French composer and pianist Denis Levaillant is one of today’s major musical talents. Pioneering a new kind of French music (melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and colourful, which he has dubbed ‘post-contemporary’), since 1973 he has succeeded in developing a personal, highly varied oeuvre appealing to all audiences.

He approached music by studying classical piano, demonstrating precocious gifts. At the same time, he distinguished himself brilliantly in general studies at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Sorbonne, where he earned a Masters in philosophy in 1974. In 1983, Denis Levaillant was awarded a fellowship to the Villa Médicis in Rome.


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Initially making a name for himself with the general public in the 1970s as a performer and top-notch improviser (his book L’Improvisation musicale, published in 1980, has become a reference on the subject). In the 1980s, he was one of the pioneers in musical theatre in France, and the originality of his opera O.P.A. Mia (My Tender Bid), with sets by Enki Bilal and premiered in 1990 at the Avignon Festival and the Opéra-Comique in Paris, made a strong impression.

In the following decade, he devoted most of his creative efforts to symphonic writing. His ballet, La Petite danseuse, commissioned by the Paris Opera, met with great success at the Paris Opera in 2003 and has been revived in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Winner, in particular, of the RAI Prize at the Italia Prize in 1988, Denis Levaillant has had most of his recorded catalogue regularly synchronised in cinema and television the world over.

(By David Sanson)

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