Suzanne Giraud facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Suzanne Giraud
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Suzanne Giraud (middle) alongside Kornilios Michailidis (left) and Pascal Quignard (right) during a concert on 19 October 2019.
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| Born | 31 July 1958 |
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Suzanne Giraud (born 31 July 1958) is a talented French music teacher and composer. She creates contemporary music, which is music written in our time. Her pieces often use percussion instruments, voices, and string instruments. Her music is inspired by art, poetry, and even buildings.
Since January 2024, she has been a member of the Académie Charles Cros. This is a special group that celebrates achievements in music and sound.
Contents
About Suzanne Giraud
Her Early Life
Suzanne Giraud was born in Metz, a city in France. She grew up in Strasbourg, a city known for its artistic and musical scene. From a young age, she was surrounded by music and books. She loved the music of famous composers like Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Chopin. But her favorite was always Mozart.
Her Music Education
When Suzanne was 8 years old, she started studying at the Strasbourg Conservatory. She learned about music theory, piano, violin, and viola. She also studied how to write music and play in an orchestra. There, she discovered modern music, including the works of Messiaen.
After finishing university with a degree in languages, she went to the Paris Conservatory in 1977. She continued to study music deeply, learning about analysis, harmony, and composition. She also learned how to conduct an orchestra.
Suzanne didn't stop there! She explored different kinds of music. She studied with important composers like Claude Ballif, Hugues Dufourt, and Iannis Xenakis. A famous composer named Franco Donatoni noticed her talent. This led her to the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. There, she became even better at composing and conducting.
In 1984, she spent two years at the Villa Medici in Rome. This is a special place for artists. In Rome, she met Giacinto Scelsi, another composer, and they became good friends. She also went to a summer school in Darmstadt, Germany. There, she met more important composers like Morton Feldman.
Her Career as a Composer
Suzanne Giraud has received many important requests to compose music. These requests came from famous groups like the Ensemble intercontemporain and Radio France. She also composed for big festivals in cities like Strasbourg, Dresden, and Brussels.
Her music has been performed in many famous places around the world. These include the Almeida Theatre in London and the Berlin Akademie der Künste. She has also been invited to perform in Geneva, Lausanne, and Salzburg.
She works with many amazing musicians and groups. Some of these include the Arditti Quartet, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Philippe Jaroussky. She enjoys creating music for all kinds of groups. This includes solo instruments, duets, trios, and large orchestras. She also writes pieces that mix instruments with voices.
Suzanne also loves to compose music for children. She has written several educational pieces. These include Le Singe, la Banquise et le Téléphone portable (The Monkey, the Ice Floe and the Mobile Phone) from 2005. She also wrote Fables in the same year. In 2019, she composed Perpetuum Mobile for youth orchestras in France.
From 1991 to 1993, she hosted a radio show on France Musique. It was called Les mots et les notes (Words and Notes). The show explored music from the Renaissance period.
Her Teaching Career
Suzanne Giraud started teaching music when she was just 16 years old. She taught piano and music to children in a local youth center. Later, she taught piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory. Then, she moved to Paris to teach music history and composition.
In Paris, at the CNSMDP, she taught a special class on writing music. She focused on the counterpoint style from the Renaissance. She also became the director of a conservatory in Paris. There, she started classes for children who wanted to study theater. She also created studios for electronic music and computer-assisted composition.
She returned to teaching composition and contemporary music at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris. Since 2011, she leads a "Contemporary Workshop." This workshop helps students 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. Writers like Miguel de Cervantes and J.R.R.Tolkien are important to her. Painters like Titian and Caravaggio also inspire her.
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 comes from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
- La musique nous vient d’ailleurs (Music Comes from Elsewhere) is inspired by The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
She has also worked with modern writers. She has collaborated with Pascal Quignard on several pieces. She co-wrote the story for her opera Caravaggio with Dominique Fernandez. She also worked with Olivier Py on the opera Le Vase de Parfums. Suzanne herself writes poetry. Sometimes, she sets her own poems to music.
