Philippe Manoury 

Composer Manoury, Philippe

Philippe Manoury was born in 1952. He studied piano with Pierre Sancan, and composition with Gérard Condé, Max Deutsch, and then with Michel Philippot and Ivo Malec at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. From 1975 onwards, he studied computer-assisted composition with Pierre Barbaud.

In 1978, he went to Brazil to give courses and conferences on contemporary music at various universities. Returning to France in 1980, he entered IRCAM the following year as a guest researcher. Based on these researches, he composed Zeitlauf, a 70-minute work for mixed choir, instrumental ensemble, synthesisers, and tape, which was premiered in 1982.

For the European Year of Music, the Council of Europe commissioned a huge project : Aleph, which premiered in 1985 at Musica. From 1985 to 1986, he composed a series of chamber works, among which were Musique I and II, and Instantanés, in four different versions. His researches at IRCAM led him to work in the domain of machine-instrument interaction, where the primary goal was the development of systems allowing the simulation and tracking in real time of instrumental behaviours, culminating in the integration of performance phenomena with musical composition and electroacoustics. After Jupiter and Pluton, Philippe Manoury completed the cycle with two other pieces, produced at IRCAM : La Partition du Ciel et de l'Enfer, for ensemble and computer (1989,) and Neptune, for 3 percussions and computer (1991).

During the 1992-1993 season, he composed the opening of the opera La Nuit du Sortilège (later renamed 60e Parallèle), which won an award from the UNESCO International Composers' Tribune ; Michigan Trio, for clarinet, violin, and piano ; and Pentaphone, commissioned by the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France. His latest piece at IRCAM is En écho for voice and computer.