Laurent Cuniot
French composer and conductor born 18 May 1957 in Reims.
Laurent Cuniot was born in Reims in 1957. He trained as a violinist and in 1974 enrolled in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In 1976, he studied composition and musical research with Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel at the CNSMDP and with the Groupe de Recherche Musicale. The following year, Cuniot, Denis Dufour, and Yann Geslin formed the trio GRM+, initially launched by François Bayle (the then-director of the GRM).
In 1978, he became assistant professor in the class of Guy Reibel and Pierre Schaeffer at the CNSMDP.
In 1986, he turned the GRM+ Trio into the Ensemble TM+, serving as its musical director. During this period, he composed several works nourished by his dual practice of composition and electroacoustic music, including L’exil au miroir for six male vocalists and tape, the chamber opera Cinq pièces pour Hamlet, and La Lice des nuits for large orchestra and two synthesizers.
From 1987 to 1992, he worked as a producer of Radio-France’s “concert-lectures,” public broadcasts devoted to the performance and analysis of music from the middle ages to the contemporary era.
In 1991, he was appointed professor of composition and new technologies at the CNSMDP, alongside Luis Naón and Yann Geslin.
He expanded his activity as a conductor starting in 1994, and in that year conducted his first symphony with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
In 1996, the TM+ Ensemble was offered a residency at the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre.
In 2001, he left his teaching post at the CNSMDP to devote himself full-time to composition, conducting, and the TM+ Ensemble. Since then, he has worked to raise awareness of musical creation and to bring it to a wide variety of audiences. In 2013, he began teaching composition at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Rueil-Malmaison.
In June 2015, TM+ premiered Cuniot’s Reverse flows for viola, ensemble, and electronics during the IRCAM’s Festival ManiFeste. Three years later, he used this piece as the basis for an acousmatic suite in honor of the 50th anniversary of the composition and new technologies course at the CNSMDP. In January 2021, the ensemble TM+ did an online concert, where they placed his work Une for percussion in perspective with the musical world of Franz Liszt.
He has been awarded the SACEM’s composition prize on multiple occasions (1983, 1989, and 2006) as well as the Tornov-Loeffler Award of the French Académie des Beaux Arts (2009).
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2015
Sources
Site personnel du compositeur (voir ressources).
- Solo (excluding voice)
- elec La nuit bleue educational work for piano and electronics (1983), 3 mn, Heugel
- Passages for violin (1995), 8 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Efji for percussion (2005), 14 mn, Billaudot
- Chamber music
- Quatuor for violin, cello and 2 synthesizers (1983), 25 mn, Inédit
- Les mains invisibles five movements for clarinet, horn and vibraphone (2000), 12 mn, Billaudot
- Prélude démesuré for violin and clarinet (2012), 8 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- E la mezzanotte libera voli for horn, trumpet, trombone and vibraphone (2013), 13 mn, Billaudot
- Villa adriana for string sextet (2013), 23 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Les couleurs silencieuses for flute, clarinet and piano (2014), 17 mn, Billaudot
- Postlude à l’aube for oboe / english horn, clarinet, cello and harp (2019), 13 mn
- Instrumental ensemble music
- Les arches liminaires for 11 instruments (1986), 25 mn, Salabert
- Lignes figurées for seven instruments (1986), 12 mn, Inédit
- La Lice des nuits for large orchestra (1989), 20 mn, Salabert
- elec Solaires for seven instruments and electronics (1998), 25 mn, Billaudot
- Solaires for seven instruments (2001), 16 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- To deep and deeper blue for eight instruments (2010), 23 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Just before... for chamber orchestra (2014), 15 mn, Billaudot
- Concertant music
- Verrà la morte for clarinet and orchestra (1997), 25 mn, Billaudot
- Ombrae for english horn and nine instruments (2006), 20 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- elec ircam Reverse flows for viola, ensemble and electronics (2015), 30 mn, édition du compositeur [program note]
- L’Ange double for oboe and 42 musicians (2017), 24 mn, Billaudot
- Une for percussion and ensemble (2021)
- Vocal music and instrument(s)
- Metamorphosalides educational work for children's ensembles and small instrumental ensemble (1980), 50 mn, Salabert
- Meteora for six mixed voices and two synthesizers (1982), 11 mn, Inédit
- elec stage Cinq pièces pour Hamlet for seven singers, seven instrumentalists and electronics (1987), 25 mn, Salabert
- Lascaux for six female voices and six instruments (1992), 22 mn, Salabert
- To C. from C. for voice and orchestra (1995), 12 mn, Inédit
