Denis Levaillant (born 3 August 1952) is a French composer, pianist and writer based in Paris, France. He has orchestrated more than twenty musical shows including and composed more than 120 musical works worldwide. Levaillant has been recognized for his improvisation and orchestration work and his ability to synthesize in his art several antagonistic genres such as composition/improvisation, classical/jazz, classical/popular and acoustic/electro.
Early life Levaillant was born in Paris to Raymonde and Jean Levaillant. He is the grandson of the French poet and critic, . He started playing piano at an early age of five. He began harmony, counterpoint and composition training at the age of twelve, under French music professor, Magdeleine Mangin in 1964, in Nancy, France.
Levaillant first spent his teenage years in Nancy, then in Paris, where he studied composition and philosophy. In 1974, he received his master's degree in philosophy from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. Later, he attended Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he received training in music composition, orchestration and analysis under Gérard Grisey, Marius Constant and Claude Ballif.
Career Levaillant started his professional career in the early 1970s. In 1973, he collaborated with Radio France and composed Circus Virus, a musical piece for France Culture. His first music had inspirations from his adolescence heroes, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jimi Hendrix and Ornette Coleman. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Levaillant released seven more albums and published a book on music improvisation and compositions, L'improvisation musicale, published by Éditions Lattès in 1980. He collaborated with and and composed music for multiple musical shows and feature films during these years. He collaborated with and composed music for various French and international jazz musicians such as , Didier Levallet, Mino Cinélu, Jean-Louis Chautemps, Pierre Favre, Bernard Lubat, Tony Coe, Kenny Wheeler, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Michel Portal, Barry Altschul and Barre Phillips.
In 1980, at the age of 26, Levaillant began composing ballet music for the Paris Opera. In 1981, he founded Bleu 17, a music institution that focused on producing musical shows.
From 1983 to 2006, Levaillant created nearly 20 musical shows and operas that were performed around Europe. He collaborated with Barry Altschul and Barre Phillips to compose Les Passagers du delta in 1986. Levaillant created the opera O.P.A Mia in collaboration with Enki Bilal during the Festival d'Avignon in 1990. He collaborated with Dominique Bagouet, Stéphanie Aubin, Brigitte Lefèvre, Dominique Petit and Caroline Marcadé for more than 30 live shows.
In the early 1980s, Levaillant participated in Institut national de l'audiovisuel and Groupe de Recherches Musicales's digital sound processing initiative, which inspired him to compose Piano Transit, a piano composition with electronic fusion, in 1983. In 1988, Levaillant was awarded with Prix Italia by RAI for his work, in the category Speakers.
In 1995, Levaillant was commissioned by Ensemble InterContemporain and Musée du Louvre for creating music for Fritz Lang's last silent film, Woman in the Moon. Later that year, he co-founded the Cabinet de Musique Généraliste (CMG) with , an initiative aimed towards promoting contemporary music in the audiovisual world. Over the years, prominent composers and musicians like Philippe Hersant, Allain Gaussin, , , , Christian Zanési, , , Calin Ioachimescu and Doina Rotaru became part of the Cabinet de Musique Généraliste.
In the late 1990s, Levaillant performed live at various festivals and composed several works such as Echo de Narcisse, Le Clair, l'Obscur pour quatuor à cordes, Paysages de Conte and Tombeau de Gesualdo. In 2004, Lavaillant composed music for Enki Bilal's science fiction film, Immortal.
In 2002, Levaillant composed the ballet La Petite danseuse de Degas produced by the Paris Opera. It was premiered in 2003 at Opéra-Garnier and was performed again in 2005 and 2010. France 2 filmed the performance and Arthaus released the DVD. In 2005, l'Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France commissioned him to compose music for the children's book by Jacques Prévert. In 2014, Levaillant wrote Panchamama Symphony, a composition for concert bands. The Andean music of Bolivia inspired Panchamama Symphony.
In 2014, 15 universities in the United States invited Levaillant for the master classes and concerts.
Personal life Apart from being a musician, Levaillant is a mountaineer. He has climbed in Oisans alongside Jean-Michel Cambon and Bernard Francou. Levaillant has also climbed new challenging routes in Bolivia with the French climber, Alain Mesili.
Levaillant was married in 1972, to Christine Rigaud. The couple has two children, Julie and Fabien, and three grandchildren, Marilou, Elise and Andréa.
