Tristan Murail earned degrees in Classical and Maghrebin Arabic at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (formerly ENLOV), as well as a Bachelor of Economics and a degree from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Starting in 1967, he undertook study with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), graduating with highest honours in 1971. In the same year, he was awarded the Rome Prize, and spent the following two years as a resident at Villa Medici. Murail’s student works are characterised by their use of dynamic sonic masses and textures, betraying the influences of electroacoustic music and the works of Iannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi and, most notably, György Ligeti.

Upon returning to Paris in 1973, he co-founded, along with Michaël Lévinas and Roger Tessier, L’Itinéraire, a musicians’ collective which proved to be an invaluable testing ground for Murail’s compositional ideas, the use of real-time electronics, and the application of computer-aided composition techniques. In the same year, he composed La Dérive des continents and Les Nuages de Magellan, two works which embody his early style, characterised by the use of protracted textures akin to “sonic magma,” i.e., layers of sound lacking clear pulse and undergoing relatively little evolution. The two subsequent works, Sables (1974) and Mémoire/Erosion (1975-1976), signalled major steps toward the crystallisation of his mature style.

In 1980, the composers of L’Itinéraire undertook a workshop at IRCAM. This experience was to have a decisive impact on the evolution of Murail’s music; he subsequently made intensive use of technology in his study of acoustic phenomena. In 1982-83, he composed Désintégrations, his first work combining acoustic instruments with synthesised sounds. With Serendib (1991-92) and other works from this period (La Dynamique des fluides, La Barque mystique), his music achieved new levels of fragmentation, articulation, and structural unpredictability. From 1991 to 1997, he worked with IRCAM, where he also taught composition and contributed to the development of the computer-aided composition system, “Patchwork”.

Other significant works include Légendes urbaines, premiered in November 2006 at Cité de la Musique in Paris by Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by Jonathan Nott; Contes cruels, commissioned by Dutch Radio for the Output Festival, premiered in September 2007 at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam; En moyenne et extrême raison, for fifteen instruments and electronics, premiered in April 2009 in Montreal by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, conducted by Lorraine Vaillancourt; Les Sept Paroles for orchestra, choir and electronics, premiered in April 2010 in Amsterdam by the Dutch Radio Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop; La Chambre des cartes (2011), the final work in the Portulan cycle, comprising six pieces for chamber ensemble, starting with Feuilles à travers les cloches (1998); the piano concerto Le Désenchantement du monde, premiered in 2012 at Musica Viva Munich by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, with George Benjamin conducting; and Reflections / Reflets III - Vents et marées / Tidal winds (the third piece in his Reflections / Reflets cycle, started in 2013), premiered by the Cologne WDR Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling in 2017.

Tristan Murail was a professor of composition at Columbia University from 1997 to 2010. In May 2010, he served as a jury member for the Toru Takemitsu International Composition Competition in Tokyo. In the Summer of 2011, he was guest of honour at the 14th Messiaen Festival at La Grave (in the south-east of France). He has also taught at numerous festivals and workshops, including the Darmstadt Summer Courses, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, and Centre Acanthes, as well as at institutions such as the Shanghai Conservatory and Mozarteum in Salzburg.