Suzanne Giraud facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Suzanne Giraud
Suzanne Giraud (middle) alongside Kornilios Michailidis (left) and Pascal Quignard (right) during a concert on 19 October 2019.
Born	(1958-07-31) 31 July 1958 (age 67) Metz, France
Alma mater	Conservatoire de Strasbourg

Suzanne Giraud (born on July 31, 1958) is a French music teacher and a composer of contemporary music. She creates new and modern music. Her pieces often use drums, voices, and string instruments. They are inspired by her love for art, poetry, and architecture. Since January 2024, she has been a member of the Académie Charles Cros, a group that celebrates French music and literature.

About Suzanne Giraud

Her Early Life

Suzanne Giraud was born in Metz, France. She grew up in Strasbourg in a family that loved art, music, and books. She started loving music very early, especially the works of famous composers like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.

Her Music Education

When she was 8 years old, Suzanne started studying at the Strasbourg Conservatory. She learned about music theory, piano, violin, and how to write music. She also played the viola in the orchestra. Later, she went to the Paris Conservatory in 1977. There, she studied how to analyze music, compose, and conduct an orchestra. She became very skilled in these areas.

Suzanne also learned from many other important composers. She studied with Claude Ballif and Iannis Xenakis. She even went to Italy to study with Franco Donatoni and learn conducting from Franco Ferrara. In 1984, she spent two years at the Villa Medici in Rome. There, she met Giacinto Scelsi, another composer, and became good friends with him. She also attended summer classes in Darmstadt, Germany, where she met more famous composers like Morton Feldman.

Her Career as a Composer

Suzanne Giraud has been asked to create music for many important groups and events. These include the Ensemble intercontemporain, Radio France, and the French government. Her music has been played at big festivals in places like Strasbourg, Dresden, and Brussels.

She has worked with famous musical groups and performers. These include the Arditti Quartet, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Percussions de Strasbourg. She has also collaborated with well-known musicians like Kent Nagano and Philippe Jaroussky.

Suzanne enjoys composing for all kinds of musical groups. She writes for solo instruments, duets, trios, and larger ensembles. She also writes pieces that mix instruments with voices, and even full operas.

She also creates music especially for children. Some of her educational works include Le Singe, la Banquise et le Téléphone portable (The Monkey, the Ice Floe and the Mobile Phone) from 2005. In 2019, she composed Perpetuum Mobile for the DEMOS Île-de-France orchestras, which helps young people learn music.

From 1991 to 1993, Suzanne Giraud hosted a radio show on France Musique. It was called Les mots et les notes (Words and Notes) and explored music from the Renaissance period.

Her Teaching Career

Suzanne Giraud started teaching music when she was just 16. She taught piano to children in a local youth center. She later taught piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory. After moving to Paris, she taught music history and how to write music.

At the Paris Conservatory, she taught a special class about writing music. She also became the director of a conservatory in Paris. There, she helped create classes that combined music with theater for students. She also set up studios for electronic music and computer-assisted composition.

Later, she became a professor of composition at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris. Since 2011, she has led a "Contemporary Workshop." This workshop helps students and others understand modern music. It also allows them to meet and talk with living composers.

What Inspires Her Music

Suzanne Giraud finds inspiration in many places. She loves literature, architecture, and the art of the Renaissance period. She looks to writers like Miguel de Cervantes and J.R.R.Tolkien. She also gets ideas from painters like Titian and Caravaggio.

Her musical works often show these inspirations:

• L’Offrande à Vénus was inspired by a painting by Titian.
• Jaffa is based on a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros.
• To one in Paradise uses a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
• La musique nous vient d’ailleurs (Music Comes to Us from Elsewhere) is inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

She has also worked with modern writers. She has collaborated with Pascal Quignard on several pieces, including Johannisbaum (2011) and Le chant du Marais (2017). For her opera Caravaggio, she co-wrote the story with Dominique Fernandez. She also wrote her own poems and set them to music, like Bleu et ombre (Blue and Shadow).

Her Musical Style

Suzanne Giraud is passionate about both old and new literature, art, and architecture. She has studied many ways of writing music, from the complex styles of the Renaissance to modern "spectral music." All of this knowledge helps her create her unique and rich musical pieces.

She tries to make each new composition completely different from her previous ones. Suzanne says she needs this newness to stay excited and avoid boredom. Her main inspiration for her music comes from books and stories.

She knows a lot about orchestras because she played the viola in many groups when she was younger. This experience taught her how different parts of the orchestra, like strings, winds, and percussion, work together. She also understands the conductor's role.

Suzanne also loves to use the human voice in her music. She learned to sing while practicing piano parts with vocal pieces. She and one of her sisters used to perform many songs by German composers like Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

Awards and Recognition

Suzanne Giraud's music has won several awards:

• In 1987, she received the Georges Enesco Award from SACEM.
• In 1988, she won the Georges-Bizet Prize from the Academy of Fine Arts.
• In 1989, her work was chosen for the UNESCO International Forum.
• She was also selected twice by the International Society for Contemporary Music (SIMC) in 1986 and 1998.

List of Her Works

For Solo Instruments

• 2011, Les Parhélies, for piano.
• 2005, Sensations du réveil, for horn.
• 2002, Afin que sans cesse je songe, for flute.
• 1999, Éclosion, for guitar.
• 1999, Zéphyr, for piano.
• 1996, Envoûtements, for violin.
• 1990, L’œil and le jour, for percussion.
• 1983, Tentative univers, for percussion.

