Vocation : Entertain/Music : Instrumentalist

Jean-Benoît_Dunckel

Jean-Benoît Dunckel (born 7 September 1969) is a French musician best known for being one half of the French music duo Air, along with Nicolas Godin.In the 1980s, he formed the band Orange with Alex Gopher, Xavier Jamaux and Jean de Reydellet. He studied mathematics and physics and taught at a middle school in Paris, before embarking on a career as a professional musician. Since 1995, he has been one of two members of the band Air, along with his partner Nicolas Godin.
Working under the name Darkel, he released his first solo album, titled Darkel, in September 2006.
In 2011, he formed the electronica side project Tomorrow's World with Lou Hayter of New Young Pony Club. Tomorrow's World, their first album, was released in 2013.
Dunckel collaborated with Icelander Barði Jóhannsson under the name Starwalker and released an EP in March 2014, featuring "Losers Can Win" and "Bad Weather". A new song not featured on the EP was issued in November 2014, titled Blue Hawaii. In April 2016, a self-titled, full-length album was released.In March 2015, he issued the four-track mini-album titled The Man of Sorrow. Also in 2015, he composed the soundtrack for the film The Summer of Sangailé. The soundtrack album was released on 24 July.
In 2018, he released his 2nd full-length solo album titled H+ under Jive Epic records.
Four years later, in June 2022, Dunckel released his next full-length studio album Carbon, under his own label Prototyp. On the album (theme) Dunckel suggests technology could save the world. AllMusic gave the album in its review 3,5 (out of 5) stars. About the album title Carbon, Dunckel said: “When you burn it, it doesnʼt go away, Itʼs full of strength - diamonds are crystallized carbon. Carbon is the thing that makes you solid. Itʼs the most important thing in our bodies and in our lives, but weʼre hardly aware of it.” In 2024, Dunckel composed the score for the film The Good Teacher, directed by Teddy Lussi-Modeste.

Fred_Chichin

Frédéric "Fred" Chichin (French pronunciation: [fʁedeʁik fʁɛd ʃiʃɛ̃]; 1 May 1954 – 28 November 2007) was a French musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He was part of the pop-rock duo Les Rita Mitsouko, along with Catherine Ringer, whom he met in 1979. Prior to his work in Les Rita Mitsouko, Chichin had been active in the rock bands Fassbinder (with Jean Neplin), Taxi Girl (with Daniel Darc), and Gazoline (with Alain Kan).
Chichin died on the morning of 28 November 2007 from heart failure, following complications of the cancer the doctors had diagnosed two months earlier. He was buried 6 December 2007 in a private ceremony at the Parisian cemetery of Montmartre.

Jeanne_Loriod

Jeanne Blanche Armande Loriod (13 July 1928 – 3 August 2001) was a French musician, regarded as the world's leading exponent of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument.Born in Houilles, Yvelines, she was the younger sister of Yvonne Loriod, the pianist and second wife of Olivier Messiaen. She performed all of Messiaen's works for ondes Martenot, most notably the Turangalîla-Symphonie, which she recorded six times. The work was not written for her, however, but for Ginette Martenot, the sister of its inventor Maurice.
Loriod's enormous repertoire included fourteen concertos, some three hundred works with concertante parts for ondes and another 250 chamber works. She also performed in numerous film soundtracks (including – perhaps most accessibly – the 1981 animated feature Heavy Metal), and published a definitive work on the instrument, the three-volume treatise Technique de l’onde electronique type Martenot (1987).
She suffered a stroke and drowned while swimming near Antibes on the French Riviera in August 2001.

Gérard_Jarry

Gérard Jarry (Châtellerault, 6 June 1936 – Saint-Eliph, 18 January 2004) was a French classical violinist. In June 1951, he won the "Premier Grand Prix" at the Concours-Long-Thibaud, at the age of 15. In 1959, he founded the String Trio French, alongside Serge Collot and Michel Tournus.In 1969, he joined Jean-François Paillard's Chamber Orchestra as concertmaster. He was part of the orchestra for thirty three years, during which he recorded Baroque and classical concertos, including the complete concertos of Jean-Marie Leclair, recorded in 1977 which won several major record awards; concertos by Haydn in 1973; Mozart in 1976; and Bach in 1978. In total, with Jean François Paillard, he produced more than 150 recordings (including fifty where he acted as soloist) and performed in more than 2,500 concerts on five continents.
He was a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, and trained several generations of artists, some leading an international career.

François-René_Duchâble

François-René Duchâble (born 22 April 1952, in Paris) is a French pianist. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, and at the age of 13 won the institution's first prize in piano. Three years later, he placed 11th at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, and in 1973 he won the Prix de la Fondation Sacha Schneider. At that time, Duchâble caught the attention of Arthur Rubinstein, who encouraged him to pursue a solo career and helped him secure his first important engagements. Since then, Duchâble has had a successful concert career in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Duchâble has had in his repertoire the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Bartók, Saint-Saëns and Ravel, and solo piano works of Liszt, Chopin, and Poulenc. He has appeared at many prestigious music festivals, including those of Salzburg, Lucerne, Berlin, the London Proms, Lockenhaus, and the Flanders Festival, and has presented concerts at London's Royal Festival Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna. As an orchestral soloist, Duchâble has performed with the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Montreal Symphony. Among his musical collaborators was Micheline Ostermeyer.In 2003, Duchâble stated that he would end his classical recital career, in protest at what he saw as the elitism of the classical music system. He had planned three concerts where in two of them, he would destroy two grand pianos, and in one, he would burn his formal concert dress. He said that he would instead tour with an electronic keyboard around France to give informal concerts.Duchâble was the classical music technical advisor for the Danièle Thompson film Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006), and performed the solo piano works for the soundtrack. The fictional character of "Jean-François Lefort" in this film incorporates elements of Duchâble's own expressed attitudes towards the classical music world.

Jeanne-Marie_Darré

Jeanne-Marie Darré (30 July 1905 – 26 January 1999) was a French classical pianist. She was known for her lyrical and elegant interpretations of the solo works of Chopin and Liszt, and of the Saint-Saëns Concertos. She was awarded the Légion d'honneur and made a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.

Jean-Joël_Barbier

Jean-Joël Barbier (25 March 1920 – 31 May or 1 June 1994) was a French writer, musicologist and pianist.Born in Belfort, Barbier began studying literature and music with Blanche Selva and Lazare Lévy but was interrupted by the onset of World War II.He was a reasonably prolific writer in France, publishing A Dictionary of French Musicians in 1961 and collaborating with La Revue Musicale on a frequent basis. As a pianist, he played mostly the works of French composers such as Claude Debussy, Emmanuel Chabrier and Déodat de Séverac. He later recorded the complete piano works of Erik Satie, which he is most known for today.He died in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.