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Biography /Stéphane de Gérando

Graduating first in the Class of Composition of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in 1987, Stéphane de Gérando obtained a First Prize with honours in Composition at the C.N.S.M.D.P. in 1991. He was notably the pupil of Alain Bancquart in composition, Tristan Murail in musical data processing, Gerard Grisey in orchestration, Michel Philippot in writing and analyses, and Guy Reibel in electro-acoustics. He then entered the third stage of Composition of the C.N.S.M.D.P. in 1994, as he attended Master Classes with Swell, Stockhausen, Donatoni, Nunes, Dutilleux. Stéphane de Gérando completed his musical formation with orchestra conducting training with Claude Pichereau. He was very quickly invited to conduct creations in broadcasted public concerts (Radio-France, Paris). The author of works for orchestra created for Radio-France Puisqu’il en est ainsi, for symphony orchestra and eight tracks magnetic tape En toi, avec lui et en lui, and for four orchestral groups distributed around the public. His most recent commissions are a Piece for strings, commissioned by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Montpellier, Ce que tout cadavre devrait savoir, a commission from the 2E2M ensemble created in the Pompidou Center, Du sens au sens, for flute, created by P. Y. Artaud with the Contemporary Classical Music Festival of Darmstadt, Intumescence, a commission from Radio-France in collaboration with the GRM for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio-France and digital band two tracks (creation and recording on February 20, 1997 at the Maison de la Radio /Paris, broadcast on March 8, 1997 on France-Music) and Katanga, piece for fifteen brass and two percussion, commissioned by Radio-France (creation in 2007), sixEXonePENsevenSIONfour, a commission from the State for instrumental and electronic ensemble (creation in Paris in June 2006). He obtained the International Prize of the Festival of Contemporary Classical Music of Darmstadt (1994), the Prize of the Association of the Alumni and Pupils of the Higher National Academies of Music and Dramatic Art of Paris (1991), the Academic Price of the S.A.C.E.M. (1995) and he is prizewinner of the Sasakawa Foundation in 1993 and 1994. Accredited to direct research in 2005 with works such as L’oeuvre contemporaine musicale en question (800 p., under the direction of Professor Castanet), Doctor in "Aesthetics, Sciences and Technology of Arts" at the University Paris VIII in 1996 (with Honours and unanimous Congratulations), he also studied at the HESS as well as the E.N.S., the I.R.C.A.M. and the C.N.R.S. (D.E.A. in Music and Musicology of XXe-Paris) and with the IRCAM where Stéphane de Gérando was selected to follow the long course of musical data processing in 1991-92, that he would prolong by consulting within the institution. His research gathers more than fifteen publications in two different fields, on the one hand new technologies and the control of sound synthesis and on the other hand aesthetic questions about the contemporary concept musical piece. After having occupied positions of responsibility such as teaching direction for higher musical establishments, the direction of a school of music, the directions of instrumental sets and after having in particular taught for more than fifteen years in the French universities, Stéphane de Gérando is today devoted mainly to the writing, the research and the promotion of contemporary classical music.