Pascal Le Boeuf (born August 3, 1986) is an American pianist, composer and producer whose works, both solo and with others, range from modern

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

to cross-breeding classical with production-based technology. Le Boeuf won a

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (including its previous names) has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of an original piece of music (not an adaptation), first released during the eligibility year. I ...

in 2025 for "Strands" (from ''Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?'' by Akropolis Reed Quintet, Pascal Le Boeuf, and Christian Euman). He had been nominated for the same award twice before, for the works "Alkaline" (2018) and “Snapshots” (2023). Since 2000, he has co-led the jazz group Le Boeuf Brothers with his identical twin brother Remy Le Boeuf.

Career

Le Boeuf was born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. He is a 2004 YoungArts alumnus. He studied jazz piano at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

with

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

(Bachelors in Music in 2007 and Masters in Music in 2010) and music composition at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

with

Steve Mackey Stephen Patrick Mackey (10 November 1966 – 2 March 2023) was an English musician and record producer best known as the bass guitarist for the Britpop band Pulp, which he joined in 1989. As a record producer, he produced songs and albums by ...

Dmitri Tymoczko Dmitri Tymoczko (born 1969) is an American music theorist and composer. As a theorist, he has published more than two dozen articles dealing with topics related to contemporary tonality, including scales, voice leading, and functional harmonic n ...

Rudresh Mahanthappa Rudresh Mahanthappa (born May 4, 1971) is a New York-based jazz alto saxophonist and composer. Biography Mahanthappa is the son of Indian emigrants to the U.S. He was born in Trieste, Italy as a result of his father's job in academia, but spent ...

Donnacha Dennehy Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. According to musicologist Bob Gilmore, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, togeth ...

, and

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

. In 2004, Pascal and his twin brother Remy formed Le Boeuf Brothers and together released four albums, mixing jazz, hip hop, electronic and classical styles. Le Boeuf's solo career includes ''Pascal's Triangle'', the album recorded as a piano trio with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Justin Brown), and he composed music for the 2008

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning movie ''King Lines''. He played as support for

D’Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single " U Will Know" ...

’s ''

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

'' US tour and the British electronic group

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...

with Australian pop vocalist

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. Since 2015, Le Boeuf's work has focused on collaborations with artists including Bec Plexus and

Ian Chang Ian Chang (born 7 October 1988) is a musician, drummer, and producer. He is the drummer of the American experimental rock band Son Lux as well as Landlady. As a solo artist, he has recorded three solo EPs: Spiritual Leader (2017), Romeo Remixes ( ...

Alarm Will Sound Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times ...

, Iarla Ŏ Lionáird, Hub New Music and Four/Ten Media, Shattered Glass, Nick Photinos, Sara Caswell, Jessica Meyer and Todd Reynolds. Le Boeuf joined the faculty of the Blair School of Music at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

as Visiting Assistant Professor in Computer Music and Technology in 2021 and has since been named Contemporary Music Ensemble Director and Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music and Technology.

Accolades

Le Boeuf won first place in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition. He has won multiple Independent Music Awards in Jazz, Eclectic, Electronica, and Music Video categories. Le Boeuf received a FROMM Commission from Harvard University in 2015, the 2015 ASCAP Foundation Johnny Mandel Prize, and 2011 and 2015 New Jazz Works Commissions from Chamber Music America in collaboration with

JACK Quartet The JACK Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 2005 and is based in New York City. The four founding members are violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violi ...

and Le Boeuf Brothers. In 2017, Le Boeuf was nominated for a

for his work "Alkaline" from the album ''Imaginist'' recorded by the Le Boeuf Brothers and the

. He was also nominated for his work “Snapshots” in the same category in 2023. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition at

, and was awarded the Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship in 2020.

Discography

Leader, featured artist

Collaborator

*Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar, “Snapshots”, ''Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed'' (Bright Shiny Things, 2022) – composer, pianist, editor *Real Loud, “Forbidden Subjects”, ''Real Loud'' (New Focus Recordings, 2021) – composer, producer *Bec Plexus +

and

, “mirror image”, ''StickLip'' ( New Amsterdam Records, 2020) – composer, producer, keyboardist *Barbora Kolářová, “Imp in Impulse”, ''Imp in Impulse'' (Furious Artisans, 2020) – composer, producer *Hub New Music, “Media Control”, ''July 3, 2020: A Benefit Compilation'' ( New Amsterdam Records, 2020) – composer, producer * Wolff Parkinson White, ''Favours'' (Nonplace, 2020) – vocalist, composer *Joy On Fire, ''Hymn'' (Procrastination Records, 2020) – pianist *

, ''Fools for Angels'' (New Focus Recordings, 2019) – pianist * Remy Le Boeuf, ''Light as a Word'' (Outside in Music, 2019) – co-producer *A New Age for New Age, “Our Kingdom”, ''New Age for a New Age Vol. 1'' (NA4NA, 2019) – composer, producer, keyboardist *Owen Lake and The Tragic Loves, ''The Best of Your Lies'' (Carrier Records, 2018) – keyboardist *Nick Photinos (featuring JACK Quartet, Charles Yang, and Jeffrey Zeigler), “Alpha”, ''Petits Artѐfacts'' ( New Amsterdam Records, 2017) – composer, producer *Shattered Glass, “Transition Behavior”, ''Shattered Glass'' (Shattered Glass, 2017) – composer *Jesus on the Mainline, ''The Morning Bell'' ( Ropeadope Records, 2017) – keyboardist *Empty Promise, ''Empty Promise'' – Single (Empty Promise, 2017) – co-composer, co-producer *Ian Rosenbaum, ''Memory Palace'' ( National Sawdust Tracks, 2017) – co-producer *

Allan Harris Allan Harris (28 December 1942 – 23 November 2017) was an English football player and manager. He played for Chelsea, Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers. His brother Ron was also a professional footballer. Harris was a full-back and b ...

, ''Nobody’s Gonna Love You Better '' (Love Productions Records/Membran Entertainment, 2016) – pianist, keyboardist, arranger, songwriter *RighteousGIRLS, ''Gathering Blue'' (New Focus Recordings, 2015) - composer, producer *

, ''Black Bar Jukebox'' (Love Productions/Must Have Jazz, 2015) - pianist, keyboardist, arranger *ROMY, ''Unbound'' (Romy Balvers, 2014) - co-producer, keyboardist, backup vocalist *

Natalie Cressman Natalie Cressman is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. Career Cressman was born in San Francisco to jazz musicians Sandy and Jeff Cressman. When her father was part of Carlos Santana's band, she danced onstage with him at Madison Square ...

& Secret Garden, ''Unfolding'' (Cressman Music, 2012) – pianist *Michael Thomas, ''The Long Way'' (Michael Thomas, 2010) – pianist *Murray-James Morrison, ''Happy Every Day'' (Murray-James Morrison, 2010) – pianist *Bastien Weinhold, ''River Styx'' (FrameMusic, 2010) – pianist *Mike Ruby, ''Play Time'' (Alma/

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

, 2007) – pianist, keyboardist *Glass Eye Trio, ''Harajuku'' (Glass Eye Trio, 2007) – pianist, keyboardist *Colin Stranahan, ''Transformation'' ( Capri Records, 2006) – pianist, composer

Film and TV

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Boeuf, Pascal 1986 births Living people American jazz composers American jazz pianists American male video game actors Grammy Award winners American male voice actors Manhattan School of Music alumni Musicians from Santa Cruz, California Jazz musicians from California