For Two Instruments (Duets)

• 2020, Orée, for flute and piano.
• 2013, Es steht das nichts in der Mandel, for two violas.
• 2008, Cent-trois notes, for violin and clarinet.
• 2004, D’une hélice, for flute and harp.
• 2002, Duos pour Prades, for clarinet and cello.
• 2000, Élaboration, for viola and piano.
• 1997, Envoûtements II, for flute and marimba.

Duets with Voice

• 2018, L’Albatros, for baritone voice and violin.
• 2002, Le Bel été, for baritone voice and piano.
• 1993, Bleu and ombre, for voice and double bass.

For Three Instruments (Trios)

• 2023, Caressant, for piano, violin, and cello.
• 2017, D’un vanneur de blé aux vents, for violin, cello, and clarinet.
• 1995, Orphée, for flute, oboe, and cello.
• 1991, Trio à cordes, for violin, viola, and cello.
• 1989, Épisode en forme d’oubli, for clarinet, marimba, and double bass.

Trios with Voice

• 1997, Envoûtements III, for soprano voice, clarinet, and percussion.
• 1982/86, Voici la lune, for mezzo-soprano voice, flute, and piano.

For Four Instruments (Quartets)

• 2020, Impulse, for two violins, viola, and cello.
• 2006, Augenmusik, for two violins, viola, and cello.
• 2004, Quatuor n°3 Peter Schlemihl, for two violins, viola, and cello.
• 1997, Envoûtements IV, for two violins, viola, and cello.
• 1995, Comme un murmure amoureux, for flute, oboe, French horn, and cello.
• 1991, Le rivage des transes, for two pianos and two percussions.
• 1989, Fantasia, for two oboes, bassoon, and harpsichord.
• 1983, Regards sur le jardin d’Eros, for two violins, viola, and cello.

For Musical Ensembles

• 2010, L’Amitié, for bassoon solo, flute, clarinet, guitar, and double bass.
• 2007, Assemblages, for two violas, two violins, and one cello.
• 2005, Envoûtements VIII, for eight cellos.
• 2005, Envoûtements VII, for soprano voice, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, viola, cello, and double bass.
• 2003, Envoûtements VI, for six percussionists.
• 2001, Envoûtements V, for guitar, two violins, viola, and cello.
• 1995, La Musique nous vient d’ailleurs, for a small orchestra.
• 1990, Le Rouge des profondeurs, for clarinet, French horn, percussion, synthesizer, violin, and cello.
• 1988, L’Aube sur le désir, for two flutes, harp, violin, viola, and cello.
• 1987, Contrées d’un rêve, for a larger ensemble with various instruments.
• 1985, L’offrande à Vénus, for flute, clarinet, percussion, harp, two violins, viola, and cello.
• 1984, Ergo sum, for flute, English horn, French horn, three percussions, piano, three violins, three violas, and two double basses.
• 1983, Homo homini lupus, for three flutes, three clarinets, and two double basses.

Musical Ensemble and Vocal Music

• 2020, Le Concert, for countertenor voice, theorbo, harpsichord, baroque violin, and viola da gamba.
• 2017, Le Chant du Marais, for narrator, soprano voice, and cello.
• 2011, Johannisbaum, for two sopranos, one mezzo-soprano, and cello.
• 2006, Rimbaud, for mezzo-soprano voice, flute, viola, and piano.
• 2002, Au commencement était le Verbe, for twelve mixed voices and six percussionists.
• 1995, Œdipe, for baritone-bass voice and twelve mixed voices, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, trumpet, and two trombones.
• 1985, La dernière lumière, for soprano voice and ensemble.

Vocal Music (Choir)

• 2016, Frère and sœur, for mixed chorus.
• 2012, Stances du revenant, for men's chorus.
• 2009, Psaume CXXXVII, for mixed chorus.

Concertos (Solo Instrument with Orchestra)

• 2016, La Rivière, for bassoon solo and ensemble.
• 2014, Le Dauphin, for violin solo, flute, clarinet, bassoon, harp, piano, viola, and cello.
• 2007, Quatre Fluides, for clarinet and string orchestra.
• 2006, Stereo space concerto, for piano solo and various instruments.
• 2004, Concerto for cello, for cello solo and orchestra.
• 2002, Qu’as-tu vu dans le vaste monde ?, for two piccolo trumpets, baritone voice, two oboes, two bassoons, percussion, keyboard, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass.
• 1991, Crier vers l’horizon, for bassoon solo and ensemble.

For Orchestra

• 2008, Écho réplique, for a small orchestra.
• 1999, To one in paradise, for mezzo-soprano voice and orchestra.
• 1999, Décision/Indécision, for wind orchestra.
• 1998, Ton cœur sur la porte du ciel, for orchestra.
• 1984, Terre Essor, for orchestra.

Orchestra and Choir

• 2001, Jaffa, for mezzo-soprano voice, choir, and orchestra.

Educational Works

• 2022, Liesse, for three quintets and orchestra.
• 2019, Les Enfants du Marais, for narrator, two sopranos, viola, children's choir, and orchestra.
• 2018, Perpetuum Mobile, for orchestra.
• 2005, Le singe, la banquise and le téléphone portable, for children and four cellos.
• 2005, Fables, for narrator, children's choir, and orchestra.
• 1994, Non, peut-être, for string orchestra.
• 1992, L’âge de colère, for three flutes.
• 1987, Promenade du soir, for viola and piano.

Operas

• 2008/2012, Caravaggio, an opera for several singers and an orchestra.
• 2009, Neuf-cent-vingt-six and demi, a short opera for four singers and piano.
• 2004, Le Vase de parfums, an opera for five singers and twenty instruments.