- Ihm, eine Hymne for six voices and seven instruments (2001), 21 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Spring and all for mezzo-soprano and 10 instruments (2003), 22 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- stage Des pétales dans la bouche opera for one voice and 15 instruments (2011), 50 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Dans le miroir d'Alice educational stage music (2014), 20 mn, Inédit [program note]
- stage Un grenier plein d’espoir stage music for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, and vibraphone (2016), 25 mn
- Conditions de lumière for mezzo-soprano and three instruments (2018), 13 mn
- elec stage L'enfant inouï opera for young audiences for one voice, three instruments and electronics (2019), 50 mn
- Trans-portées for soprano, oboe/English horn, clarinets, cello, percussion and Bangladeshi musicians (2019), 1 h 15 mn
- A cappella vocal music
- elec L'exil au miroir for six male voices and electronics (1984), 35 mn, Salabert
- Electronic music / fixed media / mechanical musical instruments
- elec Reverse flows acousmatic suite (2018), 8 mn 48 s
- 2021
- Une for percussion and ensemble
- 2019
- elec stage L'enfant inouï opera for young audiences for one voice, three instruments and electronics, 50 mn
- Postlude à l’aube for oboe / english horn, clarinet, cello and harp, 13 mn
- Trans-portées for soprano, oboe/English horn, clarinets, cello, percussion and Bangladeshi musicians, 1 h 15 mn
- 2018
- Conditions de lumière for mezzo-soprano and three instruments, 13 mn
- elec Reverse flows acousmatic suite, 8 mn 48 s
- 2017
- L’Ange double for oboe and 42 musicians, 24 mn, Billaudot
- 2016
- stage Un grenier plein d’espoir stage music for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, and vibraphone, 25 mn
- 2015
- elec ircam Reverse flows for viola, ensemble and electronics, 30 mn, édition du compositeur [program note]
- 2014
- Dans le miroir d'Alice educational stage music, 20 mn, Inédit [program note]
- Just before... for chamber orchestra, 15 mn, Billaudot
- Les couleurs silencieuses for flute, clarinet and piano, 17 mn, Billaudot
- 2013
- E la mezzanotte libera voli for horn, trumpet, trombone and vibraphone, 13 mn, Billaudot
- Villa adriana for string sextet, 23 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2012
- Prélude démesuré for violin and clarinet, 8 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2011
- stage Des pétales dans la bouche opera for one voice and 15 instruments, 50 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2010
- To deep and deeper blue for eight instruments, 23 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2006
- Ombrae for english horn and nine instruments, 20 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2005
- Efji for percussion, 14 mn, Billaudot
- 2003
- Spring and all for mezzo-soprano and 10 instruments, 22 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2001
- Ihm, eine Hymne for six voices and seven instruments, 21 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- Solaires for seven instruments, 16 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- 2000
- Les mains invisibles five movements for clarinet, horn and vibraphone, 12 mn, Billaudot
- 1998
- elec Solaires for seven instruments and electronics, 25 mn, Billaudot
- 1997
- Verrà la morte for clarinet and orchestra, 25 mn, Billaudot
- 1995
- Passages for violin, 8 mn, Billaudot [program note]
- To C. from C. for voice and orchestra, 12 mn, Inédit
- 1992
- Lascaux for six female voices and six instruments, 22 mn, Salabert
- 1989
- La Lice des nuits for large orchestra, 20 mn, Salabert
- 1987
- elec stage Cinq pièces pour Hamlet for seven singers, seven instrumentalists and electronics, 25 mn, Salabert
- 1986
- Les arches liminaires for 11 instruments, 25 mn, Salabert
- Lignes figurées for seven instruments, 12 mn, Inédit
- 1984
- elec L'exil au miroir for six male voices and electronics, 35 mn, Salabert
- 1983
- elec La nuit bleue educational work for piano and electronics, 3 mn, Heugel
- Quatuor for violin, cello and 2 synthesizers, 25 mn, Inédit
- 1982
- Meteora for six mixed voices and two synthesizers, 11 mn, Inédit
- 1980
- Metamorphosalides educational work for children's ensembles and small instrumental ensemble, 50 mn, Salabert
Liens Internet
- Site personnel du compositeur : www.laurent-cuniot.com
- Site de TM+ : www.tmplus.org
- Site des éditions Billaudot : http://www.billaudot.com
- Site des éditions Salabert : www.durand-salabert-eschig.com
- Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine, page Laurent Cuniot : www.cdmc.asso.fr
- Jean-Marc Warszawski, Entretien avec Laurent Cuniot, 11 octobre 2007, Revue électronique du Centre d’Étude des Arts Contemporains - Université Lille 3
- Interview de Laurent Cuniot pour le festival des Arts de Monte-Carlo, janvier 2015
(liens vérifiés en octobre 2021).
Discographie
- Laurent CUNIOT, L’Exil au miroir ; Cinq Pièces pour Hamlet ; La Lice des nuits, Liliane Mazeron : soprano, A Sei Voci, TM+, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, direction : Laurent Cuniot et Michel Tabachnik, 1 cd Salabert, SCD 9003, 1992.