Gisèle Barreau facts for kids

Gisèle Barreau (born on February 28, 1948) is a talented French composer. She creates many different kinds of music.

About Gisèle Barreau

Gisèle Barreau was born in Couëron, a town near Nantes in Brittany, France. She loved music from a young age.

Early Life and Education

Gisèle started her musical journey by studying how music sounds and works. She learned about musical acoustics with Émile Leipp and Michèle Castellengo at Jussieu University. Later, she continued her studies at the famous Paris Conservatory. There, she learned from very important composers like Pierre Schaeffer and Olivier Messiaen. In 1977, she earned a special certificate in electroacoustic music. This is a type of music that uses electronic sounds and recorded sounds. She got this from the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM).

Teaching and Residencies

After finishing her studies, Gisèle Barreau became a music teacher. She earned a certificate to teach music. She also had special opportunities to live and work as a composer in different places. In 1978, she was a composer-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony. From 1980 to 1982, she lived and worked at the Villa Medici in Rome. Today, Gisèle Barreau shares her knowledge with new musicians. She works as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, teaching young composers.

Awards and Achievements

Gisèle Barreau has won many important awards for her music. These awards show how talented and respected she is as a composer:

• She won 1st Prize in Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue, and Musical Analysis at the Paris Conservatoire.
• In 1977, she received 1st prize in musical composition from Olivier Messiaen's class.
• She won the Koussevitzky Composition Prize in 1977 for her piece called Tlaloc.
• In 1978, she received the Composition Prize of the SACEM Georges Enescu.
• She was honored with an Award from the Ministry of Women's Rights in 1986.
• In 1988, she won the Prix de composition Stéphane Chapelier-Clergue.
• For her piece Blue Rain, she received the Prix SACEM Partition teaching in 2000.

Key Musical Works

Gisèle Barreau has composed many interesting pieces of music. Here are some of her well-known works:

• Blue Rain: This piece is for two pianos and two percussionists. It was composed in 1998.
• Océanes: This is a piece for a full orchestra, created in 1988.
• Piano-Piano: This work was written for an ensemble of musicians in 1982.
• Little Rain
• Tlaloc: This piece is specially written for two percussionists.