Yui Sakagoshi 阪越由衣
Saxophonist – Performer
Yui moved to France in 2012 after completing her studies in Osaka. She earned a Master’s degree in Interpretation and Musical Creation from the Académie supérieure de musique de Strasbourg and the University of Strasbourg in 2015, before continuing with a 3rd cycle Artist Diploma at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et danse de Lyon. Her first musical theater performance, Au milieu de (The In-Between), created as part of her program, explores themes of intimacy and sensitivity, and was selected for the Détours de Babel Festival — Les Chantiers (Grenoble) in 2022.
As a saxophonist deeply passionate about new music, Yui constantly pushes the boundaries of her instrument by exploring the interactions between sound, body, and sonic space. A member of the Collectif LiSiLog, founded by Jean Geoffroy and Christophe Lebreton, she is involved in transdisciplinary projects where technology meets body expression and new ways of listening to sound.
She received a performance award from the Karlheinz Stockhausen Foundation and is the recipient of the Société Générale C’est vous l’avenir (2021/2022) and ADAMI Foundation scholarships. Additionally, she is a member of Ensemble Orbis, a Lyon-based collective focused on new music creation.
A unique improviser, Yui blends improvisation, dance, and electronics to create performances where sound and movement feed off each other. Her artistic approach is defined by an ongoing search for new forms of expression, where each gesture becomes a sonic exploration. She collaborates with a wide range of artists, including Etienne Rolin, as well as dancers and circus artists, embracing an experimental and collaborative spirit. Yui is also the founder of Souffle Incarné (Embodied Breath), a workshop that she organizes at institutions such as the Conservatory and PESMD in Bordeaux, as well as the Universität der Künste in Berlin, where she explores the connection between breath and the body in improvisation with workshop participants.
As a performer, Yui stands out in projects that blend physical theater, visual arts, and contemporary dance. From 2019 to 2023, she performed with the contemporary circus company Cie Max&Maurice in their show De A à Zèbre. She practices Butoh with Juju Alishina and was also one of the performers in Melati Suryodarmo’s Sweet Dreams Sweet, presented at the Kyoto Experiment Festival in 2024.