updated 29 September 2009
© Bruno de Saint Maurice

Gérard Buquet

French composer and tubist born in 1954.

Born in France in 1954, Gérard Buquet is a tubist, conductor, and composer. He trained at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), then studied musicology at the University of Strasbourg and composition with Claude Ballif and Franco Donatoni.

He has performed extensively, appearing regularly as a soloist at major contemporary music festivals. He is frequently heard playing with the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre national de France, and the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, as well as with several jazz ensembles. From 1976 to 2001, was tubist for the Ensemble intercontemporain. During this period, he worked at the IRCAM on a variety of research projects examining new instrumental techniques and ways they could be extended and expanded using electroacoustics. He also wrote a book on contemporary tuba, with a fellowship from the French Ministry of Culture.

His teaching is inspired by coordination and breathing techniques developed by Jacques Dropsy. Gérard Buquet taught chamber music at the CNSMDP from 1997 to 1999, and then tuba, starting in 1999. Since 2003, he has also taught contemporary music at the Cefedem teacher training institute (Centre de formation des enseignants musique Bourgogne) in Dijon. He has also overseen the state-registered diploma (diplôme d’état) program for brass instruments at the CNSMDP since 2004. In 1999, the music channel Mezzo broadcast a film about him and his work.

In 2000, he was appointed to a professorship at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe, Germany, as director of the Ensemble für Neue Musik. In the main, the ensemble focuses on performing works by the composition students of Wolfgang Rihm, collaborations with various soloists and institutions, and the performance of contemporary and chamber music repertoires, as well as premiering improvisational, multimedia, and musical theater works.

In October 2007, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the ZKM, he conducted études d’après Séraphin by Wolfgang Rihm with the Ensemble für Neue Musik and the Karlsruhe National Theater Ballet Company. In July 2008, he conducted a concert of the ZKM harp repertoire with the Ensemble für Neue Musik and Frédérique Cambreling.

As a composer, Gérard Buquet was commissioned by the IRCAM to write a piece for saxophone and electronics titled L’astre échevelé, which premiered on 6 November 2009 at the IRCAM, performed by Marcus Weiss. He also composed a piece for six voices and six instruments for the Klangforum and Scola Cantorum of Heidelberg, titled Die Malerin von Bellevue. A Concerto for 2 harps was premiered in 2011 by Frédérique Cambreling and Renie Jamahata.


© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2009

Sources

Gérard Buquet et Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (voir ressources documentaires).

  • Solo (excluding voice)
    • elec Voix captives for solo tuba and magnetic tape (1987), 12 mn, édition du compositeur
    • Trois Miniatures educational piece for solo trombone (1990), 5 mn, édition du compositeur
    • Zwischen for double bell contrabass trombone (1997), 12 mn, édition du compositeur
    • elec Adverb for solo cello and electronic device (2001-2002), 11 mn, édition du compositeur
    • elec Surimpressions for percussion and electronic devices (2006), 13 mn, édition du compositeur
    • elec ircam L'astre échevelé for soprano saxophone and electronic device (2008-2009), 13 mn, édition du compositeur [program note]
  • Chamber music
    • Buckbarthblues for tuba and electric guitar (1984), 8 mn, édition du compositeur
    • elec Un concert imaginaire for double bass, tuba and tape (1984), 25 mn, édition du compositeur
    • elec ircam stage Enjeux musical show for tuba player (1994), 50 mn, édition du compositeur [program note]
    • Duodubas for tuba and double bass (1995), 6 mn, Ambrosio
    • Les danses du temps for flute, clarinet, harp, viola and cello (2005), 21 mn, édition du compositeur
  • Instrumental ensemble music
    • stage Fiction music for instrumental ensemble for the theater (2000), 50 mn, édition du compositeur
    • Images de passage musical clip for instrumental ensemble (2003), 60 mn, édition du compositeur
    • Transitoice « G » for ensemble of 23 musicians (2004), 5 mn, édition du compositeur
  • Concertant music
    • Zwischen 3 for double bell contrabass trombone and brass quintet (2003), 13 mn, édition du compositeur
  • Vocal music and instrument(s)
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2006
    • elec Surimpressions for percussion and electronic devices, 13 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 2005
    • Les danses du temps for flute, clarinet, harp, viola and cello, 21 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • Images de passage musical clip for instrumental ensemble, 60 mn, édition du compositeur
    • Zwischen 3 for double bell contrabass trombone and brass quintet, 13 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 2002
    • elec Adverb for solo cello and electronic device, 11 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 2000
    • stage Fiction music for instrumental ensemble for the theater, 50 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 1997
    • Zwischen for double bell contrabass trombone, 12 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 1995
    • Duodubas for tuba and double bass, 6 mn, Ambrosio
  • 1994
    • elec ircam stage Enjeux musical show for tuba player, 50 mn, édition du compositeur [program note]
  • 1990
    • Trois Miniatures educational piece for solo trombone, 5 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 1987
    • elec Voix captives for solo tuba and magnetic tape, 12 mn, édition du compositeur
  • 1984

Bibliographie

  • Gérard BUQUET, Le Tuba contemporain - Nouvelles techniques de jeu appliquées au tuba, Villiers sur Marne, Editions Ambrioso [54 pages].

Vidéo

  •  Daniel KUPFERSTEIN, Le souffle de Gérard Buquet, Paris, DVD Centre national de la cinématographie, 2008 [Cop. : Morgane production : Mezzo, 1999].

Sites Internet