▷▷ The first two sound walks designed by Sophie Mankowski (photo) and for which I composed the music focused on Montreal's modern architecture (Montréal moderne, 2010) and the remains of its world's fair (Expo 67, 2012). She had come up with the idea of creating these audio guides and was looking for someone to translate these architectures into music. It led me to see the city differently, recording its ambiences, but also translating iconic places into sound — like Silo No. 5 and its massive steel cylinders, or the former American Pavilion. Portrait sonore was born in 2013 — an organization specializing in the production of in situ audio guides, first available for download, then distributed through an app of the same name.Together, we created about fifteen of them in various Canadian cities, on subjects that diversified greatly over time: public art, natural and cultural heritage. These collaborations earned the organization several Numix Awards .

▷▷ Composing for Portrait sonore had an immense impact on my practice. How do you draw inspiration from a place to create a tailor-made musical score? How do you bring a city to life through sound? Serving as musical director for all these productions allowed for the involvement of a wide range of local musicians: Navet Confit, Poirier, Jérôme Minière, Catherine Major, Laurie Torres, Fannie Holder and many others contributed to the music of these walks. I never could have conceived and produced other projects like Mutations and Polytectures, or designed mobile apps like Le jour des 8 soleils (in collaboration with artist Pascal Grandmaison), Audiosphère (Numix Award), or Pause MTL without my experience at Portrait sonore.