Her Musical Style
Suzanne Giraud loves both old and new literature, art, and architecture. She has studied many ways of writing music. This includes the complex polyphony of the Renaissance and modern spectral music. From all this knowledge, she creates music that is rich and challenging.
She believes that each new piece of music should be completely new. She doesn't like to repeat ideas from her past works. This need for newness keeps her creative and excited. Her main inspiration comes from literature.
She knows a lot about orchestras because she played the viola in many groups when she was younger. This helped her understand how all the different instruments work together. She learned about strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. She also learned how a conductor leads the orchestra.
Suzanne also loves to compose for voices. She learned to read piano and voice parts at the same time. She was encouraged to sing herself. With one of her sisters, she performed many German songs by 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.
- Her music was also selected twice by the International Society for Contemporary Music (SIMC).
List of Her Works
Suzanne Giraud has created many different musical pieces. Here are some examples from her catalogue:
Solo Pieces
These are pieces for one instrument.
- 2011, Les Parhélies, for piano.
- 2005, Sensations du réveil, for horn.
- 1999, Éclosion, for guitar.
- 1990, L’œil and le jour, for percussion.
Duets
These pieces are for two instruments.
- 2020, Orée, for flute and piano.
- 2013, Es steht das nichts in der Mandel, for two violas.
- 2004, D’une hélice, for flute and harp.
- 2000, Élaboration, for viola and piano.
Duets with Voice
These pieces feature a voice and one instrument.
- 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.
Trios
These pieces are for three instruments.
- 2023, Caressant, for piano, violin, and cello.
- 2017, D’un vanneur de blé aux vents, for violin, cello, and clarinet.
- 1991, Trio à cordes, for violin, viola, and cello.
Trios with Voice
These pieces feature a voice and two instruments.
- 1997, Envoûtements III, for soprano voice, clarinet, and percussion.
Quartets
These pieces are for four instruments.
- 2020, Impulse, for two violins, viola, and cello.
- 2006, Augenmusik, for two violins, viola, and cello.
- 1997, Envoûtements IV, for two violins, viola, and cello.
Musical Ensembles
These pieces are for a group of instruments, larger than a quartet.
- 2010, L’Amitié, for bassoon solo, flute, clarinet, guitar, and double bass.
- 2005, Envoûtements VIII, for eight cellos.
- 2003, Envoûtements VI, for six percussionists.
- 1995, La Musique nous vient d’ailleurs, for a small orchestra.
- 1987, Contrées d’un rêve, for a larger ensemble.
Musical Ensemble and Vocal Music
These pieces combine a group of instruments with voices.
- 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.
Vocal Music
These pieces are mainly for voices, often a choir.
- 2016, Frère and sœur, for mixed chorus.
- 2012, Stances du revenant, for men's chorus.
- 2009, Psaume CXXXVII, for mixed chorus.
Concertos
A concerto usually features one solo instrument playing with an orchestra.
- 2016, La Rivière, for bassoon solo and ensemble.
- 2014, Le Dauphin, for violin, flute, clarinet, bassoon, harp, piano, viola, and cello.
- 2007, Quatre Fluides, for clarinet and string orchestra.
- 2004, Concerto for cello, for cello and orchestra.
Orchestra Pieces
These are pieces for a full orchestra.
- 2008, Écho réplique, for a small orchestra.
- 1999, To one in paradise, for mezzo-soprano voice and orchestra.
- 1998, Ton cœur sur la porte du ciel, for orchestra.
Orchestra & Choir Pieces
These pieces combine a full orchestra with a choir.
- 2001, Jaffa, for mezzo-soprano voice, choir, and orchestra.
Educational Works
These pieces are designed for learning or for younger musicians.
- 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, created for the DEMOS program.
- 2005, Le singe, la banquise and le téléphone portable, for children and four cellos.
- 2005, Fables, for narrator, children's choir, and orchestra.
Operas
Operas are musical plays where the story is told through singing.
- 2008/2012, Caravaggio, an opera for singers and orchestra.
- 2009, Neuf-cent-vingt-six and demi, a shorter opera for four singers and piano.
- 2004, Le Vase de parfums, an opera for singers and instruments.
