Paul Sauvanet

Paul Sauvanet was born in the south of France in 1950. He received his formal music education at the Conservatory of Music in Bordeaux and Paris, training as a concert pianist and classical percussion-ist. He won prizes at both schools for counterpoint, and took first prize at Bordeaux for musical composition and harmony. Although this background suggests he might be most comfortable with the European classical tradition, in truth he is inspired equally by all of the music that he loves: baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist, world music, and American jazz.

He also has a taste and talent for contemporary electronic music. He first gained an interest in the field when he heard the music of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream in the 1970s, and began using synthesizers during his tenure then as professor at the Conservatory of Music in Aix-en-Provence. Since 1991 he has headed the electronic music department at the Dordogne Ecole Nationale de Musique.