You’d think their name meant an experimental rocket designed to explore distant galaxies. That’s not quite the case… and yet. Since their formation in 2012, Paul Changarnier, Nicolas Cousin and Alexandre Esperet have formed Trio SR9, a musical UFO launched on the conquest of new sound worlds, oscillating between classical virtuosity, contemporary invention and the pleasure of the stage.
All three met in the percussion class at the CNSMD in Lyon. Together, they embraced the singular destiny of percussionists: craftsmen of the unexpected, band-men with hands full of mallets, capable of drawing music from everything that resonates, from the most noble to the most unusual. They soon developed a passion for the marimba, a xylophone with blades of precious wood capable of embracing five octaves and all styles.
Trio SR9 is making a name for itself by transcribing classical masterpieces for marimba – starting with Bach, which provides them with an ideal architecture: basses for Paul, mids for Nicolas, high parts for Alexandre. Their debut album Bach au Marimba (Naïve, 2015) has been hailed for its finesse and originality. Next up is Alors, on danse? (Naïve, 2018), followed by Ravel Influence(s) (Evidence Classics, 2022), featuring Shani Diluka, Kyrie Kristmanson and Astrig Siranossian.
While the marimba remains central, their curiosity about sound leads them to explore far beyond. In their musical laboratory, you’ll find bird calls, crystal glasses, prepared pianos, sheet metal, thimbles, donkey jaws… salvaged from junkyards and rubbish dumps, these objects become instruments. Their approach is that of true acoustic gold diggers, claiming serendipity as their creative method: transforming the unusual into sound poetry.
This taste for experimentation blossomed in their collaboration with Clément Ducol on the album Déjà Vu (NØ FØRMAT!, 2022), which revisits hand-crafted acoustic versions of songs from the French pop scene (Camille, Malik Djoudi, Sandra Nkaké…). On stage, these rereadings give rise to exceptional concerts (Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Lyon, Kyotophonie festival, Les Suds à Arles), alongside La Chica, Barbara Pravi, Gabi Hartmann, Flèche Love…
In 2024, they published Venus Rising (Evidence Classics) with French-Canadian folk singer Kyrie Kristmanson, a sensitive tribute to forgotten female composers, from Hildegarde de Bingen to today’s pop.
At SR9, scholarly and popular never clash: they dance together. That’s what their albums and, above all, their shows tell us, where gestures become choreography, drumsticks draw arabesques, and the stage is transformed into a visual and sonic ballet. Their instrumentarium evokes a mad inventor’s workshop; their performances, weightless journeys.
From Japan to the United States, from Australia to Europe, the SR9 Trio performs on stages the world over, in concerts and master-classes. Their energy, generosity and inventiveness make them ambassadors of a free, curious and poetic percussive art.
Their name, SR9 – Square Root of Nine, a deceptively simple mathematical formula, in fact conceals a rare alchemy: three artists, a common breath, and an undiminished desire to make the world vibrate.
Trio SR9 is an ensemble under agreement with the Ministère de la Culture / DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, supported by the Ville de Lyon, CNM, Spedidam, Adami, Institut Français and SACEM.
They are sponsored by ADAMS Percussions, Zildjian, Bergerault and Resta-Jay Percussions.
The musicians are dressed by Issey Miyake.
