In-Studio: Gauthier

During my last trip to Paris, I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum. If it is best known for exhibiting the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, it is full of gems that you discover while getting lost in its different galleries. Among these lesser-known paintings, one of them particularly touched me : Magdalena Bay, by French painter François-Auguste Biard (1799-1882).

The work depicts a magnificent snowy landscape on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. However, in the foreground, the presence of the wreckage of a ship, bodies covered in snow and a visibly dying character make us understand that tragic events took place there. Thus, a strong contrast is formed between death and the sublime, between the desolation of the survivors of the shipwreck and the magnificence of the landscape. When we look in more detail at the painting, we notice that footprints have been made in the snow: so, could someone have gone to get help? This little glimmer of hope makes the picture even more touching.

In this work, I tried to describe the different elements of the painting, using contrasting sections and dissonances (in particular, the conflict between the minor and the major) to convey the duality between death and the sublime. The work also attempts to highlight a wide palette of orchestral colors, from the most shimmering lines to the darkest low brass colors.

In 2024, this work was awarded the first prize as well as the band prize in the 9th European Composition Competition for Brass Band, which was held in Palanga (LT). It was premiered on May 2, 2024 by The Cory Band, conducted by Philip Harper.

Magdalena Bay (Brass Band) / Demo by NotePerformer 4

In 2024, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, the Wind Band of the city of Biberist (Switzerland/ conducted by maestro Miguel Etchegoncelay commissioned a work from me which was intended to be rhythmic and catchy. So I thought of a frenetic piece, inhabited by energy and a constant pulsation from the first to the last note. I thus let myself be inspired by the “plasma” state, the fourth state of matter (after the solid, liquid and gaseous states) which makes up, for example, lightning or the sun.

Like a plasma ball, whose colors and shapes constantly vary, the musical material of the work is gradually transformed, both in the rhythmic signatures and harmonies and in the atmospheres: it is the same material, but always under different shape. Sometimes rhythmic and dancing, sometimes solemn and majestic, sometimes soft and lyrical, the work finds its unity in the omnipresence of an ostinato and similar rhythmic and melodic structures.

The work will be premiered in September 2024.

Plasma (Wind Band) / Demo by NotePerformer 4

The main theme of Waterfall was inspired by Gauthier Dupertuis walking near a waterfall that makes his hometown proud. This piece is also a reflection on homesickness. Gauthier Dupertuis composed Waterfall during the Covid-19 lockdown, which prompted him to spend more time with his family, which was very welcome. For him, this waterfall symbolises a return to the sources: the water is no longer the same as it was years ago, but the waterfall is always there, just like in his childhood.

In Gauthier Dupertuis' eyes, Waterfall is a work with a certain sentimental value, as it is his very first real composition.

The work was premiered on 9 October 2020 by the wind orchestra Societat Musical 'La Constància' from Moixent (Spain) under the direction of José Alberto Pina.

Waterfall / La Concordia de Fribourg, Jean-Claude Kolly (conductor)

Stadtharmonie Zürich Oerlikon-Seebach, Leitung Carlo Balmelli, Tonhalle Zürich, 8. Februar 2025

Program Notes
“Anemoia” is the name given by the writer John Koenig to the feeling of nostalgia that one feels for a time that one has never known. This emotion often translates into the uneasy sensation of having lost something important or of not living at the right place or time: who has never felt a pang in the heart when seeing a photograph dating from the Belle Époque or the Trente Glorieuses?
Fascinated by this concept, I tried to translate it into music oscillating between exaltation, anguish and nostalgia. This feeling being universal and deeply personal, the work will undoubtedly find a particular resonance with each person.
I.	(un)desired sorrow 
The first movement first evokes the feeling of unease one feels when suddenly struck by Anemoia. It then evolves into majestic atmospheres, marking our admiration for times gone by. A moment of musical suspension ends the movement: why be so nostalgic for a bygone era, which we know is not fundamentally better than ours? Isn’t this feeling, as unpleasant as it may be, ultimately something that we humans of the 21st century are doomed to seek?
II.	behind the glass of time
The second movement treats Anemoia in a more melancholic way. When seeing that photograph from the early 1910’s, we hear the people in it speak, we imagine the noises, smells, sensations they feel… without being able to truly feel it. Finally, we are reduced to the state of spectators, held back by the impenetrable glass of passing time. All we can do is note the irremediable departure of time… and try to accept it.
The piece was written at the request of my friend Dominik Ziörjen, as part of his master's thesis at the Lausanne University of Music, and also served as my final orchestration work during my studies at the same school. It is dedicated to the most significant figure in my musical life: my teacher Jean-Claude Kolly who, in seven wonderful years of teaching, constantly encouraged and pushed me to flourish in the arts of conducting and composition. 

The premiere took place on December 6, 2024, during Jean-Claude's last concert as a conductor of the Concordia de Fribourg, marking thirty years spent conducting this wonderful wind orchestra.
 
http://stadtharmonie.ch/

Anemoia / Stadtharmonie Zürich Oerlikon-Seebach, Carlo Balmelli (conductor)

Einführung in „La Fest“ von und mit Eric Gauthier an der Staatsoper Stuttgart

Einführung von Miron Hackenbeck

Das Stück in Kürze:
Feste sind Ausnahmezustände und verwandeln den Alltag. Die Oper hatte schon bei ihrer Geburt eine Liaison mit dem Feiern. Weil die einst exklusive Festmusik heute aber allen gehört, laden wir Sie ein, mit uns zu einem Fest zusammenzukommen. Eric Gauthier erkundet in seiner ersten Musiktheaterarbeit, warum und wie Menschen feiern. Gemeinsam mit Sänger*innen, Tänzer*innen, Chor und Orchester durchreist das Publikum die Feste eines Lebens. Auf der Playlist: zwei Jahrhunderte Vokal- und Tanzmusik, darunter unerhörte Raritäten.

https://www.staatsoper-stuttgart.de/spielplan/a-z/la-fest/

La Fest von und mit Eric Gauthier | Audioeinführung

2024 marked the centenary of the Brass Band ‘L'Alpée de Vaulruz’. To mark the occasion, the band teamed up with the village's mixed choir to put on a major musical: ‘Monsieur Bigoudis’. I had the honour of composing the opening piece for this project, which was a great success !
The show was also the last major project of Gérard Descloux, a musician with L'Alpée and a legendary figure in the region's musical world. A few months later, he sadly succumbed to illness, leaving behind a band for which he had worked so hard.
Gérard had particularly appreciated my work : he congratulated me on many occasions, which touched me enormously. So it's only natural that I should dedicate this slow, meditative piece to him, using the main motifs of the overture to the musical : ‘Ô château adoré’. 


A beloved castle / Demo by Noteperformer 4

après de nombreuses années d'absence, le duo de choc me fait l'honneur de poser un classique dans ma chambre ainsi que dans mes WC

freestyle MC DIDI et GAUGAU

Composer and conductor based in Fribourg (Switzerland).

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