Lionel Bord was born in 1976 in France. He began studying bassoon at the Conservatoire national de région in Nantes and then continued his studies at the École nationale de musique in Gennevilliers and then at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSP), working with Pascal Gallois. He graduated with highest honors in bassoon in 1998 (unanimous jury) and highest honors in chamber music. In 1999, he entered the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland, where he studied with Sergio Azzolini. After playing solo bassoon with the Opéra de Rouen for three years, he joined the Orchestre de Paris in 2003. Bord also taught bassoon at the Conservatoire de St-Maur-des-Fossés and at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSP) until 2009.

In addition to his work as an instrumentalist, Bord studied composition and orchestration with Allain Gaussin, and then in 2001 was admitted to the class of Emmanuel Nunes at the CNSP. He studied analysis with Frédéric Durieux and Alain Mabit, new technologies for composition with Luis Naón, Yann Geslin, and Tom Mays, and orchestration with Marc-André Dalbavie. He graduated with high honors in analysis in 2002 and in composition (unanimous jury) in 2006.

He composes for a wide range of formations, from soloists to symphony orchestras. He has received commissions from Ensemble intercontemporain, the Orchestre de Paris, the TM+, Multilatérale, and Utopik ensembles, Radio France, the Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, the Quatuor Habanera, and the Duo Maderas. He has also collaborated with ensembles such as Berlingot, Nomos, Smash, Multilatérale, and Quatuor Byron, as well as conductors such as Guillaume Bourgogne, François-Xavier Roth, Arie Van Beek, Alexandre Bloch, and Christoph Eschenbach.

In 2004, he composed Nébuleuses… for four soprano saxophones, a commission for the Quatuor Habanera that was recorded by Luis Sclavis. In 2007, the Orchestre de Paris commissioned Fulgurances for eight cellos, as well as a transcription of Berlioz’s Nuits d’été for voice and eight cellos. In 2011, Ensemble Intercontemporain premiered 666, a trio for clarinet, cello, and piano. More recently, Radio-France commissioned a piece for orchestra, Shortcuts (2014), as well as a chamber music piece for six musicians titled Folia (2017, co-commissioned with Ensemble intercontemporain). Bord is also the author of many transcriptions and orchestrations.