Biography

Born in 1955 in Nancy (France), Pascal Dusapin studied Plastic Arts and Sciences, Arts and Aesthetic at the Paris-Sorbonne University. He followed the seminars given by Iannis Xenakis between 1974 and 1978, and was scholar at the Villa Medici in Roma (1981-1983). He has been conferred many honours since the beginning of his career, among them: in 1994, the Symphonic Prize of the SACEM; in 1995, the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Great Prize of Music and then the "Victoire de la Musique 1998" was awarded to him for the recording with the Orchestre national de Lyon, then once again in 2002 as "Composer of the Year". He has been awarded the 2005 Cino del Duca prize from the French Academy des Beaux-Arts, raised to the rank of "commandeur des Arts & Lettres", elected at the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste in July 2006 and nominated Professor at the Collège de France to hold the artistic creation chair for 2006-2007. He has composed many pieces for ensemble, for orchestra and mainly for soloists and chamber music. In Autumn 2002 his A quia, piano concerto (commissioned by the Bonn Beethoven Fest) and the complete cycle of his 7 Études for piano were premiered with great success. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Scala di Milano, who were also the commissioning orchestra, premiered the orchestral suite entitled Perelà suite from his opera Perelà, uomo di fumo on February 21st, 2005, conducted by James Conlon. The Quatuor Arditti premiered his Quatuor V, on June 15, 2005 at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The work was premiered in France on November 5, 2005 during the second biennial of string quartets of Cité de la Musique (where all his quartet were performed). His Solo no. 6 for orchestra entitled Reverso (2005-2006) was premiered in July 2006 at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence by the l'Orchestre des Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle for the opening of the new concert hall of the festival.