Thierry Escaich was born in France in 1965 and began practicing improvisation as a child. He began studying music at the Conservatoire de Rosny-sous-Bois and then at the Conservatoire de Montreuil before enrolling in the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP). From 1983 to 1990, he received highest honors in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, organ, improvisation, analysis, composition, and orchestration.

He has taught music theory and improvisation at the CNSMDP since 1992. In 1997, he was appointed as the official organist of the Church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in Paris, the successor to Maurice Duruflé. He also performs internationally as a professional organist.

He frequently accompanies silent films, which are a passion of his, on the piano or organ. In 1999, the Louvre commissioned him to compose an accompanying score for the Frank Borzage film L’Heure suprême.

From his earliest compositions, such as Antiennes oubliées for small ensemble (1989) or Esquisses for organ (1990), which won the André Jolivet Composition Prize, Escaich’s music draws its inspiration from centuries of sacred music and in particular from Gregorian plainsong: Cinq versets sur le « Victimae Paschali » for organ (1991), Première Symphonie, « Kyrie d’une messe imaginaire » (1992).

Today, his catalogue includes some hundred works. Escaich has written extensively for his own instrument, including solo pieces and for ensemble and orchestra, including two organ concertos, (the first from 1995 and the second from 2006), in addition to La Barque solaire (2008) and Études-Chorals (2010). He also composes for a variety of other formations and genres, from works for solo instruments to chamber and symphonic pieces, from the intimate Choral’s Dream (2003) for organ and piano, or his brief Scènes de bal (2001) for string quartet, to vast compositions such as his Première Symphonie (1992), Le Dernier Évangile, an oratorio for double choir, organ, and orchestra (1999), Chaconne (2000) and Vertiges de la croix (2004) for orchestra, or Les Nuits hallucinées for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2008).

Escaich has served as composer-in-residence to the Orchestre National de Lille and the Orchestre de Bretagne, as well as the Orchestre National de Lyon (2007). His [work: 25892][Concerto for violon], dedicated to David Grimal, premiered in 2009; The Lost Dancer, written for the New York City Ballet, premiered in May 2010; Questions de vie…, a choir composition commissioned by Radio France, premiered in March 2011. His first opera, Claude, with a libretto by Robert Badinter, based on the Victor Hugo short story Claude Gueux and directed by Olivier Py, premiered at the Opéra de Lyon in March 2013. His Concerto for orchestra premiered in a performance by the Orchestre de Paris in 2015 for the inaugural concert of the Philharmonie de Paris. Cris, an oratorio with a libretto based on the eponymous novel by Laurent Gaudé, premiered in 2016 as part of commemorative events for the centenary of the Battle of Verdun in a performance by Pierre Val, Les Cris de Paris, the Trio K/D/M and the Nomos ensemble, conducted by Geoffroy Jourdain.

Escaich has received many awards and honors, including the 2002 Grand Prix des Lycéens and four Victoire de la musique classique Awards in the composers’ category (2003, 2006, 2011, and 2017). In 2013, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France.