Patrick Loiseleur

biography

Music has always held a central place in my life, but it is not currently my livelihood. Like Charles Ives and many other composers, I enjoy total creative freedom because I am not particularly seeking to win competitions or obtain public commissions. Nevertheless, I see musical composition as a full-fledged profession and a noble mission worthy of dedicating the best of my life to.

I have been privileged to have my music performed magnificently by great interpreters, some of whom are also dear friends: violists Vincent Royer, Karine Lethiec, and Laurent Camatte; trombonist Alain Pire; pianists Philippe Hattat, Axia Marinescu, and Orlando Bass; violinists Rachel Koblyakov, Saskia Lethiec, and Geneviève Laurenceau; cellist Christophe Beau; baritones L’Oiseleur des Longchamps and Alejandro Gabor; sopranos Aurélie Ligerot, Sevan Manoukian, Mathilde Rossignol, Sabine Revaut d’Allonnes, and many others… May all these wonderful people be thanked a thousand times for their talent, curiosity, commitment, and generosity.

I studied composition and orchestration at the ENM-Alfred Cortot in Paris with Michel Merlet from 2007 to 2009, viola with Pierre-Henri Xuereb (viola degree in 2010), and music composition at the Liège Conservatory, where I obtained a specialized Master’s degree in 2013. Since 2022, I have also taken up double bass and jazz, which have become my two new passions.

I love writing music for my friends, but also words in the Journal de Papageno, my blog (in French) where, since 2007, I have been sharing my favorites as well as my thoughts on my work and contemporary music.

My style is often described as unclassifiable, characterized by blends and contrasts: it may feature elements of tonal music alongside serial, noise-based, or archaic elements, alternating or even superimposed. Nevertheless, it remains strongly influenced by French music from Ravel to Messiaen and Grisey. Far from any academicism and always seeking to express contrasting emotions sincerely, my music, always respectful of performers and voices, is characterized by great freedom. Theater is taking an increasingly prominent role, with a first opera, Papageno and Tindarella, composed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a Broadway-style musical currently in progress.

Beyond music, I am also an engineer specializing in software architecture and quantitative finance (currently employed by a major bank). I worked part-time for many years (from 2008 to 2021) and am infinitely grateful to my employer for giving me this precious opportunity to pursue parallel careers.

Last but not least, I am seriously committed to children rights's advocacy with the organization Face à l’Inceste since 2016. I have authored or co-authored three practical books (in French language) dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse: