Geoffroy Drouin

Biography :

A French composer born in 1970, Geoffroy Drouin has studied at the Paris Conservatory, where he worked with Gerard Grisey, Marco Stroppa and Marc-Andre Dalbavie.  Then he followed the composition session in the Fondation Royaumont (France) where he enjoyed the support of Brian Ferneyhough and Jonathan Harvey before joining the composition program and computer at IRCAM in 2002. He established  there multiple musical friendships, and is offered a partnership with the Institute as a composer in search of an aid project in orchestration. The Pompidou Center also devotes a workshop for his piece Crispy Grain, made during his studies at IRCAM. The play has been regularly performed. In 2005, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France commissioned him a work for trombone and orchestra, Patchwork. The meeting with the TM+ ensemble leads to the creation of Feedback, for six players, play included in the repertoire of the ensemble. Then it is his concerto for oboe and ensemble, Le bruit de la trace, which was created under the direction of 2e2m ensemble, with Didier Pateau as principal soloist. Winner of the André Boucourechliev Price in 2008, he then began a close collaboration with the Ensemble Court-Circuit, for two consecutive seasons. From this exchange was born Ritenuto for eight instrumentalists.

Doctor of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Geoffroy Drouin commits a research and reflection on writing. This is an opportunity for him to confront his problems with those of his musical contemporaries from other walks of activities (science, philosophy), sharing with them the conviction of a topical contemporary thought. He participated in many conferences, and take responsibility in 2008 of seminars in composition at IRCAM, under theEntretemps association. He  teaches at the Central Conservatory of Paris, and the University of Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines.

His works are performed in France and abroad, and are subject to numerous commissions (State, festival, radio, etc..).

Winner of the 2010 session of the “Académie de France à Rome”, he was at the Villa Médicis for 18 months from april 2011 to october 2012.

more informations here : http://www.geoffroydrouin.com/en/24/biography


Catalog :

The Pompidou centre helped him create his work Crispy Grain, composed during his study at the IRCAM, in 2003. The piece is frequently played since then.

In 2005, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France ordered him a piece for trombone and orchestra, Patchwork.

The encounter with TM+ ensemble was also the source of a creation for six instruments, the piece Feed-back, in 2005, which was an order from the state fir the 50th anniversary of the Cité Radieuse of french architect Le Corbusier in Rezé. The piece has been made a part of the ensemble’s repertoire since then. In 2006, the concerto for oboe and ensemble, Le bruit de la trace, is created with 2e2m ensemble, with Didier Pateau as a solist.

His exchanges with the ensemble Court-Circuit, gave birth in 2009 to Ritenuto for eight instruments, a command from the foundation André Boucourechliev.

In his stay at the Villa Médicis, he wrote an itinerant fresco for bassoon and electronic, Eco per Luciano, in hommage to composer Luciano Berio. The piece was created by Pascal Gallois in june 2011 in the gardens of the Villa Médicis.

In 2012, L’itinéraire created in Paris D’une résilience accomplie, a piece for ensemble and a command from the state. The same year, Radio France also placed an order for a cycle of chamber music pieces, dedicated to the works of baroque Italian sculptor and architect Le Bernin, the Cinq méditations sur Le Bernin.

In 2012, he created two new pieces : in the festival of the Serres d’Auteuil, his last piece for piano was created by pianist Nima Sarkechik, while the ensemble Alternance created in Danemark a new piece for ensemble, in the festival Susaa.

The festival Presences 2014 of Radio France commanded him a new piece for voice and electronic, Via della Croce, a piece for which he started a long collaboration with German singer Frauke Aulbert. The piece is inspired by texts from the young italian mystic Gemma Galgani.

More recently, he composed a fresco for choir and reciter, Il Paradiso, on the last chants of the Paradiso of Dante’s Divine Comedy. A command of Radio France, the piece is selected to participate in the international Prix Italia 2015. He meets again with Frauke Albert in may 2015 for a creation at the Palais de Tokyo, in the Festival Extension, in coproduction with the Muse en circuit.


The composer was interviewed monday 4 may 2015 by Arnaud Merlin in the Magazine de la contemporaine on french radio France Musique (interview in french below).

For more informations : http://www.geoffroydrouin.com/pages/home