21st-century French male musicians

Diego_Masson

Diego Masson (born 21 June 1935) is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist.
The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson was born in Tossa de Mar, Spain. He studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Upon graduation, he joined the Domaine Musical as percussionist and began studying conducting with the group's director, Pierre Boulez. In 1966 he formed Musique Vivante, a group specializing in contemporary music which he still directs. Musique Vivante has introduced many important compositions by French and foreign composers, in particular the music of Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1969 Masson conducted the world première of Stockhausen's Stop, which is dedicated to him, and the group also took part in the premières of "Setz die Segel zur Sonne" from Aus den sieben Tagen and the 1972 version of Momente.In addition to conducting specialist new-music groups like the Asko Ensemble, Xenakis Ensemble, the Composers Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Alternance, Ensemble Modern, and Musik Fabrik, he has worked with major orchestras including all the BBC Orchestras, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Collegium Academicum of Geneva, Helsinki Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the New Zealand Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.He is also an acclaimed conductor of opera and ballet. He was music director of the Ballet-Théâtre Contemporain of Amiens from its formation in 1968. In 1972 it moved to Angers, where it was combined with the opera company as the Théâtre Musical d'Angers under Masson's direction. He left in 1975 to become music director of Marseille Opera (until 1981) where, amongst other things, he conducted a Ring cycle. He has been guest conductor with opera companies including Opera North, Scottish Opera and the Aspen Festival. He co-conducted (with Patrick Bailey) the UK premiere of Luigi Nono's Prometeo at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 9 and 10 May 2008.Masson has also worked extensively with youth orchestras: in the UK regularly at Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, and as guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Chetham's School of Music; in the US with the Juilliard Orchestra; and in Australia with the Australian Youth Orchestra. He held conducting masterclasses every year at Dartington International Summer School from 1983 to 2010.
His activities as a composer and arranger were mainly from the early part of his career and included film scores composed for Équivoque 1900 (1966), and two Louis Malle projects, the "William Wilson" segment of the Edgar Allan Poe triptych Histoires extraordinaires (1968), and Black Moon (1975), for which he adapted music by Wagner. He was music director for the latter, as well as for the 1996 French/German television Beethoven biopic La Musique de l'amour: Un amour inachevé.

Pascal_Dusapin

Pascal Georges Dusapin (born 29 May 1955) is a French composer. His music is marked by its microtonality, tension, and energy.
A pupil of Iannis Xenakis and Franco Donatoni and an admirer of Varèse, Dusapin studied at the University of Paris I and Paris VIII during the 1970s. His music is full of "romantic constraint". Despite being a pianist, he refused to compose for the piano until 1997. His melodies have a vocal quality, even in purely instrumental works.
Dusapin has composed solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal, and choral works, as well as several operas, and has been honored with numerous prizes and awards.

Christophe_Coin

Christophe Coin (French: [kwɛ̃]; born 26 January 1958) is a French cellist, viola da gamba player and conductor active in the field of historically informed performance. He is the cellist of the Quatuor Mosaïques and is the director of the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges.

Bernard_Vitet

Bernard Vitet (26 May 1934 – 3 July 2013) was a French trumpeter, multi-instrumentist and composer, co-founder of the first free jazz band in France (1964) together with François Tusques, Michel Portal Unit (1972) and Un Drame Musical Instantané with Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé in 1976.

Henri_Texier

Henri Texier (born 27 January 1945) is a French jazz double bassist.At the age of sixteen, fascinated by the double bass, Texier became a self-taught bassist, crediting Wilbur Ware most as an influence. He formed his first group with Georges Locatelli, Alain Tabar-Nouval, Jean-Max Albert, and Klaus Hagel, inspired by the music of Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman. In spite of an almost absence of recorded documents this group represents one of the first expressions of free jazz in France (1965).From 1968 to 1972, Texier was a member of Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine, along with George Gruntz, Gordon Beck and Daniel Humair. Throughout the 1970s, Texier remained active in Europe on the jazz scene, performing with musicians such as John Abercrombie and Didier Lockwood, among others. In 1982, he formed a quartet with Louis Sclavis. With the trio Romano-Sclavis-Texier, he collaborated in three albums having for theme Africa as seen by the photographer Guy Le Querrec: Carnet de routes, Suite africaine and African Flashback.