Born in 1982, he spent his youth on the family farm, surrounded by nature and birdsong. He first studied piano at the CRR (Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional) in Versailles, then organ at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was unanimously awarded First Prizes in Organ, Harmony and Orchestration. He then continued his organ training at the CRR in Saint-Maur, where he was unanimously awarded a gold medal.
In 2000, he met composer Thierry Escaich and worked with him on improvisation. He became a friend who encouraged and helped him in his vocation as a composer.
From 2001 to 2006, he completed his training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he won the following six prizes in chronological order: Orchestration, Harmony, Organ Improvisation, Analysis, Counterpoint, and Fugue and Forms.
For 6 years, he also took up the violin and, more recently, the cello.
He studied composition during courses with the great French composer Jean-Louis Florentz, who had a lasting influence on his career and encouraged his vocation.
Between the ages of 18 and 20 he won three International Organ Improvisation Competitions: the Second Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the Chartres Competition in 2000, of which he was the only finalist, thus becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s history at the age of 18; the First Prize at the Saarbrücken Competition in 2001, and the First Prize and Audience Prize at the Yoann Pachelbel Competition in Nuremberg in 2002.
He has received various international prizes for his compositions: First Prize at the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome in 2001, First Prize and Audience Prize at the Orchestre de Flûtes Français de Paris Competition in 2002 and, in 2006, unanimously First Prize at the Concours de Composition pour orgue de Saint-Bertrand de Comminges.
In spring 2015 he will be the ‘Guest Composer’ at the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise, where a dozen of his compositions will be performed – one of them by Renaud Capuçon.
He has received several commissions from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded on a CD in 2015: Concerto for violin and orchestra from 2011 and Minimalist-Concerto, a double-concerto for piano, organ and orchestra, from 2012. This CD was supported by the Marcelle and Robert De Lacour Foundation.
He has also received commissions from Notre-Dame-de-Paris, sung by the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame and conducted by Henri Chalet: a work for mixed choir, fourteen hunting horns and organ, as well as a Magnificat for mixed choir, children’s choir and Great Organ, which premiered in the cathedral in 2016. The latter was released by Warner Classics in May 2020 on a CD from which Gautier Capuçon broadcast several extracts in his programme on Radio-Classique.
In April 2019, his Stabat Mater will be the last polyphony sung at Notre-Dame-de-Paris, twenty-four hours before the fire. The video has been viewed 36,000 times on YouTube. It is his most popular work, both in concert and in the liturgy.
His Christmas Oratorio, commissioned by the Cadéëm company for children’s choir, narrator, accordion and two percussionists, was premiered in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon in December 2021 by the children’s choirs of the Cathedrals of Notre-Dame-de-Paris and Saint-Jean-de-Lyon, conducted by Emilie Fleury and Thibaut Louppe, with the Trio KDM (Adélaïde Ferrière -Victoire de la musique-, percussion 1, Jean-Baptiste Bonnard, percussion 2, Anthony Millet, accordion) and the narrator Pierre Val. The Oratorio was performed again in December 2022 at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, by the Maîtrise de l’Opéra, conducted by Véronique Tollet and the Trio KDM (with Emil Kuyumcuyan, percussion 2). In December 2023, in addition to Rambouillet, it was performed again at Abbaye de Fontevraud, by the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris and KDM.
His Livre pour Violoncelle, a collection of pieces for solo cello written for Gautier Capuçon’s 40th birthday, was published in April 2023 by Éditions Billaudot.
In 2019, the French conductor Jean-Pierre Lo Ré commissioned him to write Vision Céleste for Doudouk, Kéna, Choir and Organ, followed in 2023 by “Arménie” for Choir, Orchestra and Doudouk, premiered in the Eglise de la Trinité in Paris in early June 2023 by the Chœur et Orchestre Français d’Oratorio.
In November 2023, he was awarded 1st Prize in the 10th Fernando Rielo International Sacred Music Composition Competition in Madrid, for “Tibi Domine” for choir and orchestra, ahead of 29 scores from around the world.
website Jean-Charles Gandrille
