The Steve Reich Guitar Project
I like this music. I discovered it late, I admit, thanks to one of my professors at the University of Paris 8, in 2003. Since then, the more I listen to it, the more I dig, the more I am impressed by its richness. In many ways, I do not understand how it could be called “minimalist”: to the contrary, for me, it is more a “maximalist” music. Admittedly, the basic musical material with which he composes, is minimal, but the way in which he handles it, and not to mention the result, consists of a confusing richness, with all these sound layers which are superimposed, slightly shifted, according to immediate or surreptitious phase shifts, suddenly bringing out rhythms, textures…
Video
Discography
Steve Reich
Pierre Bibault, guitar
Release: October 1, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Music, Solo Electric Guitar
Program: Nagoya Guitars, Electric Counterpoint, Electric Guitar Phase, Clapping Music
Music Company: IndéSens Records
Artistic Direction: Pierre Bibault
Photos: Cover: © Catherine Peillon, 2008 | Artist photos: © Manuel Braun, 2021
Length: 43 minutes
Format: CD Digipack + Booklet 12 pages & Streaming Platforms
Listen/buy: li.sten.to/pierrebibault
Olga Neuwirth, "Die Stadt Ohne Juden" movie soundtrack
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Release: 2019
Genre: Contemporary Music with Ensemble, Movie Soundtrack
Music Company: Arte TV Edition
Artistic Direction: Olga Neuwirth
Format: DVD/Blu-ray
Buy: https://www.arte-edition.de/item/8510.html
Schedule
Season 2022-2023
24 to 26 August 2022
Residence w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain, visiting Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Conducted by Jonathan Nott
“Wound” (new piece) for 12 soloists and Orchestra, by Rebecca Saunders (e.g.)
Geneva (SW)
8 to 14 September 2022
Residence and concert w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain, Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Concertini” by Helmut Lachenmann (c.g.)
Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris (FR)
15-16 September 2022
Recording w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain
Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Hommage a Klaus Nomi” by Olga Neuwirth (e.g.)
Paris (FR)
20 September 2022 to 29 January 2023
“Musicanimale, le grand bestiaire sonore” Exhibition,
Video excerpt: “Vigiles” by François-Bernard Mâche, performed by Ensemble Variances
Philharmonie de Paris (FR)
22 to 26 September 2022
Residence and concert w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain, Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“The Outcast” by Olga Neuwirth (e.g.)
Paris Philharmonie, Grande Salle Pierre Boulez (FR)
29-30 September 2022
Concert w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain,
Conducted by Jonathan Nott
“Wound” (new piece) by Rebecca Saunders (e.g.)
World Premiere
Munich (DE)
8 October 2022
Solo Concert – Steve Reich
Ensemble Variances New Album release
Conservatoire Claude Debussy, Paris
19 October to 6 November 2022 – Postponed! (New dates TBA)
US Solo Tour around the album “Steve Reich | Pierre Bibault, guitar”
Boston, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, USA
19-20 November 2022
Solo Concert “Steve Reich | Pierre Bibault, guitar” + Masterclass
Guitar Kaleidoscope
Rixensart (BE)
12-13 December 2022
Residence and concert w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain, Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Encantadas o le aventure nel marre dele maraviglie” by Olga Neuwirth (e.g.)
Paris Philharmonie (FR)
17-22 January 2023
Residence and concert w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain, Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Jagden und Formen” by Wolfgang Rhim (c.g.+ electric bass)
Paris Philharmonie, Grande Salle Pierre Boulez (FR)
19-24 January 2023
Residence and concert w/ Ensemble 2E2M, Conducted by Leo Margue
“Lo que nunca dijo nadie” by Elena Mendoza (c.g)
“Cornucopia” (premiere) by Augustin Braud (e.g)
Conservatoire de Paris – CRR (FR)
23 January 2023
Residence w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain
Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Die Stadt ohne Juden” by Olga Neuwirth (e.g.)
Paris Philharmonie (FR)
25 to 31 January 2023
Tour in the USA w/ Ensemble Intercontemporain
Conducted by Matthias Pintscher
“Die Stadt ohne Juden” by Olga Neuwirth (e.g.)
28 January: Santa Barbara
30 January: Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles
31 January to 2 February 2023
Tour in the USA
Solo Concert – Steve Reich
1 February: Riverside University
7 April 2023
“Guitar Quintet in D Major” by Luigi Boccherini
Conservatoire Francis Poulenc, Paris
23 May 2023
Concert w/ Ensemble Variances
Paris
24 to 28 May 2023
Concert + Jury at the International Competition
Parma, Italy
29 to 31 May 2023
Solo Recital + Masterclass around Contemporary Music for Guitar (c. + e. g.)
