Sophie Lacaze facts for kids

Sophie Lacaze, a talented French composer.

Sophie Lacaze is a French composer born on September 9, 1963. She creates many different kinds of music, from pieces for single instruments to large orchestral works and even operas. Her music often connects with nature and ancient traditions.

About Sophie Lacaze

Early Life and Music Studies

Sophie Lacaze was born in Lourdes, France. She began her musical journey by studying at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. This is a special school for music. Later, she went to the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Here, she won a special award called the Composition Prize for her musical creations.

She learned from many famous composers. In France, she studied with Allain Gaussin, Philippe Manoury, and Antoine Tisné. In Italy, she learned from Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone. She also explored music theatre with Georges Aperghis. She even took classes from the well-known composer Pierre Boulez at the Collège de France.

In 2002, Sophie Lacaze was invited to work at the Electronic Music Unit. This was at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, Australia. She traveled to many countries, including Australia and Belgium. In 2006, she returned to France.

Awards and Recognitions

Sophie Lacaze has received several important awards for her music.

• In 2009, she won the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs in France. This award was for her piece called "les quatre elements." It is a concerto for flute, a children's choir, and percussion instruments.
• In 2010, SACEM gave her the Claude Arrieu Prize. This award recognized all the amazing music she had created.
• In 2012, she was honored by the Beaumarchais-SACD association.
• In 2023, Sophie Lacaze won the ‘100 femmes de culture’ award. This award celebrates inspiring and creative French-speaking women in the arts.

Her Musical Style

Sophie Lacaze's music is unique. She doesn't just follow popular trends. Instead, she wants to bring music back to its original purposes. These include things like rituals, chants, and dance. She also loves to connect music with nature. For her, the actual sound of the music is very important.

Her compositions are performed all over the world. More than 20 countries have heard her works. Famous groups like the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France have played her music.

Promoting Music and Festivals

Sophie Lacaze is also dedicated to sharing classical and modern music with others.

• She started and directed the Printemps Musical d'Annecy festival for several years. This festival included different art forms, with a special part for new music.
• Later, she directed the Turbulences Sonores Festival in Montpellier. She worked with music expert Guilherme Carvalho on this.
• In 2018, she became the director of the Musiques Démesurées festival in Clermont-Ferrand.

In 2013, she co-founded an association called Plurielles 34. This group supports women composers in France. She was its president until 2020. She also taught music composition and history at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier for ten years.

Selected Musical Works

Here are some of the musical pieces Sophie Lacaze has created:

