Launched online in 2010, the composer biography database is in continuous development. As an entry point for web resources, its aim is to present at least a succinct biography of a composer as well as links to the Cdmc's own information resources: documentation on the composer available for consultation and, as the case may be, audio extracts and/or recordings of encounters. Know more
Biographies
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Pierre-André ATHANÉ
A French composer and performer born in Angers.
Pierre-André Athané studied the piano at the Conservatory of Angers. Passionately fond of improvisation and composition, he completed his training in harmony and counterpoint, orchestration, jazz arrangement as well as singing and the stage.
A composer of musical comedies for children, of music for images, the cinema and audiovisual art, the composer of more than 300 ‘musical library’ works, Athané has worked in the worlds of animation, of video games, the stage and dance. He is also the lyricist and composer of songs, notably for the singer Marie Baraton, whom he accompanies in concerts on the guitar.
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Augustin BRAUD
A French composer born May 21, 1994.
Augustin Braud studied drums and percussion before tackling musical creation as an autodidact before studying composition at the Poitiers Conservatory as well as musicology at the University of Poitiers. At Ircam he attended masterclasses of Ivan Fedele, Michael Jarrell, Michaël Levinas and Yann Maresz, also receiving the advice of Martin Matalon and Yann Robin. Owing to his experience as a sound engineer, he obtained a master’s degree in computer assisted music, resulting in his being a musician no less at ease in contemporary and current music.
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Florent GAUTHIER
A French composer born October 7, 1969 in Orléans.
Florent Gauthier studied at the Orléans Conservatory and then at the Conservatory and the University of Tours. He attended classes at the Collège de France given by Pierre Boulez before entering the Paris Conservatory in the composition class of Alain Bancquart. In the course of his studies he also met György Ligeti, Henri Dutilleux, André Boucourechliev and closely studied the works of composers he admired such as Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Witold Lutoslawski, Alfred Schnittke and Toru Takemitsu.
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Jesper NORDIN
A Swedish composer born July 6, 1971 in Stockholm (Sweden).
Jesper Nordin studied at the Royal Music Conservatory of Stockholm with Pär Lindgren and Bent Sorensen, at Ircam in Paris with Philippe Leroux, at the University of Stanford and at the CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) with Brian Ferneyhough. He also followed the masterclasses, notably of Jonathan Harvey, Denis Smalley, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Magnus Lindberg, Luca Francesconi and Sven-David Sandström.
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Ofer PELZ
An Israeli composer born January 3, 1978 in Haifa (Israel).
A pianist by training, Ofer Pelz obtained a master’s degree in composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (2008). He took advanced studies in composition and electronic composition at the Blanc-Mesnil Conservatory, notably with Philippe Leroux, Thierry Blondeau and Gilles Racot, as well as at the Paris Conservatory. He also followed the courses of the Centre Acanthes and the composition workshop devoted to new technologies of Ircam’s ManiFeste Academy (2012). In 2018 he obtained a doctorate in music composition at Montreal University under the direction of Ana Sokolovic, Caroline Traube and Robert Normandeau.
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Lionel BORD
A French composer born September 17, 1976.
Lionel Bord studied the bassoon with Pascal Gallois at the Paris Conservatory as well as with Sergio Azzolini at the Musikhochschule of Basel. A bassoonist with Rouen Opera and later the Orchestre de Paris, the holder of a CA teaching degree, he taught at the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Conservatory and then at the Paris Conservatory.
In parallel with his instrumental activity, Bord studied composition at the Paris Conservatory, notably following the classes of Frédéric Durieux and Alain Mabit (analysis), Luis Naon, Yann Geslin and Tom Mays (new technologies applied to composition) and Marc-André Dalbavie (orchestration).
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Mirtru ESCALONA-MIJARES
A Venezualan composer born December 9, 1976 in San Felix (Venezuela).
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Enno POPPE
A German composer born December 30, 1969 in Hemer (Germany).
Enno Poppe studied conducting and composition at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, notably with Friedrich Goldmann and Gösta Neuwirth. He also studied sound synthesis and algorithmic composition at the Technical University of Berlin and at the Arts and Media Centre (ZKM) in Karlsruhe.
As a conductor he has appeared with the ensembles Klangforum Wien, Musikfabrik and Resonanz. Since 1998 he has been musical director of the ensemble Mosaïk.
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Grégoire LORIEUX
A French composer and computer music producer born June 1, 1976 in Tours.
A recorder player by training, Grégoire Lorieux studied early music while performing Renaissance dance music. He obtained a master’s degree in musicology on the work of Kaija Saariaho (1999) and devoted himself to composition and electroacoustics. He was a pupil of Philipe Leroux (École Nationale de Musique in Blanc-Mesnil, 2002) and of Frédéric Durieux, Marco Stroppa and Gérard Pesson (Paris Conservatory, 1999-2007). He also followed the master’s course for experimentation in the arts and politics at Sciences Po in Paris (2012-2013).
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Thierry BALASSE
A French composer, improviser, performer, sound engineer and sound director born June 25, 1964.
Thrust into the world of music and sound after listening to the music of Pink Floyd, Thierry Balasse taught himself drumming before following a course for sound technicians at ENSATT, the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre. Thereafter becoming interested in the relationships between text, spoken voice and music, he became involved in sound engineering for the theatre.
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