Lucca, Italy
15 to 17 June 2023
Residence and Concert w/ Ensemble Variances, Thierry Pécou
“Kaun”, Jeffrey Holmes (US)
“Vigiles”, François-Bernard Mâche
“Méditation sur la fin de l’Espèce”, Thierry Pécou
London (UK)
6 to 9 July 2023
Artistic Director, 5th International Guitar Festival in Bearn – FIGB
Details TBA
Lahontan (FR)
Click here for more info
About
Pierre Bibault is a multifaceted French classical and electric guitarist.
He has performed in more than 25 countries, and in many prestigious venues: Radio France, Philharmonie de Paris, Flagey in Brussels, Wigmore Hall in London.
As a soloist, he explores contemporary music: written, improvised, with electronics, or sounds transformed in real time, and handles his guitars as well as samplers, loopers and computers. He works closely with today’s composers, many of whom have dedicated their guitar works to him. Among them: Zad Moultaka, Thierry Pécou, Jeffrey Holmes.
On October 1, 2021 (IndéSens Records) Pierre Bibault released the first recording of the complete works for electric guitar by the American minimalist composer Steve Reich (1936-) — who himself validated the program of the disc. Press and radio reserved a very warm welcome to the album: two shows on France Musique (French National Radio): “Guitare, guitares” and “Générations France Musique Live” invited Pierre Bibault for a concert and an interview; “Classical Guitar Magazine” edited a double page interview (November 2021); the Official Steve Reich Social Media Accounts edited a list “Essential Steve Reich”, including Pierre Bibault’s Nagoya Guitars version. On March 2022, the disc already reached more than 100.000 streams on the streaming platforms.
Since 2018, Pierre Bibault has been an additional musician (classical and electric guitars) for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, under the direction of Matthias Pintscher. With the Ensemble he was able to collaborate with many essential composers and composers of the International contemporary scene: Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders, James Dillon; and to explore a wide repertoire, ranging from psychedelic rock written by Frank Zappa, to music for the film Die Start ohne Juden by Olga Neuwirth published and broadcasted on French-German TV Arte, and performed at the Paris Philharmonie Hall and in Cincinnati (February 2022).
In 2019, the Ensemble invited him as a soloist for the French creation of the classical guitar concerto “Ode an Eine Äolsharfe” by Hans Werner Henze, at the Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris.
The Ensemble invited him again during the season 2022-23 for a concert series (Lachenmann, Neuwirth, Saunders) given notably at the Paris, Munich and Los Angeles Philharmonie Halls.
Pierre Bibault is a permanent member (Soloist) of Thierry Pécou’s Ensemble Variances, which he joined in 2017. Since then, he has performed at the Radio France’s Festival Présences, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Opéra de Rouen, and for the concert series Jacaranda Music in Los Angeles.
A recording of works by François-Bernard Mâche, Thierry Pécou, Jeffrey Holmes was also released on the Ohuaya label in spring 2021.
Since 2020, he is also an additional musician (classical and electric guitars) for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, (works by George Benjamin, Fausto Romitelli, Gustav Mahler) and has performed under the direction of great conductors: Kent Nagano, Maxime Pascal, Matthias Pintscher.
Pierre Bibault is a Doctor of Arts, and the author of a thesis Gesture and a Gesture Extraction Process in Zad Moultaka’s Music for Solo Guitar.s: A Performer’s Perspective, VUB / KCB, 2021, 415 p.
He is the Artistic Director of the International Guitar Festival in Béarn since its creation in 2017, and has been a Project Advisor and Supervisor for the Paris Guitar Foundation from 2014 to 2018.
Pierre Bibault is a Professor at the Paris Conservatories, as well as a Teacher-Researcher at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. He frequently gives Masterclasses and Conferences in France and abroad.
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Pierre Bibault est un guitariste classique et électrique français aux multiples facettes.
Il a joué dans plus de 25 pays, et dans de très nombreuses et prestigieuses salles : Radio France, Philharmonie de Paris, Flagey à Bruxelles, Wigmore Hall de Londres.
En tant que soliste, il explore les musiques contemporaines écrites, improvisées, de sons transformés en temps réel avec électronique, et manie aussi bien ses guitares que les samplers, loopers et ordinateurs. Il travaille en étroite collaboration avec les compositeurs d’aujourd’hui, dont plusieurs lui ont dédié leurs oeuvres pour guitare. Parmi eux : Zad Moultaka, Thierry Pécou, Jeffrey Holmes.
