Yves Balmer (born 6 June 1978) is a French and Swiss composer. He is also a professor, musicologist, and specialist in French music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is a professor of musical analysis at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris.

Yves Balmer
Born (1978-06-06) 6 June 1978 (age 46)
Valenciennes, France
EraContemporary

Life and work

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Balmer has a dual background in music and academia. He studied piano from 1996 to 2000 at the Conservatoire de Lille, where he obtained four gold medals in piano, chamber music, musical writing, and music history.[1] From 2000 to 2005, he studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, where he obtained six first prizes and two Diplômes de Formation Supérieure.

Balmer also earned a doctoral degree in musicology in 2008 from the university Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III, under the supervision of Joëlle Caullier.[2] His thesis focused on the music of Olivier Messiaen.

Balmer was admitted to Agrégation in 2003[1] and was also a researcher at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Department of Music) from 2004 to 2006.[3][4]

From 2006 to 2018, he was a lecturer, then reader at the École normale supérieure de Lyon, where he was also the Deputy Director (2010-12) and Director (2012-13) of the Department of Arts.[1] He was a member of the jury of the Agrégation de musique and a member of the Conseil national des universités [fr].[1] Since 2008, he has been a professor of musical analysis at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he was previously an assistant in the class of musical analysis of Michaël Lévinas.[5]

Balmer's research focuses on French music of the 20th century, particularly the genetic processes and diffusion of the work of Olivier Messiaen. In 2017, he published Le modèle et l'invention, Olivier Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt,[6] which was considered a turning point in research on this composer.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The study of links between Claude Debussy's musical language and Messiaen was further developed in the Journal of the American Musicological Society.[17]

Since 2017, Yves Balmer also developed a career as a composer, with his works being published by Gérard Billaudot Éditeur [fr]. The Quatuor Voce [fr] commissioned a new piece for quatuor and a transcription from Debussy. Both were recorded on the CD Poétiques de l'instant : Debussy, Balmer. (Quatuor Voce, Jodie Devos, Juliette Hurel, Emmanuel Ceysson) at Alpha (label) [fr].[18] It received the prestigious Diapason d'Or,[19] and was reviewed in The Guardian,[20] Le Monde,[21] Le Soir,[22] De Standaard.[23] It is broadcast on several public and private radios, such as BBC Radio 3,[24] France Musique, Radio Classique,[25] and Catalunya Ràdio.[26]

In 2023, Yves Balmer was awarded a prize in the Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition in the solo organ works category[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Yves Balmer". IReMus. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  2. ^ Balmer, Yves; Caullier, Joëlle (January 2008). Yves Balmer, Edifier son œuvre : genèse, médiation, diffusion de l'œuvre d'Olivier Messiaen. theses.fr (These de doctorat). Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  3. ^ "L'accueil de chercheurs français et étrangers". chroniques.fr de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (juillet-septembre 2006). Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Notice bibliographique Catalogue des concerts du fonds Loriod-Messiaen de la Bibliothèque nationale de France / Yves Balmer". BnF Catalogue général - Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Yves BALMER". Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  6. ^ Balmer, Yves; Lacôte, Thomas; Murray, Christopher Brent (2017). Le modèle et l'invention: Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt. Lyon: Symétrie. p. 617. ISBN 978-2-36485-045-3.
  7. ^ Keym, Stefan (2019). "Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte und Christopher Brent Murray: Le modèle et l'invention. Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt (Lyon 2017)". Die Musiktheorie. 34: 273–276.
  8. ^ Roust, Colin (2020). "Le modèle et l'invention: Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt by Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte, and Christopher Brent Murray (review)". Notes. 77 (1): 134–136. doi:10.1353/not.2020.0080. S2CID 242213986. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  9. ^ Simeone, Nigel (15 October 2019). "Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte, Christopher Brent Murray, Le modèle et l'invention: Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt". Transposition. Musique et Sciences Sociales. 8 (8). doi:10.4000/transposition.3069. S2CID 214351767. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  10. ^ Lorenzon, Matthew (June 2019). "Yves Balmer, Christopher Brent Murray, and Thomas Lacôte, Le Modèle et l'invention: Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt (Lyon: Symétrie, 2017), (ISBN 978-2-36485-045-3) (hb)". Twentieth-Century Music. 16 (2): 359–362. doi:10.1017/S1478572219000227. S2CID 166802754. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  11. ^ 藤田, 茂 (2018). "Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte, Christopher Murray著 Le modèle et l'invention: Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt". 音楽学. 64 (2): 187–189.
  12. ^ Brzoska, Matthias (2018). "[Besprechungen] YVES BALMER, THOMAS LACÔTE und CHRISTOPHER BRENT MURRAY: Le Modèle et l'invention. Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt. Mit einem Vorwort von George BENJAMIN. Lyon: Symétrie 2017. 624 S., Abb., (Collection Symétrie Recherche. Série 20–21.)". Die Musikforschung. 71 (3): 289–292. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  13. ^ Asimov, Peter (2019). "Messiaen, Loriod, Birds and Bees". Journal of the Royal Musical Association. 144 (2): 459–472. doi:10.1080/02690403.2019.1651511. S2CID 214446124. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  14. ^ Rigaudière, Marc (2019). "Yves Balmer, Christopher Brent Murray et Thomas Lacôte, Le modèle et l'invention, Olivier Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt, Lyon : Symétrie, 2017". Revue de musicologie. 105 (2): 405–409. JSTOR 48671183. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  15. ^ Robert, Alexandre (28 February 2019). "Dans l'atelier d'Olivier Messiaen. À propos de : Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte, Christopher Brent Murray, Le modèle et l'invention. Messiaen et la technique de l'emprunt, Symétrie". La Vie des idées. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  16. ^ Soret, Marie-Gabrielle (2020). "Le Modèle et l'Invention: Messiaen et la Technique de l'Emprunt by Yves Balmer, Thomas Lacôte, and Christopher Brent Murray (review)". Fontes Artis Musicae. 67 (1): 69–71. doi:10.1353/fam.2020.0002. S2CID 229625285. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  17. ^ Balmer, Yves; Lacôte, Thomas; Murray, Christopher Brent (2016). "Messiaen the Borrower: Recomposing Debussy through the Deforming Prism". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 69 (3): 699–791. doi:10.1525/jams.2016.69.3.699. JSTOR 26417270. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Poétiques de l'instant". outhere-music. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  19. ^ "Disque : découvrez les parutions de mai 2022". Diapason. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  20. ^ Clements, Andrew (14 April 2022). "Poétiques de l'Instant: works by Debussy and Balmer review – thoughtful and rewarding". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  21. ^ Roux, Marie-Aude; Gervasoni, Pierre; Marmande, Francis; Labesse, Patrick; Siclier, Sylvain (6 May 2022). "Sélection albums : Christophe Rousset, Quatuor Voce, Marjolaine Reymond, Biréli Lagrène, les Marx Sisters". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Quatuor Voce, Devos, Hurel, Ceysson: un voyage poétique entre les époques". Le Soir. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Het paard van Debussy". De Standaard (in Flemish). Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  24. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Record Review, Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony with Erik Levi and Andrew McGregor". BBC. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  25. ^ Mézan, Laure (19 May 2022). "Le Quatuor Voce réunit la poésie du passé et du présent". Radio Classique (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  26. ^ Ràdio, Catalunya (2 June 2022). "Tots els matins del món - Poètiques de l'instant, una nova proposta del Quartet Voce". CCMA (in Catalan). Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  27. ^ Helsinki Music Centre Foundation (27 April 2023). "The Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition". #PlayTheOrgan - #UrutSoimaan. Retrieved 29 April 2023.