A French composer born June 26, 1977 in Paris.
A pianist and choir singer, Sébastien Gaxie studied the jazz piano and directed the Zhig Band, a group that played his own music. He then entered the Paris Conservatory, where he followed notably the composition classes of Emmanuel Nunes and Frédéric Durieux. He completed his training with the computer music composition course of Ircam.
Gaxie works on rhythm, pulsation and the play of superimpositions. He devotes himself to different fields of expression: contemporary music, jazz, electronic music, music theatre and video art.
A winner of the Sacem Prize for the best young composer of symphonic music (2012), Gaxie has written for all groupings: Watashi to kotori to suzu to for six female voices (first performed by the Madrigirls in Tokyo, 2008); Communication à une académie, ballet for trombone and ensemble (commissioned by the Printemps des Arts in Monaco, 2010); Cinq maillages for orchestra (first performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, for the programme Alla breve, 2012); Continuous snapshots for piano and electronics (commissioned by Ircam, premiered by David Lively at the festival ManiFeste, 2013); Céleste ma planète, opera for children (first performed at the Salle Pleyel by the soprano Mélanie Boisvert, the baritone Lionel Peintre and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, 2014); Je suis un homme ridicule, opera (first performed at the Théâtre de l’Athénée by the actor Lionel Gonzalez, Lionel Peintre and the ensembles Musicatreize and 2e2m conducted by Pierre Roullier, 2017); Le voyage d’hiver, music theatre (premiered by the actress Clara Chabalier, the mezzo-soprano and double bass player Elise Dabrowski with the composer at the piano, 2018).
