Biographies

A Japanese composer born July 19, 1979 in Nagasaki (Japan).

Sanae Ishida has diplomas from both the Tokyo University of the Fine Arts and Music and the Paris Conservatory.

She has received commissions, notably from the French state (Lettres invisibles for soprano, contralto and ensemble, first performed by the ensemble Le Balcon in 2012), Radio France (Cinq doigts for ensemble, Alla breve 2014) and she won the André Jolivet Composition Prize in 2015 for Quatre feuilles et une branche, first performed by the Est Ensemble at the Rencontres Inouïes of Montreuil.

A French composer born August 8, 1905 in Paris who died December 20, 1974 in Paris.

Passionately devoted to art, André Jolivet studied painting, the piano and the cello. He became a school teacher while continuing his music studies with Paul Le Flem and above all with Edgar Varèse, who completely redirected his approach to music.

A Spanish composer born February 6, 1954 in Madrid (Spain).

A guitarist by training, Francisco Luque studied at the Madrid Conservatory where he was a pupil of Rocio Herrero and Luis de Pablo. He then presented to the University of Paris VIII a thesis entitled ‘A harmony of today? Acoustic space, tone-colour and register in the context of instrumental music’.

A French composer born May 14, 1973 in Marjevols.

A guitarist by training, Franck Vigroux grew up in a world that was a crossroads of different kinds of music, industrial sounds, theatre, dance and video. His eclectic sound world has been influenced by the blues (the album Ciment), electroacoustics (Zaroff, commissioned by the French state, 2011), noise ​music, contemporary music and experimental electronic music.

A French and Argentine composer born March 25, 1979 in Montevideo (Uruguay).

A pianist by training, Gabriel Sivak studied musicology and composition at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and at the Pôle Supérieur Paris-Boulogne-Billancourt, notably in the classes of Edith Canat de Chizy, Eric Tanguy and Philippe Leroux.

A skilful blend of rhythms, colours, South American culture and contemporary music, Sivak’s music is an invitation for travel, for the discovery of the world of Buenos Aires (the album A eco de palabras for bandoneon, piano and cello, 2005) and for the exploration of sound, mixing the traditional instrument manufacture of Latin America with western manufacture.

A French composer and organist born October 5, 1976 in Clamart.

Jean-Baptiste Robin studied the organ with Michel Bouvard at the Paris Conservatory as well as harmony and counterpoint with Edith Lejet and orchestration with Marc-André Dalbavie. He then took advanced classes with George Benjamin at King’s College of Music, London, where he won a master’s degree in composition.

A performer of great expressivity and poetic musicality, he has appeared throughout the world, has given master classes and has recorded many discs, particularly of the works of Jehan Alain, Louis Marchand and Felix Mendelssohn.

A Spanish composer born April 17, 1976 in Barcelona (Spain).

Hector Parra studied at the Barcelona Conservatory, Ircam in Paris, as well as at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, with Michael Jarrell. He gained, under the direction of Horacio Vaggione, a DEA in the science and technology of the arts at the University of Paris VIII.

A Colombian composer born December 6, 1971 in Bogota (Colombia) who died July 21, 2013 in Gault-Saint-Denis (France).

After a master’s degree in composition from the University of Bogota in 1998, Luis Fernando Rizo-Salom studied at the Paris Conservatory, notably in the class of Emmanuel Nunes. He followed the composition and music computing course  at Ircam before taking up residence in the Casa de Velázquez (2005-2007).

He has received many commissions, notably from the French State, the Orchestre National de l’Île-de-France, the Sacem, Radio France, and his music is played by ensembles such as 2e2m, l’Itinéraire, the Ensemble Modern and Remix.

A French and Swiss composer born September 3, 1970 in Geneva (Switzerland).

Drums, classical percussion, jazz, rock and improvisation have all been markers along the uncommon path of Denis Schuler. He gained a diploma in composition in Switzerland, in 2006, after studying with, notably, Nicolas Bolens, Eric Gaudibert, Michaël Jarrell and Emanuel Nunes.

His compositions bring together these multifarious influences in all genres: illustrative music, chansons, a marathon of improvisation and art music.

An Austrian composer born August 17, 1974 in Innsbrück (Austria).

Johannes Maria Staud studied composition at the Musikhochschule in Vienna and in Berlin, with Michael Jarrell and Hanspeter Kyburz. He trained in electroacoustic composition with Dieter Kaufmann before becoming acquainted with the compositional techniques of Brian Ferneyhough in his masterclasses. He also followed a course in philosophy and musicology.

Johannes Maria Staud draws his inspiration principally from literature (Hans Arps, Durs Grüben, Charles Baudelaire, Friedrich Nietzsche, etc.) and the visual arts. He composes works that are virtuosic, showing both great attention to minutiae and precision in orchestration, with a care for detail and an acute sense of form.