Gilbert Amy (born 29 August 1936) is a French
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
and
conductor.
Career
Born in Paris, Amy entered the
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
in 1954, where he was taught and influenced by
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...
and
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...
and studied piano with
Yvonne Loriod and fugue with
Simone Plé-Caussade. His first composition (''Œil de fumée'') dates from 1955. In 1957 he met
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.
Born in Montb ...
, under whose direction he composed his Piano Sonata. A year later Boulez commissioned from him a work called ''Mouvements'', which was performed in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
by the Orchestre du
Domaine musical. From 1958 to 1961 he attended the
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...
given by
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
, and developed a style highly influenced by the trend of
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
.
In 1962
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.
Biography
Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundi ...
named him adjunct music director of the
Odéon Theater in Paris. At the same time he undertook a career as conductor in Europe and Argentina. Between 1967 and 1973 he was the director of the Domaine Musical, succeeding Pierre Boulez. From 1973 to 1975 he was music advisor to
ORTF and worked to "reform" the music heard on the radio. From 1976 to 1981, he was music director of the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique of
Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...
. In 1984, Amy succeeded
Pierre Cochereau as Director of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique at Lyon, while continuing to compose music. His notable students include
Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux and
Jeffrey Brooks.
Amy's talent as a composer has won him a number of awards including the Grand Prix National de la Musique in 1979,
the Grand Prix of
SACEM
The Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music or SACEM () is a French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original songwriters, composers, and music publisher
A mus ...
in 1983, the Grand Prix Musical of the City of Paris in 1986 and the Prix of the President of the Republic from the Academy Charles Cros in 1987.
List of works
References
External links
*
Biography of Gilbert Amy Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...
(in French)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amy, Gilbert
1936 births
Musicians from Paris
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French male conductors (music)
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Directors of the Conservatoire de Paris
Living people
Pupils of Darius Milhaud
Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Twelve-tone and serial composers
21st-century French conductors (music)
21st-century French male musicians
Music directors of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France