Claude Ledoux (composer)

Claude Ledoux is a Belgian composer, born in 1960.

For many years now, the composer has explored the idea of "musical crossing borders" as he attempts to reflect our fragmented world in his musical processes. As a result, his works has been marked by interactions between contemporary sounds and popular musics, non-European idioms and technology. His recent works, accordingly, demonstrate this interest in the "cultural porosity" in which emotion arises from geographical and historical encounters, linking spirituality to the most sensual aspects of our material existence.

Passionated by science and art, Ledoux began at 17 y.o. his studies in painting and graphic Art at the Fine Arts School, coupled with music at the Conservatoire de Liège. There, he met Jean-Louis Robert, Philippe Boesmans, Frederic Rzewski, Henri Pousseur and decided for a musical career. He also carried out research into electronic music at the CRFMW studio (today Centre Pousseur) where he met Tristan Murail at the occasion of seminars.

Afterwards, Ledoux pursued his education abroad, notably in Hungary (at Béla Bartók seminar), in Italy (in Bolzano and Venice) where he participated in a seminar by György Ligeti, and finally in Paris where he lived for few years on the occasion of IRCAM courses. At the same time, he studied composition with Iannis Xenakis at the University of Paris I.

As a composer he won several competitions (including Lille, Paris and Lausanne). In 2003 he received the Musical Prize from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation of New York for his recent works. Afterwards, his music has been performed in many towns in Europe - For instance : Brussels [Ars Musica], Liege [Royal Philharmonic of Liege], Paris [Radio-France, Présences, L’Itinéraire, Intercontemporain...], Strasbourg [Musica], Berlin [WDR, Philharmonie]), Turkey [Ankara Radio Symphony orchestra), in Ukraine and Russia, more recently at the ISCM Ljublijana (at the orchestral opening concert 2015 with the Slovenian Radio Orchestra]. He has also performed in North America (with the Colorado Symphony orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra) and Asia (Vietnam, Japan). Latterly, Claude Ledoux has been composer in residence at the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles (Belgium: 1998-2000), subsequently at the Castello of Umbria (Italy: 2003), the Brussels Bozar (2008-2009), Kitara Hall (Japan: 2009), and in Ars Musica (Brussels: 2012).

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