Awards and recognition 1983 : Laureate of the Villa Médicis (New York) 1987 : Prix Tendance 1988 : Prix Italia, in the category Speakers
Discography Albums and singles
1973 : Son dernier Tango 1975 : Attention l'armée, 1978 : Instable, 1979 : Trans-Musiques, 1983 : Direct 1984 : Six séquences pour Alfred Hitchcock 1984 : Barium Circus 1986 : Passages 1990 : Musiques pour le théâtre 1991 : Musiques pour le piano 1991 : Musiques pour la danse 1992 : Musiques pour les voix 1993 : NEXT 1995 : Génériques potentiels 1996 : Théâtres 1997 : Shorts ! 1998 : L'Etrange 1999 : Out The/Ailleurs 2000 : Direct 2001 : Figures 2002 : Dark Textures & Drones 2003 : Documentary line 2006 : Paysages avec piano 2007 : Drone Music 2008 : Modern Acoustic Sketches 2009 : Music Is The Film 2012 : The Fear Factory 2014 : Cinematic Edge Vol.1 2015 : City organix 2018 : HAYDN Early and late Sonatas 2019 : Aurora Borealis 2019 : Cinematic Orchestral Music: Volume 1 2019 : Cinematic Orchestral Music: Volume 2 2020 : Electro Space Piano,
Reference: Denis Levaillant – Discographie : CDs / LPs, denislevaillant.net
Compositions for films
1978 : La petite Annonce 1979 : 74 rue de Boissy 1981 : Adieu Pyrénées 1984 : Elektra 1985 : Trombone en coulisses 1986 : Mot à mot 1987 : L'eau en formes 1988 : Mother Goose 1989 : Vidéopérette, 1993 : Next 1995 : La Femme sur la Lune 2003 : Dark 2006 : Paysages avec piano 2006 : Drones 2008 : Blindspot 2012 : The Fear Factory 2015 : City Organix
Reference: Denis Levaillant – Music for films, denislevaillant.net
Bibliography
1974 : Musique, Idéologie, Politique, mémoire de maîtrise de Philosophie 1978 : Interdit d'antenne 1980 : L'improvisation musicale 1983/1984 : Eloge de l'outil 1986 : Le Piano 1990 : Un bout de tuyau avec quelques trous 1990 : Auteur de musique 1991 : Enki Bilal, un décorateur ? 1991 : Trois motifs pour le jazz 1992 : Pour une musique nouvelle 1994 : La Femme sur la Lune, réflexion sur la relation musique et image 2006 : O.P.A. MIA, Livre-DVD Illustré, broché, 2006 : En lisant, en jouant, en écrivant (1) 2008 : L'Opéra de la Lune 2008 : Cent ans de bonheur 2008 : A quoi l'art pense-t-il ? 2008 : En lisant, en jouant, en écrivant 2010 : La Petite danseuse de Degas (on Degas' Little Dancer of Fourteen Years) 2011 : Les Musiciens de Brême 2012 : Eloge du musical 2012 : Paysages de conte 2013 : Les Passagers du delta 2014 : Manhattan Rhapsody 2015 : L'Art de l'improvisation au piano 2017 : O.P.A. MIA (My Tender Bid)
Reference: Denis Levaillant – Bibliography – Book CDs, denislevaillant.net
Operas and shows
1974 : L'oreille bée 1976 : Le Baigneur 1978 : Embellie fixe 1979 : Le jardin du sanglier 1980 : Piano Check-up, La Chevauchée 1981 : Portrait de l'artiste 1981 : Grand Corridor 1982 : Dérive 1982 : D.D.Blue Gold Digger, 1983 : Inside 1983 : Aranzaquil 1983 : Deux pièces à louer, Piano check-up & Le Baigneur 1983 : Les Pas Perdus 1984 : The Blue Street 1984 : Rythm'n'shoes 1986': Eaux-fortes 1986 : Le Dernier Pèlerinage 1986 : Les Passagers du delta 1987 : Les heures défaites 1987 : Solo piano solo 1989 : O.P.A MIA 1989 : Passage de l'heure bleue 1992 : Lettres de Georgie, Ballet 1993 : Piano Circus 1994 : Poètes et burlesques, Spectacle musical, pièces pour piano accompagnant un programme de films Pathé des années 1910. 1995 : Passions, Les Pierres noires, Sunny Cash passion, Compassion, Madrigaux de guerre & Tombeau de Gesualdo. 1995 : La Femme sur la Lune 1998/1999 : Techno Space Piano 1999/2000 : Eloge de la radio 2003 : La Petite danseuse 2005/2006 : Un petit rien-du-tout 2009/2010 : Les Musiciens de Brême
Reference: Denis Levaillant – Operas and shows, denislevaillant.net
References
External links