Biography
Laurent Petitgirard was born in Paris on 10 June 1950. He studied piano with his father Serge Petitgirard, a pupil of Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat, and composition with his older brother Alain Kremski (Kremski being their mother’s name). [1] [2]
He has composed over twenty works of symphonic music, operas, ballets, chamber music and nearly one hundred and forty scores for film and television, in a style that is “always refined, dramatic and precisely tailored to the images”. [3] He notably wrote the music for several films by Francis Girod and the 1991 Maigret television series. He also composes lyrical works. His first opera, Joseph Merrick dit Elephant man, with a libretto by Éric Nonn, premiered in 2002 at the Prague State Opera, under the direction of Daniel Mesguich. A new production of this opera was presented in 2005 at the Minneapolis Opera, directed by Doug Varone. His second opera, Guru (commissioned by the State), based on a libretto by Xavier Maurel, explores the subject of mental manipulation. It was recorded in Budapest for the Naxos label in October 2010 under the composer’s direction and premiered on 28 September 2018 at the Castle Opera in Szczecin (Poland) in a staging by Damien Cruden, with Laurent Petitgirard conducting, and starring Hubert Claessens, Paul Gaugler and Sonia Petrovna. A new production of Guru was presented under the composer’s direction from 24 to 28 February 2024 at the Opéra de Nice, staged by Muriel Mayette-Holtz. [4] [5] Recordings of his three concertos, performed by Augustin Dumay, Gérard Caussé and Gary Hoffman, of his six symphonic poems and of the complete version of Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, with the orchestra and chorus of the Opéra national de Bordeaux, are available on the Naxos label. The music he composed for Sonia Petrovna’s production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince was recorded for the Naxos label in August 2013. His latest work is a ballet based on Si Yeou Ki (“Journey to the West”) for Chinese choreographer Whang Yabin (Naxos CD released in April 2023). This work, performed by the Wang Yabin Company, premiered on 29 April 2024 in Beijing and has since been presented all over China (it was performed in France in December 2018). [6] His concerto for oboe and orchestra Souen Wou K’ong was first performed in Edinburgh and Glasgow in March 2022 with François Leleux and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His trio “La Croisée des Arts” will premier in Madrid in October 2024, played by the Trio Wanderer.
Laurent Petitgirard is currently composing his third opera, “Houdini”, to a libretto by Tristan Petitgirard. In 1989, he founded the Orchestre symphonique français, which he conducted until 1997. [7] He is a conductor invited by the world’s leading orchestras, among which: the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris, the Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Orchestre national de France, the Orchestre national de Lyon, the Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice, the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the orchestra of La Fenice, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra. [8]
In 2004, he was elected Music Director of the Orchestre Colonne in Paris. His contract was periodically renewed, covering the period until June 2020. He stepped down as Music Director in April 2018, two years before the end of his term, to devote himself to composition and guest conducting. He continues to conduct the Orchestre Colonne as a guest conductor. [9]
From 2013 to 2016, Laurent Petitgirard directed the new Music Composition for Image curriculum at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse in Paris. He chaired the SACEM Board of Directors 8 times between 2006 and 2016. [10] He was awarded the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs in 2000, the Prix Musique in 2001 and the Prix Opéra in 2003 by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD).
Laurent Petitgirard is a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de France), where he succeeded Marcel Landowski. On 1 February 2017 he was elected as its Permanent Secretary, granting him a lifelong term of office. [11]
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