Jean-Louis Agobet

French composer Jean-Louis Agobet (b. 1968) began studying composition in 1983 at the Conservatory of Aix-en-Provence with Michel Pascal, before studying analysis, composition and orchestration with Jacques Charpentier in Nice. He continued his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon with Philippe Manoury, and participated in the Centre Acanthes workshops with Luigi Nono. He also attended the IRCAM composition and computer music course, where he worked with Tristan Murail and Emmanuel Nunes.

His career developed rapidly in the 1990s through commissions from Radio France, the French Ministry of Culture and IRCAM, followed by a two-year residency at the Villa Medici – Académie de France in Rome (1996–1998). He subsequently held composer-in-residence positions with the Orchestre National de Montpellier (1999–2001), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (2001–2005), and the Orchestre National de Lorraine (2013–2015), developing a substantial body of orchestral music.

His catalogue includes major orchestral works such as Phonal (1999), Ritratto Concertante (2000), Génération (2002), Exo (2007), Cello Concerto (2009), Violin Concerto (2013), Oculus (2014), Mabus (2020) and Nucleus (2023). Génération, a concerto grosso for three clarinets and large orchestra, co-commissioned by Radio France and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, received the Victoire de la Musique award for Best Recording of the Year in 2006 in its Timpani recording.

Agobet has received numerous distinctions, including the Special Prize at the Prix Italia (1995), the Prix Pierre Cardin from the Académie des Beaux-Arts (2003), an award from the Académie Charles Cros (2005), the Prix Claude Arrieu (2006), and, in 2021, the Grand Prix de la SACEM for his career.

His music has been commissioned and performed internationally by major orchestras, ensembles and festivals, including Ensemble InterContemporain, L’Itinéraire, Accroche-note, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Festival Musica, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Academy for Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra in Hong Kong, the Royal Northern College of Music Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Suntory Hall, Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Sinfonietta and the San Antonio Symphony. His works have been recorded by Harmonia Mundi, Timpani, Triton and Actes Sud, and are published by Éditions Jobert, Peermusic Classical and Artchipel.

As a teacher, Agobet has given composition courses and masterclasses at institutions in France, the United States, Hong Kong and Japan, including the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, City University of New York, Tufts University, Denver University, the Academy for Performing Arts Hong Kong, and the CNSMD de Paris. Since 2011, he has been Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and is also a lecturer in musicology at Bordeaux Montaigne University.

Today, Agobet’s compositional work is entering a new phase, structured around three long-term cycles: Sonic Once©, a series of one-minute hyper-virtuosic solo works conceived for concert, audiovisual and binaural formats; a new cycle for large orchestra; and the continuation of Helix, a series for solo piano exploring continuity and transformation.

These three cycles now form the principal framework of his compositional work.

September 2026