For more than twenty years François Bergeron has been exploring a thousand and one ways of touching the hearts of audiences through sound. He has spent the last 18 years consulting for Cirque du Soleil, and after a four-year sabbatical, has returned to create the sound design for ZED.

His creations for Cirque du Soleil (New Experience, Saltimbanco, Quidam, "O", La Nouba and Varekai) have toured the world and earned him many awards, including the title of "Sound Designer of the Year,” awarded to him by the magazine Entertainment Design in 1996 for multimedia facilities at the Nike flagship store in New York and Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. In 1999, he and the creation team of "O" won a THEA sound design award in the Live Show category.

In addition to these achievements as a sound designer, François operated the console for the Cirque show New Experience during its North American tour.

Since 1990, François has worked for numerous museums and producers of variety shows, plays and musicals. He took part in the creation of the Tokyo DisneySea theme park and worked as a consultant on the sound for an attraction in Spain called the Templo del Fuego (Universal Studios Port Aventura), an assignment that eventually led to the creation of his own company, Thinkwell Design & Production, which is based in Los Angeles working on multiple projects throughout the US and Europe, and as far afield as Asia and the Middle East. In 1997, he received a Drama-Logue Award (USA) for his contribution to the musical Peter Pan, starring Cathy Rigby.

"In the circus, the soundscape is a powerful emotion,” says François Bergereon. “It can warn of impending danger, heighten tension or trigger laughter. And it is impossible to escape its influence. My challenge is to create, with the right tools, an atmosphere that conveys the intentions of the director and which highlights the music and the feats of artists as well"

“Technology provides me with a comfort zone, but after many years dealing with technology I have crossed over more into the creative world,” he adds. “What I really like in the sound design for ZED is generating sound effects as a kind of breathing element, an emotional texture for the show. It’s the subliminal aspect of sound design that carries the audience from place to place and vibe to vibe. Using sound alone you can change the mood of the show and the feeling of the audience experiences. I guess you might call me a DJ of the emotions!”

François Bergeron was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, in 1964.