Il a sorti le 1er octobre 2021 (IndéSens Records) l’enregistrement de l’intégrale des œuvres pour guitare électrique du compositeur minimaliste américain Steve Reich (1936-), qui a validé lui-même le programme du disque, et dont on a fêté les 85 ans le 3 octobre 2021. Presse et radio ont réservé un accueil chaleureux à l’album : deux émissions sur France Musique : « Guitare, guitares » et « Générations France Musique le Live » ont invité Pierre Bibault pour des concerts et interviews ; « Guitare Classique Magazine » lui a consacré une double page (novembre 2021) ; le compte officiel de Steve Reich a édité une Playlist Spotify “Essential Steve Reich” incluant la version de Pierre Bibault de Nagoya Guitars. En mars 2022, le disque avait déjà atteint plus de 100.000 écoutes sur les plateformes de streaming.
Depuis 2018, Pierre Bibault est musicien supplémentaire (guitares classique et électrique) pour l’Ensemble Intercontemporain, sous la direction de Matthias Pintscher. Avec l’Ensemble il a pu collaborer avec de nombreux compositeurs et compositrices incontournables de la scène contemporaine internationale : Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders, James Dillon, et explorer un large répertoire, allant du rock psychédélique écrit de Frank Zappa, à la musique pour le film Die Start ohne Juden d’Olga Neuwirth paru et diffusé sur Arte TV, et joué à la Philharmonie de Paris et à Cincinnati (USA, février 2022).
En 2019, l’Ensemble l’invite comme soliste pour la création française du concerto pour guitare classique « Ode an Eine Äolsharfe » de Hans Werner Henze, à la Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris.
L’Ensemble l’a réinvité à partir de la saison 2022-23 pour une série de concerts (Lachenmann, Neuwirth, Saunders) donnés aux Philharmonies de Paris, Munich et Los Angeles.
En juin 2020, il est réinvité comme soliste pour la création du concerto pour guitare électrique « Eleanor » d’Olga Neuwirth, qui doit avoir lieu au Festival Ojai près de Los Angeles, USA. La tournée est finalement annulée, en pleine crise Covid.
Pierre Bibault est membre permanent de l’Ensemble Variances de Thierry Pécou, qu’il a rejoint en 2017. Depuis lors, il a joué au Festival Présences de Radio France, au Wigmore Hall de Londres, à la Salle Cortot à Paris, à l’Opéra de Rouen, et pour Jacaranda Music à Los Angeles (mars 2022).
Un disque des œuvres de François-Bernard Mâche, Thierry Pécou, Jeffrey Holmes est également paru sur le label Ohuaya au printemps 2021.
Depuis 2020, il est aussi supplémentaire (guitares classique et électrique) pour l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, et a joué sous la direction de grands chefs tels que Kent Nagano, Maxime Pascal et Matthias Pintscher.
Pierre Bibault est Docteur des Arts, et l’auteur d’une thèse Gesture and a Gesture Extraction Process in Zad Moultaka’s Music for Solo Guitar.s: A Performer’s Perspective, VUB/KCB, 2021, 415 p.
Il est Directeur Artistique du Festival International de Guitare en Béarn depuis sa création en 2017, et a été Conseiller et Superviseur de Projets pour la Paris Guitar Foundation de 2014 à 2018.
Pierre Bibault est Professeur des Conservatoires de Paris, et Enseignant-Chercheur au Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. Il donne fréquemment des Masterclasses et Conférences en France et à l’étranger.
Electric Guitar: (e.g.) | Classical Guitar: (c.g.)
D’ANGELO Nuccio
Due Canzoni Lidie (c.g.)
DUFOURT Hugues
La Cité des Saules, for electric guitar and sound transformation (e.g.)
MOULTAKA Zad
– Calvario, for guitar and electronics (c.g.)
– Kahraba, for electric guitar and electroacoustics (e.g.), commissioned by Pierre Bibault and Onoma
– Ordo ab chao, for guitar and electronics (c.g.), dedicated to Pierre Bibault
MURAIL Tristan
– Tellur (c.g.)
– Vampyr! (e.g.)
OHANA Maurice
Tiento (c.g.)
PECOU Thierry
– Flux, Eclats, Orient (c.g.)
– Passacaille (c.g.), dedicated to Pierre Bibault
REICH Steve
– Electric Counterpoint (e.g. + tape)
– Electric Guitar Phase (e.g. + tape)
– Nagoya Guitars (e.g. + tape)
– Clapping Music
ROMITELLI Fausto
– Solare (c.g.)
– Trash TV Trance, for electric guitar, effects and sampler (e.g.)
ANDRIESSEN Louis
Life (e.g.)
BENJAMIN Georges
Sometimes Voices (banjo)
BRANCA Glenn
Symphony n°16 “Orgasm”, for 100 electric guitars (e.g.)
