Born on 17 June 1965 in Besançon (eastern France), Brice Pauset studied piano, violin, chamber music, analysis, and music theory at the conservatory in his hometown from 1973 to 1984. He later studied composition and electroacoustic music with Michel Zbar at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory (1984-1986), in parallel with doctoral studies on medieval philosophy at Louvain University, focusing on anti-Thomist writings. He subsequently undertook further study of piano with Gérard Frémy, Jean Koerner, and Claude Helffer, and attended classes on baroque music and early musical instrument building. Starting in 1988, he studied composition with Michel Philippot and orchestration/composition with Gérard Grisey at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), graduating with highest honours in 1991. While there, he also attended masterclasses with Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He went on to enroll in an advanced degree at the same institution in 1992 for further study with Gérard Grisey and Alain Bancquart. Finally, concurrent to his classes at the Paris Conservatoire, he studied composition with Franco Donatoni in Sienna (1988-1991).

After a period spent teaching music analysis and aesthetics at the Besançon Conservatory and the Franche-Comté University Institute for Teacher Training (IUFM) (1991-1993), in 1994, he participated in the IRCAM Cursus (IRCAM’s composition and computer music course), allowing him further study with Antoine Bonnet, Marc-André Dalbavie, Brian Ferneyhough, Philippe Manoury, Tristan Murail, Roger Reynolds, and Marco Stroppa. The following year, he participated in Voix Nouvelles at Royaumont, where he attended classes with Brian Ferneyhough and Michael Jarrell.

In 1994, he was awarded a grant from the Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation. Since then, he has been active as a composer, performer (on harpsichord and piano) of his own works and baroque/classical repertoire, teacher, and writer on musical aesthetics. In 2001, he led masterclasses at Royaumont alongside Brian Ferneyhough and Stefano Gervasoni. He is also occasionally invited to teach at universities and conservatories in Paris, Rome, Zurich, Berlin, and Frankfurt. In 2010, he became a composition professor at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, where he also directs the contemporary music department. He was Artistic Director of Ensemble Contrechamps from 2012 to 2019.

Brice Pauset has worked with festivals and institutions including IRCAM, Festival d’Automne in Paris, Ars Musica, Ultraschall, and Wien Modern; orchestras and ensembles such as the SWR Baden-Baden and WDR Cologne Radio Orchestras, Diotima Quartet, Accroche Note, Contrechamps, Lucilin, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, and the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra; soloists such as Irvine Arditti, Jean-Pierre Collot, Marc Coppey, David Grimal, Nicolas Hodges, and Andreas Steier; and conductors Stefan Asbury, Sylvain Cambreling, Johannes Kalitzke, Jonathan Nott, Emilio Pomárico, Kwamé Ryan, and Pierre-André Valade.

In 2004-2005, he was composer-in-residence at the Mannheim National Theatre, in a joint project with composer Isabel Mundry and choreographer Reinhild Hoffmann for work on the opera Das Mädchen aus der Fremde. In 2007, he was the recipient of a Heinrich Strobel Foundation grant. From 2010 to 2015, he was in residence with the Dijon Opera, where his first large-scale opera, STRAFEN (after Kafka), was premiered in February 2020. In June 2021, Vertigo - Infinite Screen, an inter-media composition in association with the artist duo Arotin & Serghei, commissioned by Ircam, was premiered at ManiFeste festival by Klangforum Wien.

Pauset’s catalogue comprises more than sixty works for voice, solo instruments, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. His music is characterised by the subtle complexity of its polyphonic structure, references to medieval and baroque styles (an aspect which is emphasised by the use of historical instruments such as harpsichord, fortepiano, viola d’amore, theorbo, etc.) and the ubiquity of metaphysical signification. Notable works include the monodrama Exercices du silence, a staged work for voice and piano (Festival d’Automne, Paris; 2008); Das Dornröschen, for string quartet, double choir, and orchestra (premiered in 2012 by the Arditti Quartet and the WDR Choir and Orchestra); a triptych for orchestra, soloists, and electronics (performed by WDR, SWR, and Bayerischer Rundfunk); and the Theorie der Tränen cycle for voice, soloists, ensemble, and orchestra. Brice Pauset currently lives in Germany.