BIOGRAPHY
He was born in 1957 in Tunis.
From Tunisia, his native country, and from the discovery of ethnomusicology, all the musics in the world, whose colours, rhythmics and own playing modes flow deeply throughout his works, have left their mark on Bernard de Vienne.
He trained as a flautist and has developed a real taste for improvisation, for virtuoso instrumental music and the search for poetical and unusual sounds, hence his colourful and ever changing music. He studied Musicology at Paris III University under Daniel Charles and Francis Bayer who instilled in him sharp thinking, the taste for patient and rigorous work as well as a humanistic open mind .
During his University years he joined the Musique Vivante ensemble under Diego Masson. He started his career both as a performer and as a rising selfmade composer. He then practised composition with Carlos Roqué Alsina to whom he owes, « an acute sense of how to give shape to musical discourse, refinement in orchestration skills, as well as a constantly renewed attention to harmony. »
His interest in poetry, painting, philosophy and sciences has extended into the inter-relationship he establishes between his text and his music, their musical shape and their poetical context which are at the source of his creations.
In 1993 he was awarded the first prize for the instrumental version of his 1st Chamber Symphony by the jury of the Trieste International Music Competition for Composition which comprised the best contemporary composers such as Franco Donatoni, Helmut Lachenmann, Gérard Zinsstag and Carlos Roqué Alsina,
For many years, after managing various schools of music in the Ile-de-France region and in Paris, Bernard de Vienne’s expertise as a consultant, composer and trainer has been sought by several institutions such as schools of music, national event organisations and theatres.
Indeed, his compositions have been commissioned by the French state and institutions such as Radio France, the Opera Theatre of St-Etienne, the Berlioz Festival, or by well-known choral conductors such as Nicole Corti, Michel Piquemal, Patrick Davin, Mark Foster, or famous performers like David Guerrier, Max Bonnay, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Carlos Roqué Alsina, Françoise Kubler, Devy Erly, Guy Comentale, Christophe Roy or Marianne Piketty. His works have been played, amongst others, by the Klangforum Wien, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, the 2E2M ensemble, the Orchestre Français de Flûtes, the Concert Impromptu, the Aleph ensemble, in France and abroad. Bernard de Vienne has composed for many very different groups ranging from single instruments and soloist voices to mixed choirs and symphonic orchestras. His works are published by François Dhalmann and Lemoine.