A French composer born April 10, 1926 in Paris who died April 6, 2014.
A pianist by training, Jacques Castérède studied at the Paris Conservatory, notably with Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen. he won first prizes for piano and composition as well as the Prix de Rome with La boîte de Pandore (1953).
Inspired mainly by esotericism, the sacred, light music, classical music, literature, painting and dance, Jacques Castérède composes in the æsthetic tradition of the Groupe des Six, Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen. His music, essentially melodic, combines tonal, atonal and modal languages. His output covers all musical genres: stage music (But, ballet, 1959; La voie écarlate, opera, 2000), orchestral and/or vocal music (Symphony for strings no 1, 1952; Visages, 1969; Liturgies de la vie et de la mort, 1980; Cantique de la création, 1991) as well as many pieces of chamber music (Venus de l’espace for five ondes Martenot and percussion, 1981; Pro tempore passionis for string quartet, 1988).
A pedagogue, the author of many training and music analysis manuals, Castérède has also led a career as a teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatory and the École Normale.
