A French composer born in 1947 in Paris.
After studying at the Paris Conservatory, Jacques Rebotier taught harmony and counterpoint and musical analysis at the Sorbonne (1972-82). He then founded the company voQUE, an ensemble of music and verbality that has given numerous first performances. An inspector of music for the French Ministry of Culture from 1982 to 1987, he has since devoted himself exclusively to composition and first performances of new works.
Rebotier composes free, expressive music, often linked to a text or closely relating to instrumental theatre. Exploiting the gaps and mixes in all compositional parameters and quite ready to use instruments and objects differently, he offers us a deforming mirror that reflects the world and the sound continuum that surrounds us. A play of language, form, shifts of sound and meaning, his work is precisely related to all aspects of phrasing and articulation: intonation, accentuation, rhythm, flow.
As a performer, Rebotier also practises performance and improvisation, on his own or in the company of dancers, actors, visual artistes and writers. His work is diverse, between poetry, photo-novel, lecture-performance, drama-installation, dance and music. His works include P(l)ages for reciter, flute, clarinet, war drum, sand and water, with live electronics, first performed by Michaël Lonsdale and the Ensemble 2e2m at the Centre Pompidou (1988); Requiem for seven voices, seven clarinets, seven deceased, children’s chorus, accordion, cymbalom and solo soprano, first performed by Françoise Kubler, Gaston Sylvestre, Pascal Contet and Les Jeunes Solistes conducted by Rachid Safir at the festival Musica (1994); Chants de ménage and d’amour for soprano and orchestra, first performed by Élise Caron and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for the programme Alla Breve (1999); L’indien des neiges, chamber opera premiered by Éric Trémolières, the Maîtrise of Lyons Opera and the Cello Octet of Beauvais (2001); R.A.S., oratorio du quotidien for string quintet, clarinet and bass electric guitar, first performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Cité de la Musique in Paris (2011); Chansons climatiques et sentimentales for two violins, viola, double bass and electronics, first performed by the Quatuor Pamela and the composer at the Théâtre Joliette-Minoterie of Marseilles (2016); Allo, j' m'entends? for four vocalists and their smartphones, first performed by the Quatuor Æsthesis at the Festival of Brassy (2019).
