Emmanuel Pahud, Orchestre National de France, Alexandre Desplat
Biography Emmanuel Pahud, Orchestre National de France, Alexandre Desplat
Emmanuel Pahud
Travelling has been a big part of Emmanuel Pahud's life from birth. His father worked for a U.S. company, and the family moved repeatedly during his childhood. However, this would only shape Pahud's international outlook for his future. Only six weeks after Pahud was born, his parents moved to Baghdad for one year. They moved again when he was 1 to Paris, where Emmanuel's younger brother was born. In 1972, they then moved to Madrid for two years, and in 1974, finally settled in Rome for four years. In their apartment building in Rome, lived the Swiss-French Binet family whose four children played musical instruments. The father (François) was a flautist who studied in Zurich and Paris but stopped performing in later years. At the age of four, Pahud first heard the flute. As the eldest son Philippe played the Flute Concerto No. 1 (Mozart) K.313 in G Major, it set the course to a remarkable chapter of Pahud's life. He recalls:
I could hear the flute, the violin, the cello, the piano. I don't know why I chose the flute but maybe it was because the eldest son was playing it, so he was the one playing at the best level at that time - or because the father was also a flute player, so there was a kind of authority there. Anyhow, I said to my parents, "I want to play the flute, I want to play the Mozart concerto that guy next door is practicing."
That Christmas, after receiving his first flute, Pahud began his first year of lessons with Philippe (who was only 15 years old) and the next three years with Phillipe's father, François.
In 1978, at the age of eight, the Pahud family moved to Brussels, Belgium. Emmanuel then began studying at the Music Academy of Uccle in Southern Brussels. There he studied with Michel Moinil from 1979-1985. As he became more determined and focused on playing the flute at a higher level; Pahud began to study from 1984-87 with Carlos Bruneel, the then and current principal flautist of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie opera house in Brussels. In 1985, Pahud won the National Competition of Belgium (le concours National de Belgique) and in the same year, he played his first concert with the National Orchestra of Belgium, performing the piece that inspired him 11 years earlier: Mozart Concerto K.313 in G Major. Pahud remained in Brussels until receiving his A-Level at the age of 17 and went off to finish his schooling in Paris. With the strong support of his family, he also received lessons with other of Europe's finest players, including Peter-Lukas Graf in Basel.
Pahud attended the Conservatoire de Paris (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris) in France, studying with Michel Debost, Alain Marion, Pierre Artaud, and Christian Larde. Whilst studying, he won two major competitions, one in Duino 1988 and the other in Kobe in 1989. In 1988, Emmanuel also won the 2nd Prize at the International Scheveningen Music Competition in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Winning these competitions put Pahud in the forefront to become principal flautist in the Basel Radio Symphony, under the direction of Nello Santi which he obtained the position in 1989 whilst finishing his studies in Paris. He resigned from the orchestra in 1992. Pahud also held the principal flautist position at the Munich Philharmonic under Sergiu Celibidache. Pahud graduated at the age of 20 from the Conservatoire in 1990, obtaining the First Prize (Premier Prix). He then continued to advance his studies for the next two years; in style and interpretation with one of France's greatest flautists, Swiss-born Aurèle Nicolet who turned out to be his neighbour. In 1992, Nicolet prepared Pahud in an extensive 10 day rehearsal for both the Geneva International Music Competition, or le Concours International de Genève in September of that year and the audition for principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) in October.[6] He acknowledges achieving both the first prize at le Concours International de Genève and being appointed for the position at the age of 22 by BPO's conductor, Claudio Abbado to his experience with Nicolet.
Orchestre National de France
founded in 1934, was France’s first full-time professional symphony orchestra, and eighty years later, its history is embossed with unforgettable concert performances, countless French and world premières, outstanding recordings and world-class tours in collaboration with exceptional international artists who exemplify the orchestra’s passion for excellence.
The orchestra has a distinguished list of conductors emeriti, including Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Manuel Rosenthal, André Cluytens, Roger Désormiere, Charles Munch, Maurice Le Roux, Jean Martinon, Sergiu Celibidache, Lorin Maazel, Jeffrey Tate, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur and Daniele Gatti. Emmanuel Krivine has been music director designate since September 2016.
Worldwide touring success has also established the Orchestre National de France on the international circuit far beyond its Paris home. Highlights of the 2014–2015 season have marked the orchestra’s return to residency at the Maison de la Radio where a new auditorium was built for the radio orchestra. The orchestra is giving most of its concerts in Paris in this new hall. Nevertheless, the orchestra keeps its seventy-year partnership with the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées mostly for operatic repertoire.
The Orchestre National de France is part of Radio France. All concerts are broadcast by France Musique.
