Bruno Giner

“The initial vision of the work is tonal, fleeting, violent and definitive. And then... and then comes the writing... a restless wandering freighted with ink and paper, an attempt to write in the language one understands what one is still unable to write” Born in Perpignan in 1960, Bruno Giner began his musical studies in Toulouse, then in the town of his birth and in Barcelona. In Paris, he regularly attended classes by Pierre Boulez at the Collège de France and worked successively on composition (electro-acoustic and instrumental) with Luis de Pablo, Ivo Malec and Brian Ferneyhough. Today, his works are played at numerous French and international festivals and are interpreted by various contemporary music ensembles (Aleph, Sic, Fa, L’instant donné, Grame, Nomos, Motus, Intercontemporain, Arditti Quartet, Klangheimlich, Frullato, Xasax, Ars Nova Nürnberg, Ixtla, Slowind). “It is not the most negligible quality of Bruno Giner's music that it allows us to measure the extent of our prejudices (I'm speaking for myself, of course)”, wrote Bertrand Dubedout. “Let's go on listening to him. This composer, whose way of thinking and whose approach are nourished equally by Boulez or Ferneyhough and Schaeffer or Malec, and whom an insatiable curiosity leads equally to Schumann or Machaut and to Les Pygmées, still holds a good many surprises in store for us and concocts wonders”. His catalogue includes pieces for soloists, scores for chamber music, vocal and orchestral music, practice works, etc. His music reveals a carnal, occasionally virtuoso, character, an energy channelled by the formalisation of rigorous composition which does not exclude more empirical work on morphology and tonal material. In 1998, Bruno Giner received the Prix Hervé Dugardin awarded by SACEM for the body of his work. In 2014 he received the Prix Paul Louis Weiller in composition, awarded by Académie des Beaux Arts, Institut de France. Among his most recent compositions, we should mention Paraphrase sur “Guernica” de Paul Dessau for clarinet, cello, piano and percussion (2003), TCP 17 for harp, guitar and mandolin (2005), Clameurs, a concertino for two percussions and wind ensemble (2006), Charlie, a chamber opera after Matin brun by Franck Pavloff (2007), Extra for eight cellos (2007-2008), Quatuor n° 3 for string quartet and percussion (2008). Alongside his composition, Bruno Giner has regularly collaborated with various musical reviews, encyclopaedias and recording labels (The New Grove, La Lettre du Musicien, Les cahiers du CIREM, Musica falsa, Motus, etc). In addition, he is the author of three books: Musique contemporaine: le second vingtième siècle (Editions Durand, 2000), Toute la musique? (Editions Autrement Junior, 2003), De Weimar à Térézine 1933-1945: l’épuration musicale (Editions Van de Velde, 2006).