DELEUZE, Jean-Pierre

Born in Ath (Belgium) in 1954, Jean-Pierre Deleuze studied at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. From 1981 to 1986 he worked on Musical Analysis and Composition with Marcel Quinet. A Master Class with Olivier Messiaen in 1987 had an important effect on his esthetic orientation.

His musical language was initially influenced by Alexander Scriabin’s last works, which led him to search for a “harmonically coloured” music. Later he started to introduce microtones into some of his works. In 1998 the Académie Royale de Belgique awarded him the Irène Fuerison Prize for his “Ellipsen” (trio for clarinet, violin and piano). In this work the use of non-tempered sounds led him to build a mode based on the alignment of harmonics. The influence of spectral esthetic and oriental concepts has become more and more present. This is particularly evident in “Quatre Haïku, évocations poétiques pour orgue” (created at Sapporo in 2004) and in “Âlap” (2005) for bansouri, arpeggione and guitar and even in “Vues sur le jardin de lumières” (2009) for piano and string quartet.

In 1989 he was appointed Professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Belgium). He has developed an original pedagogical program using the critical study of syntax, techniques, forms and styles of great composers from the Renaissance and Baroque periods right through to the techniques of different 20th Century composers. In January 2007 he was elected member of the Académie Royale de Belgique.

works