​Biography

 

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 (Madrid), Ivo Malec (Paris) and Brian Ferneyhough (Royaumont). 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, Biennale Zagreb, 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 was awarded the Hervé Dugardin Price by the SACEM for his overall achievement. In 2014, he was awarded the Paul-Louis Weiller Price by the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France. In 2023 : Teaching award for the performance of his pianowork Commedia and The Mercure Price in Japan for his opera Charlie.

 

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), Mémoires de peaux for 6 drums (2011), Impacts for piano and percussion (2012), Pion prend tour en D 9, chamber opera (2012), Sternchenlied 1 & 2 for 2 Cristals, voice, and sound sculpture (2012-2013), Ambos for 2 frenchhorns (2013), Rauxa for accordion and 2 percussions (2014), DIY for 2 sax bar (2015), Glas : 13 novembre for piano 4 hands, clar, oboe (2016), Eclipse de sons for 3 mandolines and guitar (2017), Erat phonos tango for sax and guitar (2019), Suite d'un goût étrange for viola da gamba (2020), Trio loco for 3 percussions (2021), Impossible de rester silencieux for luth quartet (2022), Quatre façons de décrire le rock for plectrum orchestra (2022), Pan metamorphosis for orchestra (2023), Battle 150 for ten instruments (2024).

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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), Survivre et mourir en musique dans les camps nazis (Berg International, 2011), Le crin et le fusain (Istesso Tempo, 2012), Erik Satie. Parade. Chronique épistolaire d'une création (Berg International, 2013), Entartete Musik. Musiques interdites sous le IIIe Reich (with Elise Petit, Bleu Nuit, collection "Horizons", 2015), Les Musiques pendant la guerre d'Espagne (with François Porcile, Berg International, 2015), Erik Satie (Bleu Nuit, collection "Horizons", 2016), Kurt Weill (Bleu Nuit, 2018), Edgard Varèse (Bleu Nuit, 2022), Opus féminin (Bleu Nuit, 2023).