Jean-Pierre Guézec

Composer Jean-Pierre Guézec was born in 1934 in Dijon and died of a sudden heart attack in 1971. After studying the violin, he studied composition at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen, Darius Milhaud and Jean Rivier. Messiaen commented that Guézec had a remarkably original way of writing music, characterised by stratification and the overwriting of various timbres. Guézec had initial success with the “Suite pour Mondrian” for orchestra. In 1963 he won the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Centre composition prize, and in 1968 the very first Grand Prix for symphonic works from the French music authors’ association SACEM. In 1969 Guézec succeeded Messiaen as professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Paris.