minimal Dreams No. 2 (alto flute, contrabass flute and live looping)
Minimal Dreams No. 3 (bass flute, contrabass flute and live looping)
Minimal Dreams No. 4 (picollo, bass and contrabass flutes and live looping)
Improvised interludes and real-time compositions for flute family and electronics.

concert 40 minutes

Originalité du projet

Minimal Dreams occupies a singular position between recital, sound installation, and real-time composition. Rather than presenting a sequence of independent works, the project unfolds as a continuous sonic environment in which composition, improvisation, and live looping interact in real time.

Its originality lies in the dialogue between contemporary flute practice and the ancestral sound worlds of Afro-Amerindian flutes. While employing techniques often associated with contemporary classical music, the project approaches sound from a broader perspective, treating the instrument as an indivisible whole and emphasizing listening, resonance, and presence rather than technical display.

The use of the entire flute family—from piccolo to contrabass flute—combined with live electronics expands the acoustic possibilities of the instrument and creates immersive sound architectures that evolve organically during performance. Composed structures coexist with spontaneous musical decisions, making each presentation unique.

Beyond its musical language, Minimal Dreams proposes a different relationship between performer and audience. The performance is conceived as a shared space of attention and imagination, inviting listeners to engage actively with sound rather than passively consume a finished narrative. In this sense, the project seeks to connect artistic excellence with accessibility, offering an experience that is both sophisticated and immediately perceptible to specialist and non-specialist audiences alike.

Lien avec l’identité du Golden Flute Classic et/ou du label „Signature Genève 2027“

Minimal Dreams resonates strongly with the identity of the Golden Flute Classic through its combination of artistic research, innovative performance practice, and openness to diverse audiences. The project brings together contemporary composition, improvisation, live electronics, and the extended possibilities of the flute family, while remaining rooted in a direct and accessible listening experience.

The international and intercultural dimension of the project aligns naturally with the spirit of Signature Genève. Drawing inspiration from Afro-Amerindian musical traditions and reimagining them through contemporary artistic languages, Minimal Dreams creates a dialogue between different cultural imaginaries, connecting heritage and innovation, local identity and global perspectives.

The project also reflects the festival’s commitment to transmission and exchange. Beyond performance, it emerges from a long-term artistic practice developed in educational and social contexts, where listening, creativity, and collective experience are central values. This perspective extends the role of the musician beyond interpretation alone, fostering meaningful encounters between artists, audiences, students, and communities.

By proposing an immersive format that combines artistic excellence with experimentation, accessibility, and intercultural dialogue, Minimal Dreams contributes to the vision of Geneva as a place where cultures, ideas, and artistic practices meet and generate new forms of expression.

biographies

Victor Somma

Victor Somma is a Brazilian flutist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist based in Belgium since 2012. Performing his own works, he develops immersive concert experiences at the intersection of contemporary music, improvisation, live electronics, and the ancestral sonorities of Afro-Amerindian flutes.

His acclaimed solo project Minimal Dreams — for the flute family and live looping — has been presented internationally at venues and festivals including the National Flute Association Convention (USA), Austrian Flute Festival, Adams Low Flutes Festival (Netherlands), ABRAF International Festival (Brazil), and Splendor Amsterdam. The project currently integrates the national touring seasons of the Jeunesses Musicales Wallonie-Bruxelles (2025–2027).

As both performer and composer, Somma has collaborated with artists such as Egberto Gismonti, Maria João Pires, Eva Kingma, and Ensemble Résonnances XXI. His works are performed internationally; Ide! was selected for the 43rd James Pappoutsakis International Flute Competition (Boston), while Elijah and the Wind received the 2024 FUNARTE Contemporary Music Biennial award in Brazil.

Alongside his concert career, Somma develops internationally recognized participatory workshops exploring improvisation, collective creation, and contemporary performance practices.

His compositions are published by Brotons & Mercadal including „Ide!“, selected for the 43rd James Pappoutsakis International Flute Competition (Boston, 2023), and Elijah and the Wind, awarded at the FUNARTE Contemporary Music Biennial (2024). He has also presented works such as Nhandesy at the International Flute Convention in Paris.

Alongside his concert activity, he founded the Atelier of Musical Creation, developing collective artistic processes in psychiatric institutions, prisons, and community settings in Belgium and Brazil. He teaches composition, improvisation, and attentive listening within the academies of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Somma holds degrees from KU Leuven/LUCA School of Arts (composition) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (flute performance). His work consistently approaches music as lived presence — where meaning emerges through experience rather than representation.