French composer and researcher born in 1965 in L'Haÿ-les-Roses.
Stéphane de Gérando studied at the Paris Conservatory, notably in the classes of Alain Bancquart (composition), Michel Philippot (analysis), Gérard Grisey (orchestration), and in the electro-acoustic classes of Guy Reibel and Laurent Cuniot. He then completed his apprenticeship with the composition and computer music course of Ircam. In 1996, at the University of Paris VIII, he presented a doctoral thesis on æsthetics, sciences and technology of the arts entitled Contingence et déterminisme procédural appliqués à la synthèse sonore informatique et à l’écriture musicale. It marked his interest for the notion of coherence in the language of contemporary music.
Qualified in 2005 as a research director (HDR, Rouen University, La Création musicale en question, 2 vols., 800 pages), De Gérando is the author of numerous publications. His work deals on the one hand with questions of history, æsthetics, pedagogy as well as institutional matters connected with the idea of creation and of contemporary musical works, and on the other hand with new technologies (algorithmic aspects, synthesis of sound and image). Director of the icarEnsemble, an ensemble of contemporary music associated with the treatment of sound and images in real time, he is also the instigator of several festivals geared to innovation and creation.
Stéphane de Gérando also holds administrative and pedagogical responsibilities. Having been director of the music school of Vaucresson, pedagogy director at the Cefedem of Aquitaine, director of the CFMI of Strasburg, he teaches composition at the Conservatory of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and the Conservatory Henri Dutilleux of Belfort, and has been invited to various institutions (universities, university teacher training institutes, conservatories, CNFPT…).
Stéphane de Gérando composes for all kinds of groupings, from solo instrument to orchestra. His works include Puisqu’il en est ainsi for symphony orchestra and tape, first performed by the Student Orchestra of the Paris Conservatory, conducted by Mark Foster at the Maison de la Radio in Paris (1990); Du sens au sens for flute, first performed by Pierre-Yves Artaud at the international festival of Darmstadt (1994); Ce que tout cadavre devrait savoir for five instrumentalists, reciter and voice, first performed by the Ensemble 2e2m at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1996); Intumescence for instrumental ensemble and tape, first performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at the festival Présences (1996); 6ex1pen7sion4, commissioned by the French State for ensemble and electronics in real time, first performed by the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris (2006). Since 2007 de Gérando has focussed on Labyrinthe du temps, a monumental polyartistic and technological work comprising satellite pieces and large cycles that he describes as “polymorphous writing of the memory that crisscrosses itself and overlaps at different scales of time and space”. His work blends museum installations, digital art, video mapping, interactive visual and sound installations, sculptures with 3D projection, instrumental and vocal creations with electronics in real time, poetry-dance-stage works… Among the latest pieces belonging to Labyrinthe du temps are: Le cercle de la sphère for actor and video (2012); L’étrange passage des sens for stage, contemporary dance, percussion, video, virtual paintings, cello, horn, electronics in real time and electroacoustics (2015); Complétion for variable instrumental ensemble, with body, textual and musical score, electronics in real time, video and computer (2019); Grand cycle 21-23 du Labyrinthe du temps with mezzo-soprano, bass-baritone and multimedia digital device.