• Trois melodies, for soprano voice and string trio. Based on poems by Jules Supervielle.
• Voyelles, for flute. Based on a poem by Arthur Rimbaud.
• Jetez-vous sur l'avenir, for female voice, flute and piano. Based on a poem by Jean-Pierre Rosnay.
• En Quete, for female voice, narrator, violin and piano. For an exhibition of photographs by Guy Bompais. Based on texts by Jean-Pierre Rosnay.
• La vita e bella ?, for flute and cello.
• Le Becut, for wind instrument, didgeridoo, children choir and small percussions.
• Comme une rue pavee, for violin, clarinet and piano.
• Broken Words, for flute and string trio. Based on a poem by Henry Kendall.
• And then there was the sun in the sky, for flute, didgeridoo and flute orchestra.
• Histoire sans paroles, for violin, cello and piano.
• Voices of Australia, for solo flute and recorded voices.
• L'enfance de Catherine, for flute and string trio. Music for the film "l'enfance de Catherine" by Anne Baudry.
• Messe de Nostre Dame, version for 8 female voices and percussions. A tribute to "Messe de Nostre Dame" by Guillaume de Machaut.
• Tarantella, for piano.
• Dreaming, chamber opera for two female voices, didgeridoo, flute, viola, percussions and tape.
• Oceans, for flute, bassoon, violin, viola, double-bass, children choir and small percussions.
• Cinq Voyelles pour Quatre Flutes, transcription of "Voyelles" for 4 flutes. Based on a poem by Arthur Rimbaud.
• Py, for flute and piano.
• Het Lam Gods, for string quartet. Based on "Het Lam Gods" by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck.
• Duo, for voice and tape.
• Archelogos I, for voice and tape.
• Les quatre elements, concerto for flute, children choir and percussions.
• Deux mouvements, for tenor saxophone and orchestra.
• Musique de la mer, for clarinet, bassoon, string quartet, children choir and small percussions.
• Vignes, electroacoustic work. For the exhibition of photographs "Vignes" by Guy Bompais.
• The great flood, for alt-saxophone and saxophone ensemble.
• Archelogos II, for bass-flute and tape.
• Het Lam Gods II, for flute and flute orchestra. Based on "Het Lam Gods" by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck.
• Fenouillet I, acousmatic short piece.
• Quatre haikus, for alt-saxophone and piano.
• Le Petit Prince, music for theatre, for ondes Martenot, flute and string trio.
• Archèlogos IIb, for Martenot waves and tape.
• L'art est le plus beau des mensonges, for soprano voice and Japanese bowls or soprano and vibraphone. Based on a text by Alain Carre.
• Het Lam Gods III, for flute quartet and narrator. Based on "Het Lam Gods" by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck and a text by Alain Carre.
• L'espace et la flûte - Variations sur des textes de Jean Tardieu, for narrator and flute orchestra. Based on texts by Jean Tardieu.
• Souffles, for four flautists (2 zamponias, 2 bajones, 3 Boehm flutes).
• Marco Polo, chamber opera for choir and ensemble.
• Calligrammes, for barytone, choir and saxophone quartet. Based on texts by Guillaume Apollinaire.
• Après avoir contemplé la lune, for orchestra.
• Estampes, for flute quartet.
• O Sapientia, for 4 or 5 women voices. Based on texts by Hildegard von Bingen.
• Immobilité sérieuse I, for piano and string orchestra.
• Maye, for percussion instruments.
• Un parapluie et un manteau de paille, short work for piano.
• Voyelles, version for alto saxophone.
• Au milieu de la plaine, for flute and harp.
• Voices of Australia, for soprano saxophone and recorded voices.
• And Earth breathes and And birds sing, for circle flute or flute quartet.
• Vents du sud, acousmatic work.
• Je vois passer l'Ange, for 3 women voices and alto saxophone.
• Ahatonhia again, for clarinet quartet.
• Y aparece el sol, for flute, didgeridoo and string orchestra.
• And Earth moves away, for flute quartet.
• Bur Buk Boon, for didgeridoo and children orchestra.
• Immobilité sérieuse II, for cello and string orchestra.
• Vers les étoiles, for piano.
• Sighs of stars, for orchestra.
• Chansons d'hiver, short work for string quartet.
• Chanson d'automne, short work for narrator, clarinet and string quartet. Based on a poem by Paul Verlaine.
• Chansons de printemps, short work for accordion and string quartet.
• Chanson d'été, short work for wind quintet.
• L'étoffe inépuisable du rêve, chamber opera for 1 actor, 3 singers, didgeridoo, flute, clarinet, string quartet and percussion instruments.
• Het Lam Gods IV, for narrator and string quartet. Based on "Het Lam Gods" by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck and a text by Alain Carre.
• Reminiscences, for viola.
• Instantanés, for string quartet.
• De la Terre à Himalia, for string orchestra.
• A la surface de l'eau, for soprano voice and piano. Based on texts by Taigu Ryôkan, Kobayashi Issa and Ono no Komachi.

Discography

Here are some of the albums featuring Sophie Lacaze's music:

• "Noûs", Vous ne rêvez pas encore… (France). This album includes Maye and And Earth moves away by the ensemble PTYX.
• "En songe", Klarthe (France). Features L'art est le plus beau des mensonges performed by Anne Warthmann.
• Il pleut des voix de femmes, Paraty (France). This album includes Je vois passer l'Ange, En Quête, Fauvette, Il pleut des voix de femmes and O Sapientia. It features Els Janssens, Mora Vocis, Alain Carré, Michel Supéra, and Marie Vermeulin.
• "Metamorphose", Ethan Nylander (USA). Features Archèlogos II performed by Ethan Nylander.
• "Les femmes dansent", Klarthe (France). Includes Tarantella played by Axia Marinescu.
• "Accents", Aparté (France). Features Histoire sans paroles by musicians of the ensemble K.
• "Fair_Play 2", Fair_Play network (France). Includes the first movement of Deux mouvements by Daniel Kientzy and the Romanian National Radio Orchestra.
• "Fair_Play One", Fair_Play network (France). Features the acousmatic work Vents du Sud.
• "7 saxophones autour du monde", Nova Musica (France). Includes Deux mouvements for tenor saxophone and orchestra.
• "Souffles", Les Editions de l'Astronome. Features L'espace et la flute, En quete, Quatre haikus, Voyelles and Het Lam Gods III.
• "Encounters / Rencontre", AF Adelaide (Australia). Includes two Preludes for piano by Stephen Whittington.
• "Sophie Lacaze - Works with flutes", Solal (Germany). This album features many of her works for flutes, including Het Lam Gods II and Voices of Australia.
• "Cosmogonies", Galun Records. Features Voices of Australia by Ivan Bellocq.
• "Plurielles", Maguelone. Includes Broken Words and Voyelles by the Helios Ensemble and Christel Rayneau.
• "Aperto (Re)Forms", Gaudeamus (Roumania). Features Comme une rue pavee and Trois preludes by the Trio Aperto.
• "En Quete", Galun Records. This album includes En Quete, Kulungalinpa, La Vita e Bella ?, Jetez-vous sur l'avenir and Le Becut.
• "Musiques francaises du XXe siecle", REM. Features Voyelles by Chiharu Tachibana.