Laurent Petitgirard (born 10 June 1950, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

) is a French classical composer and conductor.

Biography and career

Laurent Petitgirard studied piano with Serge Petitgirard and composition with Alain Kremski. He has worked as conductor with dozens of orchestras, including the Paris Opera Orchestra,

Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (french: Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, OPMC) is the main orchestra in the Principality of Monaco. The orchestra gives concerts primarily in the Auditorium Rainier III, but also performs at the Salle ...

Orchestre National de France The Orchestre national de France (ONF; literal translation, ''National Orchestra of France'') is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio (named Radio France sinc ...

, Utah Symphony Orchestra,

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. History Er ...

National Orchestra of Spain The Orquesta Nacional de España (Spanish National Orchestra) is a symphonic orchestra that is based in Madrid, Spain. History Although the orchestra originated as of 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, it was legally founded in 1940, by the mergin ...

, Moscow State Orchestra, China National Symphonic Orchestra and many others. In 1989 he founded the Orchestre Symphonique Français which he conducted until 1996, and also directed the Festival and the Academy of

Flaine Flaine is a ski area in the Haute Savoie region of the French Alps, and is a part of the linked Grand Massif domain. It is in the territory of the communes of Magland and Arâches-la-Frasse. Flaine is linked to Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz ...

from 1986 to 1997. He has been the music director of the Orchestre Colonne, in Paris, since December 2004 and ended his contract two years before the end in April 2018 to concentrate on composition and guest conducting. He will still conduct the Colonne Orchestra, as a guest conductor, in the next seasons. Petitgirard has recorded dozens of CDs of music by a variety of composers, such as

Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, Dukas,

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

, Saint-Saëns and others. As composer, Petitgirard has written scores for films by

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, lyricist, and screenwriter. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebra ...

Francis Girod Francis Girod (9 October 1944 – 19 November 2006) was a French film director, actor, and screenwriter. He directed 20 films between 1974 and 2006. His film ''L'enfance de l'art'' was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. In 1994 he ...

Peter Kassovitz Peter Kassovitz (born 7 January 1938) is a Hungarian-French film director and scriptwriter. Personal life He was born to Jewish parents in Budapest, Hungary. He fled the country at the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He is the father ...

, Pierre Granier Deferre, and many others, with many of his film soundtracks being released on CD. He composed the theme and various incidental music for the television program ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...

''. Petitgirard's first opera, ''

Joseph Merrick Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...

, The Elephant Man'', was premiered in 2002 by the

Prague State Opera The State Opera (Czech: Státní opera) is an opera house in Prague, Czech Republic. It is part of the National Theatre of the Czech Republic, founded by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic in 1992. The theatre itself originally opened in ...

, with Petitgirard conducting. Petigirard later recorded the opera for the

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

label with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and with

Nathalie Stutzmann Nathalie Stutzmann (née Dupuy; born 6 May 1965) is a French contralto and conductor. Biography Born in Suresnes in France, Stutzmann first studied with her mother, soprano Christiane Stutzmann, then at Nancy Conservatoire and later at the ''Éc ...

in the title role. Other works by Petigirard include ''Le Fou d'Elsa'', a cycle of six songs to poems by

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

for mezzo and orchestra, ''Le Plus Ardent à Vivre'', a septet with harp, ''Poème'' for large string orchestra, and ''Dialogue'' for viola and orchestra. Petitgirard's second opera, ''Guru'', was released on the

label in 2011 and its stage premiere occurred on 28 September 2018 in a production directed by Damian Cruden for Opera Na Zamku in Szczecin (Poland), with the composer conducting. Many of his other works are also available on the

label, with the composer conducting. Petitgirard has received a number of prizes, including the Young Composer's Prize of the SACD in 1987, the SACEM Prize in 1990, the Grand Prix Lycéen for Composers in 2000 for his Cello Concerto, and the Prix Musique 2001 of the SACD for his opera ''Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man''. In December 2000 he was elected Member of the

French Institute The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

, and elected Perpetual Secretary of the beaux-arts Academy on 1 February 2017 . Laurent Petitgirard is a "

Commandeur des Arts et Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

", an " Officier de La Légion d'Honneur" and "Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite".

References

External links

Laurent Petitgirard's web site

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petitgirard, Laurent 1950 births Living people French composers French male composers Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Composers for harp