A French composer born March 18, 1966.
A harpist trained at the Paris Conservatory in the class of Brigitte Sylvestre, Hélène Breschand is a co-founder of the ensembles Laborintus and Topophonie.
Keen for crossover experiences, sensitive to multiple artistic disciplines, she leads a career as soloist and chamber musician in the contemporary repertory, jazz, improvisation, music theatre and the plastic arts. The dedicatee of several pieces for solo harp, she performs works by Georges Aperghis, John Cage, Mauricio Kagel, Luc Ferrari, Eliane Radigue, Jacques Rebotier, Georgia Spiropoulos, Yoshihisa Taïra, Kasper Toeplitz and Ton-Thât Tîet. She contributes to the renewal of the ritual of the concert and the show by favouring unexpected venues such as factories, caves and grottos. Her collaborations include playing in the Trio Hélène Breschand with Sylvain Kassap (basset horn) and Didier Petit (cello), in duet with Wilfried Wendling (computer and images), as well as in a duet with Jean-François Pauvros (electric guitar).
An autodidact in composition, she employs free, graphic notation, harmonising silences and resonances: Sleeping woman for voice, music theatre (2000); Salomé, music for the film of Charles Bryant (2003); Fire, electroacoustic piece (2007); Soleil rouge, lune folle for viola (2013); L for ensemble and tape (2013); Sans retour, electroacoustic piece (2014); Entre ciel et terre for cello (2015); Maternité secrète, music for the film of Sophie Bredier (2016); Delta for electric harp (2017); La Sybille for harp (2017).
A teacher at the Conservatory of Paris’s 6th arrondissement, she also gives masterclasses, notably at the conservatories of Paris, Strasburg, Geneva, Annecy, and also Istanbul and China.
Co-author of a repertory of contemporary signs for the harp published by Minerve, she also directs a collection of contemporary scores ‘Le fil rouge’ published by Misterioso.
