The dialogues continue with performers who have significantly contributed to the development of contemporary guitar. Today, we are pleased to share some reflections with Caroline Delume, a key figure in the Parisian scene, who in her artistic journey has woven together ancient instruments and avant-garde experimentation, combining a concert career with intense teaching and research activities.
Caroline, thank you for accepting our invitation.
How did your passion for experimental music begin? When did you first approach this world?
My first encounter with music was through studying violin at the conservatory in my hometown. For a child, producing a first sound is already experimental music: the focus is on the gesture and listening. I remember a solfège teacher who played us Scriabin and Schönberg, while the repertoire studied at the conservatory was still entirely tonal. Gradually, I started listening to contemporary music, buying records and even sharing some on a local radio station.
The musical environment in Paris has always been a crossroads of innovation, with extraordinary performers and currents that, intertwining over time, have made certain institutions unique. Can you tell us about your experience in this context?
I began studying in Paris when I was twenty, particularly with Marie-Thérèse Ghirardi, who played guitar parts in the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez, then Peter Eötvös. Pierre Boulez’s music is very important in my musical path, even though it took a long time before I had the chance to perform Le Marteau sans Maître. Living in Paris gave access to concerts, workshops at IRCAM, and meetings with other musicians committed to contemporary music. The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where I was a student, opened me to artistic creation mainly thanks to my analysis teacher, composer Claude Ballif. I had also attended improvised music concerts in places far from the official Parisian institutions.
In Paris, an important chapter of your career was with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. When did you start collaborating with them, and which moments left the strongest impression?
There is no permanent guitarist in the Ensemble Intercontemporain; the ensemble calls on additional musicians for guitar parts. My first collaboration was in the mid-1980s for the premiere of S by Philippe Schoeller under the direction of Peter Eötvös. Much later, in the 2000s, I performed Le Marteau sans Maître under various conductors. Concerts conducted by Pierre Boulez remain some of the most intense moments—not only with the Ensemble Intercontemporain but also with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, particularly at the Staatsoper Berlin: the live recording was released by Deutsche Grammophon (4797160) under the title Hommage à Pierre Boulez. I also greatly enjoyed performing Le Marteau sans Maître under Jonathan Nott’s direction, in the version choreographed by Maurice Béjart and revived by the Ballet de Lausanne: the show was presented multiple times at the Opéra National de Paris, with the Ensemble Intercontemporain musicians in the orchestra pit.
Your work is not limited to the guitar: you are also very well known for your activity with the theorbo. Did you start studying it alongside the guitar, or did it come later?
I began playing the theorbo during my guitar studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, so I could accompany some friends who were studying early instruments. Shortly after, the director Hervé Niquet founded his ensemble Le Concert Spirituel, and that marked the beginning of a long experience in basso continuo for me, alongside my work as a guitarist in contemporary repertoire. Within a few years, the two activities became intertwined. For example, I played the guitar part under the direction of Rachid Safir in Cantiones de Circulo gyrante by Klaus Huber, and later Huber became interested in the theorbo: together we created Lamentationes Sacrae et Profanae in Responsoria Iesualdi in 1997. Even before that, I can mention Góngora for ensemble by Francisco Luque and Tiento for solo theorbo by Florentine Mulsant, both premiered in 1995 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Société Française de Luth.
Which composers do you think have revolutionized the approach to this instrument, capable of connecting past and present?
The diversity of approaches and sensibilities is reflected in the new compositions for theorbo. I wouldn’t speak of a revolution, which has mostly happened diffusely as research on early instruments and performance practice of historical repertoires developed. This creative path later extended to the writing of new works since the early days of the movement. The boundary between creation and repertoire is a constant subject of reflection. The interpretation of Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente by Mauricio Kagel already highlights a gap between the construction of early instruments in 1969 and the current ones!
There are various ways of approaching composition for theorbo, just as for the guitar. In particular, the conception of sound: instrumental writing may be inserted in the historical heritage, with the risk of crystallizing its technical vocabulary, or invention can alter the uses in all dimensions of instrumental gesture — from tuning to the use of objects and devices. The theorbo and the guitar are two instruments whose history is anything but linear (the theorbo even disappeared for more than two centuries). These instruments offer an open space for imagination and sensitivity.
Regarding creations for theorbo, my path has intertwined with those of Francisco Luque, Arturo Fuentes, Franck Yeznikian, Karim Haddad, Philippe Fénelon, Jean-Marc Chouvel, Pascale Jakubowski, Christopher Fox, Jean-Pascal Chaigne, Florentine Mulsant, among others — an already very broad aesthetic variety. Many pieces require inventiveness to develop unusual fingering techniques and movements. In Iridescences for theorbo and electroacoustic environment (2020), Pascale Jakubowski pushes the game of glissandi with bottleneck and continuous arpeggios to such a level that it demands very thorough work.
Which ensembles do you currently collaborate with?
For baroque music, I mainly play with Le Concert Spirituel and La Tempesta (directed by Patrick Bismuth). For a few years now, I have been collaborating with the ensemble Linea, directed by Jean-Philippe Wurtz, which promotes contemporary creation with the theorbo. We premiered Twin Conapts by Aurélien Dumont at the Présences Festival of Radio France in February 2025. In June 2025, at the Cité Bleue in Geneva, I will participate as theorbo player and guitarist in the creation of the opera Job, le procès de Dieu by Michel Petrossian. I also perform repertoire works, for example Le Marteau sans Maître with the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain under the direction of Bruno Mantovani, on several occasions this year for Pierre Boulez’s centenary. The recording was released by the label col legno in 2020. I want to emphasize that chamber music occupies an important part of my activity. This year, a vinyl titled Ils ont planté des arbres by composer David Lacroix was released. The piece is the title track and is a trio for viola, cimbalom, and eight-string Viennese guitar. In December, I will participate in Marseille in the creation of a piece by Pascale Criton for voice, Ondes Martenot, and guitar tuned in twelfths of a tone. These examples show how plucked string instruments are used in their full diversity of tuning and construction.
What do you think about the current contemporary music scene?
There is a good vitality in the creative scene in the Paris region, between well-funded institutions and small venues with limited financial resources that host occasional projects. Many musicians organize themselves into collectives and try to break down barriers between musical genres, proposing shows and collaborations among artists. This always requires great commitment. There is an audience for these events. Conservatories are also places where creation, improvisation, and experimentation take place. Sometimes composers are invited for residencies.
Besides your concert career, you have been teaching sight-reading at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris since 2005, and since 2014, guitar and improvisation at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Versailles. How does your experience with avant-garde music influence your pedagogical approach?
I share as much as possible my taste for exploring sound and repertoire. This sometimes involves commissioning composers, through the Conservatoire de Versailles Grand Parc, for guitar ensembles; or through repertoire choices that open students — especially in ensembles — to new playing techniques, rhythmic diversity, and raise their awareness of compositional work.
The sight-reading course at CNSMDP is a space where guitarists face all kinds of scores. Notations from all eras are addressed. It is also a place for discussion and exchange. The students are at the beginning of their studies.
What advice would you give to the new generations of guitarists starting to explore this repertoire?
Perhaps all music should be explored this way: how to listen, how to make it sound, how to interpret a score. The answers are subjective.
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