Yann Robin

Yann Robin
Period: 2009-2010
Profession: Composer Yann Robin, a French composer, began his musical studies in Aix-en-Provence. He then entered the jazz class at the CNR de Marseille, and at the same time joined Georges Bœuf’s composition class. He went on to study harmony and counterpoint at the CNR in Paris and musicology at the Sorbonne. At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, he won first prize in composition with Frédéric Durieux and in analysis with Michaël Levinas. In 2004, he took part in Jonathan Harvey’s composition course at the Centre Acanthes, and the following year resided at the Fondation Royaumont. In 2006, he was selected for the 4th Forum de l’Ensemble Aleph. That same year, he received a grant from the Meyer Foundation. From 2006 to 2008, he attended the two-year computer science course at IRCAM. In 2008, he received a prize from the Fondation Salabert and a grant from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 2003, he received his first state commission and won the Concours International de Composition Frédéric Mompou in Barcelona. In 2004, the Ensemble InterContemporain created his Quatuor
Phigures. In 2005, he was in residence at La Muse en Circuit, producing
Chaostika for percussion and electronics. For UNESCO’s 60th anniversary, he wrote
Polycosm for five traditional instruments and large orchestra. Following a commission from ARCAL, he moved into musical theater with
Ni l’un ni l’autre , a project inspired by Goethe’s novel
Les Années d’apprentissage de Wilhelm Meister . The Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain commissioned him to write
Art of Metal , a concerto for contrabass clarinet and ensemble, initiating a cycle of three pieces for this instrument, produced in close collaboration with Alain Billard. This was followed by
Art of Metal II (for contrabass clarinet and electronics) and
Art of Metal III (for contrabass clarinet, ensemble and electronics), premiered at the Festival Agora in 2008 by the Ensemble Intercontemprorain, conducted by Susanna Mälkki. That same year, he was commissioned by the Lucerne Festival to create
Titans for 12 percussionists, and by Radio France for the Festival Présences to create
Count Down for ensemble. From 2006 to 2008, he was guest composer with the Orchestre National de Lille, for which he wrote two pieces. Planned for 2009 are: a commission from GMEM for string quartet and electronics in collaboration with Quatuor Diotima, and a piece for Ensemble Intercontemporain using its full ensemble. Since November 2008, as a research composer at IRCAM, he has been taking part in the ongoing work on the Omax program alongside Gérard Assayag and Arshia Cont. His music has been performed in France and abroad at venues such as the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), the KKL (Lucerne) and the Lincoln Center (New York), as well as at festivals such as Agora, Musica, Donaueschingen, Manca, Archipel, Présences, Gaudeamus, Why Note… In 2005, together with other composers, he founded the Ensemble Multilatérale and became its artistic director. From 2009 to 2010, he was a resident at the Villa Médicis in Rome. His music is published by Editions Jobert.