Launched online in 2010, the composer biography database is in continuous development. As an entry point for web resources, its aim is to present at least a succinct biography of a composer as well as links to the Cdmc's own information resources: documentation on the composer available for consultation and, as the case may be, audio extracts and/or recordings of encounters. Know more
Biographies
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Lucie PROD'HOMME
A French composer born September 30, 1964.
After studying the piano and at the same time training to be an opera singer, Lucie Prod’homme studied electroacoustic composition with Pascal Gobin at the Marseilles Conservatory, where she won a prize in 1997. She also followed a university course in the “conception and realisation of cultural projects” at the faculty of Aix-Marseille. Prod’homme divides her time between teaching and composition.
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Agata ZUBEL
A Polish composer born 1978.
Agata Zubel studied percussion, singing and composition in Wroclaw, Poland, at the Karol Symanowski High School of Music and the Karol Lipinski University of Music.
As a singer she has performed many contemporary works such as Chantefleurs et Chantefables by Witold Lutoslawski, Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino as also the role of Madeline in The Fall of the House of Usher by Philip Glass.
With the pianist and composer Cezary Duchnowski she forms the duet EllectroVoce, working on improvisation and live vocal treatment. In the line of Cathy Berberian, Zubel explores all the resources of her voice and all the variety of modes of vocal production.
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Lara MORCIANO
An Italian composer born May 3, 1968 in Zurich (Swiss).
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Lin-Ni LIAO
A Taiwanese composer and musicologist born November 11, 1977.
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Béatrice THIRIET
A French composer born May 4, 1960 in Paris.
A pianist by training, Béatrice Thiriet studied at the Versailles Conservatory in the classes of Jean Aubin and Solange Ancona. Her interest in style as well as in the theatre and the cinema directed her quite naturally towards incidental music. Opera and film music thus became her preferred genres.
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Violeta CRUZ
A Colombian composer born August 27, 1986.
Violeta Cruz studied composition at the Javeriana University of Bogota (Colombia), then at the Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt in the class of Jean-Luc Hervé and the Paris Conservatory in the classes of Stefano Gervasoni, Yan Maresz and Luis Naon. She also followed the composition computer music course of Ircam. In 2015 she won the Prize of the Fondation Francis et Mica Salabert and, in 2016, she was in residence at the Villa Medici.
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Camille PEPIN
A French composer born January 17, 1990.
After instrumental training at the Amiens Conservatory, Camille Pépin entered the Pôle Supérieur d’Enseignement Artistique in Paris and then the Paris Conservatory, in the classes notably of Thierry Escaich, Guillaume Connesson and Marc-André Dalbavie.
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Hélène BRESCHAND
A French composer born March 18, 1966.
A harpist trained at the Paris Conservatory in the class of Brigitte Sylvestre, Hélène Breschand is a co-founder of the ensembles Laborintus and Topophonie.
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Bernard WYSTRAETE
A French composer, conductor and flutist born June 20, 1942 in Roubaix.
A poly-instrumentalist, Bernard Wystraëte studied in particular the flute, conducting and composition at the Roubaix Conservatory and the Paris Conservatory, as well as musicology at the University of Paris 8.
A virtuoso of the transverse flutes, notably bass and octobass, he is solo flautist of the Orchestre de la Comédie Française and a soloist for Radio France, in permanent collaboration with the Atelier de Création Radiophonique of France Culture. He also records the works of leading composers of film music such as Michel Legrand, Maurice Jarre, Georges Delerue, Francis Laï and Jean-Claude Petit.
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Christopher TRAPANI
An American and Italian composer born March 17, 1980.
A trumpet player and pianist, Christopher Trapani studied poetry and composition at Harvard University and took advanced studies at the Royal College of Music in London, where he obtained a master’s degree under the direction of Julian Anderson. In 2003 he settled in Paris, training with Philippe Leroux, and after studying microtonality in classical Ottoman music in Istanbul (2007), he followed the classes in computer music at Ircam (2008-2010). Now living in Paris and New York, he is studying for a doctorate at Columbia University, where he is working notably with Tristan Murail, Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis and Fred Lerdahl. In 2019 he was a laureate of the Guggenheim Foundation.
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