Alexandre Desplat
Composer, orchestrator and conductor, two times Academy Award winner, Alexandre Desplat, eleven-times Academy Award Nominee, with over hundred scores and numerous awards to his credit is one of the most worthy heirs of the French film scoring masters.
A true cinephile, his approach to film composition is not only based on his strong musicality, but also on his understanding of Cinema, which allows him to intimately communicate with directors. Inspired by the works of Maurice Jarre, Bernard Herrmann, Nino Rota or Georges Delerue, he expressed his desire to compose for Cinema early on but really made his decision after listening to John Williams’s score to Star Wars.
Raised in a musical and cultural mix with a Greek mother and French father who studied and were married in California, he grew up listening to the French symphonists Ravel and Debussy, to World Music and to Jazz. He studied piano and trumpet before choosing the flute as main instrument and enriched his classical musical education by studying Brazilian and African Music, which later will lead him to record with Carlinhos Brown and Ray Lema. While composing for Cinema and Television he started writing a lot for Theater companies such as La Comédie Française, which allowed him to understand the importance of dramaturgy and how to adapt carefully his music to actors performances.
During the recording of his first feature film, he met a rare violinist, Dominique "Solrey" Lemonnier, starting an exceptional artistic exchange. She became his favorite soloist, concertmaster and artistic director. With her special sense of interpretation and her creative spirit, she has inspired Desplat’s compositions, influencing his music at its core. Together they have created a new way of using for the strings in film music.
After scoring 50 European films, with legendary French directors such as Philippe de Broca or Francis Girod, he burst in 2003 onto the Hollywood scene with his evocative score to Peter Webber’s GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING which earned him nominations at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and European Film Awards. His singular and remarkable scores for the films of Jacques Audiard showed a new musical voice and his composition for THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED in 2005 earned him the Silver Bear at the Berlinale as well as his first César.
Alexandre Desplat then started to expand his U.S. career keeping his European collaborations by composing for Stephen Gaghan’s SYRIANA, Jonathan Glazer’s BIRTH, Florent Siri’s HOSTAGE, and Jacques Audiard’s A PROPHET.
In 2007 he received his first Academy Award nomination for Stephen Frears’ THE QUEEN which earned him his first European Film Award. The same year he won the Golden Globe, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and the World Soundtrack Award for his score to John Curran’s THE PAINTED VEIL, performed by Lang Lang.
He composed in 2008 for Florent Siri’s INTIMATE ENEMY, Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION, and David Fincher’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, which earned him a second Oscar nomination and a fourth BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination.
With his score for Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER in 2010, starting an inspiring relationship, he won a second César and a second European Film Award. The same year, he wrote the music for TWILIGHT-NEW MOON by Chris Weitz, a platinum record, Anne Fontaine’s COCO BEFORE CHANEL and for Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH for which he won the BAFTA, the Grammy Award and receives his fourth Academy Award nomination and his fifth Golden Globe nomination.
In 2010-2011 Alexandre Desplat scored David Yates films HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1 and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2, which became the third most successful movie of all time. As eclectic as prolific he wrote nine score in 2011 including Terence Malik’s TREE OF LIFE, Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE, Wes Anderson’s FANTASTIC MR FOX, Daniel Auteuil’s THE WELL’S DIGGER DAUGHTER and George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH.
In 2012, keeping his artistic exchange with European directors, Alexandre Desplat collaborated with Kathryn Bigelow for ZERO DARK THIRTY, Matteo Garrone for REALITY, Gilles Bourdos for RENOIR, Jérôme Salle for ZULU, Wes Anderson for MOONRISE KINGDOM and Jacques Audiard for RUST AND BONE for which he won a third César. He also scored ARGO by Ben Affleck, which was awarded the Oscar for best film, and earned Alexandre Desplat a sixth nomination at BAFTA, as well as a fifth nomination at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
He signed in 2013 the scores of THE MONUMENTS MEN by George Clooney, Roman Polanski’s VENUS IN FUR, Stephen Frears’ PHILOMENA, for which he received his seventh BAFTA and his fifth Oscar nominations.
In 2014 he scored Gareth Edwards’s blockbuster GODZILLA, and received a rare double Academy Award nomination for his scores of Morten Tyldum’s THE IMITATION GAME and Wes Anderson’s THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which earned him a BAFTA, a Grammy and his first Oscar.
Member of the jury at the Festival de Cannes 2012, he became the first composer President of the Jury at the Mostra di Venezia in 2014. Celebrating their longtime partnership he has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for a concert of his works at the Barbican Theater in London in December 2014.
In 2018, Alexandre Desplat wons for Guillermo del Toro's THE SHAPE OF WATER his second Academy Award, second Golden Globe and third BAFTA. He was nominated in 2019 for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Wes Anderson's ISLE OF DOGS, and in 2020 for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Greta Gerwig's LITTLE WOMEN.