BOWMAN Max
Sonata, for classical guitar and cello (c.g.)
CAGE John
Story (Once upon a time)
CHOI Yeni
On the boat (c.g.)
CRUMB Georges
Mundus Canis, for classical guitar and percussions (c.g.)
DAZZI Gualtiero
Madrigali (e.g.)
DILLON James
Tanz / Haus Triptych (e.g.)
GLASS Philip
Façades (e.g.)
Music in Similar Motion (e.g.)
HENZE Hans Werner
Ode An Eine Äolsharfe, music for concertante Guitar and 15 solo instruments (c.g.) (French Premiere with Ensemble Intercontemporain)
HOLMES Jeffrey
Kaun (Kenaz) (c.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Variances)
KORDA Josephine
Mycelium (c.g.)
LACHENMANN Helmut
Concertini (c.g.)
LEWIS Andrew
Canzon in Double Echo (e.g.)
MÂCHE François-Bernard
Vigiles (c.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Variances)
MARINISSEN Arnold
– Mestre Claudinei, for classical guitar and cello (c.g.)
– Métisse (e.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Variances)
MENDOZA Elena
Lo que nunca dijo nadie (c.g.)
MERCANTI Gabriele
Clepsamia (c.g.)
MONDON Nicolas
Daily Colotomy (c.g.)
MORGAN-WILLIAMS Bethan
Devil’s Elbow (e.g.)
MOULTAKA Zad
Anath (c.g.)
NEUWIRTH Olga
– Die Stadt Ohne Juden (e.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Intercontemporain)
– Eleanor (e.g.)
– Hommage à Klaus Nomi (e.g.)
– Le Encantadas (e.g.)
– The Outcast (e.g.) (French Premiere with Ensemble Intercontemporain)
PECOU Thierry
– Méditation sur la fin de l’espèce (e.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Variances)
– Until the Lions (e.g.)
RIHM Wolfgang
Jagden und Formen (c.g + e.bass)
ROMITELLI Fausto
– Professor Bad Trip, Lesson I (e.g.)
– Professor Bad Trip, Lesson III (e.g.)
– Audiodrome, Dead City Radio (e.g.)
SAUNDERS Rebecca
– Scar (premiere with EIC, 2019) (e.g.)
– Wound (premier with EIC, 2022) (e.g.) (World Premiere with Ensemble Intercontemporain)
STOCKHAUSEN Karlheinz
– Aus den sieben Tagen (e.g.)
– Tierkreis (e.g.)
TAKEMITSU Toru
Toward the sea, for classical guitar and flute (c.g.)
ZAPPA Frank
– Get Whitey (c.g.)
– G-Spot Tornado (e.g.)
– The Dog Breath Variations (banjo)
BENJAMIN Georges
Sometimes Voices (banjo)
BOCK Jerry
Fiddler on the Roof (c.g.)
GULDA Friedrich
Cello Concerto (c+e. g.)
KRASA Hans
Brundibar (c.g.)
LEGRAND Michel
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (c+e. g.)
MAHLER Gustav
Symphonie No. 7 (c.g.)
SHOSTAKOVICH Dmitri
Jazz Suite (c.g.)
ROMITELLI Fausto
Audiodrome, Dead City Radio (e.g.)
BOLLING Claude
Concerto for Classical Guitar and Jazz Trio (c.g.)
HENZE Hans Werner
Ode An Eine Äolsharfe, music for concertante Guitar and 15 solo instruments (c.g.)
NEUWIRTH Olga
Eleanor (e.g.)
TEDESCO Mario-Castelnuevo
Romancero Gitano, for Guitar and Choir
VILLA-LOBOS Heitor
Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (c.g.)
VIVALDI Antonio
– Concerto in D Major, for mandoline, argt for Guitar (c.g.)
– Concerto for two mandolines, argt for two guitars (c.g.)
– Baroque
BACH Johann Sebastian
French Suite BWV 812
SCARLATTI Domenico
K9
K11
K308
K430
VIVALDI Antonio
Concerto for two mandolines, argt for two guitars (c.g.)
– Spanish 20th Century
GRANADOS Enrique
Danzas Espanolas n°1, 2, 6
Valses Poeticos
MOMPOU Federico
Cançon i danses n°2, 5, 6
RODRIGO Joaquin
Tonadilla
– 20th Century
GINASTERA Alberto
Suite de Danzas Criollas, Op. 15
PIAZZOLLA Astor
Lo Que Vendra
Tango Suite
PIERRE-PETIT
Toccata
– Post 1960 / Contemporary
HOLMES Jeffrey
Danzleikr Sonata, dedicated to Duo Resonances