Amaury Barbat du Closel (6 February 1956 – 7 October 2024) was a French conductor and composer. He founded the Forum Voix Étouffées to bring attention to the music of composers persecuted, exiled or forgotten, especially suppressed by totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

Life and career

Born on 6 February 1956, du Closel was the son of Alain Barbat du Closel, who served as

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

from 1995 to 2001 and was a titular member of the . Amaury studied musical composition with Max Deutsch at the in Belgium. He then took masterclasses in Vienna with

Karl Österreicher Karl Österreicher (3 January 1923 – 11 March 1995) was an Austrian conductor and music teacher. Life Born in Rohrbach an der Gölsen, Lower Austria, Austrian studied clarinet as well as conducting with Hans Swarowsky, later also with Alfre ...

and

Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an American-born Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associ ...

. Throughout his career, du Closel directed more than 80 orchestras, notably the

Berliner Symphoniker The Berliner Symphoniker (''Berlin Symphony Orchestra'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. History The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as ''Symphonisches Orchester Berlin'', under the auspices of ...

and the Orchestre Les Métamorphoses that he founded in 2018, to play on modern instruments in a historically informed manner, with a focus on music from the 20th century. He performed at festivals such as

La Folle Journée La Folle Journée is a French annual classical music festival held in Nantes. It is the largest classical music festival in France. The festival's name refers to the Pierre Beaumarchais play ''The Marriage of Figaro'', whose alternative title i ...

in Nantes and La Chaise-Dieu. He was artistic director of the Opéra Nomade from 2000, a touring opera company, and from 2006 musical director of the Académie Lyrique, an international academy for operatic singing. Du Closel founded in 2003 the Forum Voix Etouffées (), an association dedicated to performing music by composers persecuted and forced into exile by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and other totalitarian governments of the 20th century, such as

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study of Johannes Ock ...

Franz Schreker Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, librettist, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic pluralit ...

and

Viktor Ullmann Viktor Ullmann (1 January 1898 – 18 October 1944) was a Silesia-born Austrian composer, conductor and pianist. Biography Viktor Ullmann was born on 1 January 1898 in Cieszyn (Teschen), which belonged then to Austrian Silesia in the Austro- ...

. In 2005 he published ''Les Voix étouffées du Troisième Reich'', about composers persecuted by the Nazis. The book was awarded a prize for best essay from the Syndicat de la Critique Musicale. He composed music including a

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

and songs, and music for classic silent film such as Victor Tourjanski's '' Michel Strogoff'' and Abel Gance's ''

La Dixième symphonie ''The Tenth Symphony'' () is a 1918 silent French drama film directed by Abel Gance. Plot Rich orphan Eve Dinant has fallen under the spell of the charming but evil Fred Rice. She becomes his mistress and he induces her to murder his sister. S ...

''. Du Closel died on 7 October 2024, at the age of 68.

Publications

* 2005: ''Erstickte Stimmen. "Entartete Musik" im Dritten Reich'' (''Les Voix étouffées du Troisième Reich'')

Distinctions

* 2005

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the Austrian national honours system. History The Decoration of Hono ...

* 2009 Officer of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The 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 the recognition of significant ...

* 2021

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Closel, Amaury du 1956 births 2024 deaths French composers French conductors (music) Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany