Jean-Claude Risset

"Cézanne, as he said, wanted to 'unite feminine curves with hilly shoulders'. Similarly, hybrid synthesizing allowed me to work 'in the actual bones of nature' (Henri Michaux), to produce chimeras, hybrids that unite birds and metal, wood and sea sounds."

A pioneering composer of computer music, Jean-Claude Risset began exploratory work in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, he was the head of the computer music department at IRCAM. His commissions include the French Ministry of Culture, Donaueschingen Festival, Biennale di Venezia, Bayerisches Rundfunk, CERN, and GRM. His articles have been published in Journal de Physique, Physics Today, Science, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Computer Music Journal, and Leonardo Music Journal. His awards include Laureate of Dartmouth International Electronic Music Competition and Magisterium Prize at Bourges. Most recently, in France, he was awarded the highly prestigious CNRS (National Center for Research) Gold Medal, in a line of award recipients that includes Louis de Broglie and Claude Levi-Strauss.

Risset currently composes and pursues research in computer music at the Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique of CNRS in Marseilles.