A French composer born in 1962 in Reims.
An organist by training, Vincent Paulet studied at the Paris Conservatory with Jean-Claude Raynaud (harmony), Jean-Claude Henry (counterpoint), Michel Merlet (fugue), Serge Nigg (orchestration) and Claude Ballif (analysis). He led a career as a concert artiste, notably in the baroque and contemporary repertories, before devoting himself fully to composition from 1994 and taking up a residence at the Casa de Velázquez (1994-1996).
The heir of César Franck, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc and Henri Dutilleux, he belongs to a lineage of French composers and music that often tends towards a sacred dimension. Paulet composes in a manner that is purely musical and intuitive, without restrictions and always with a control over all the parameters of the score (dynamics, instrumentation…). He writes exclusively on commission, begins by working from melodic fragments that come to mind and that he varies with a harmonic and rhythmic approach. Often beginning in a fairly confusing way before gradually organising and clarifying the material, the works in his catalogue cover all instrumental and vocal formations. His works include La ballade des pendus for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, string quartet and piano, first performed by Annie Tasset, Michel Bienaimé, the Quatuor Parisii and Jacques Moreau at the Festival of Rheims (1988); Second string quartet‘en forme d’études’, first performed by the Quatuor Ravel in Valence (1994); L'office des adieux for orchestra, first performed by the Orchestre National de Lille conducted by Stéphane Cardon at the Nouveau Siècle in Lille (1998); Cinq Inventions for piano, first performed by Bertrand Chamayou for the programme Alla Breve of France Musique (2003); Le grand stellaire for flute, blue harp, percussion and string orchestra, first performed by Thomas Prévost, Martine Flaissier, Francis Petit and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Kirill Karabits at the festival Présences of Radio France (2003); Licht in der Nacht for 12 voices, first performed by the ensemble Sequenza 9.3 conducted by Catherine Simonpietri in Sarlat at the Festival du Périgord Noir (2007); Volcaniques for orchestra, first performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Lawrence Foster at the Salle Pleyel in Paris (2009); Instants / Litanies for cello and accordion, first performed by Fabrice Bihan and Philippe Bourlois in Ruyaulcourt at the festival Les Inouïes (2011); Fragments / Rituel for violin, cello and piano, first performed by Éric Crambes, Xavier Gagnepain and Jean-Michel Dayez in Arc 1800 at the Académie-Festival des Arcs (2013)
A teacher, Vincent Paulet teaches harmony and counterpoint and orchestration at the Lille Regional Conservatory, where he also directs a composition workshop.
