Pascal Gallois

As an artist of many talents and uncontested master of the bassoon, that most uncompromising and enigmatic of wind instruments, Pascal Gallois is a soloist, orchestral musician and teacher who is making his mark as a conductor in a necessary extension of his artistic commitment.

His first performance of Berio's “Sequenza XII” was a decisive turning point in his carreer as was the bassoon version of “Dialogue de l'ombre double” by Pierre Boulez and, more recently, Wolfgang Rihm's “Psalmus” (2007) for bassoon and orchestra. Not content to be summoned to play in exceptional concerts by artists like Maurizio Pollini, he also takes pleasure in organizing what he calls his “Moments Musicaux” for his many friends and himself which are as sensational as they are sought-after, like the 85th birthday Concert for Pierre Boulez at the Paris Museum of Arts and Crafts in a programme of Boulez and Beethoven with the clarinettist Jörg Widmann. Or, for Henri Dutilleux 95th Birthday at the Hôtel de Lauzun. He records his contemporaries with the same enthusiasm, from Pierre Boulez to György Kurtág and Luciano Berio to Olga Neuwirth, to mention just a few.

Pascal's social commitment means that he is convinced that music deserves better than just a place of honour in society. And it is with determination that he directs one of the big conservatoires in the heart of Paris. He also initiated in 2015, the Musicales de Quiberon, a festival where modernity and classisism meets. If now conducting is at the center of his musical life, it is to pursue the end he has always sought : to communicate his passion for music and his decidedly original perspective on contemporary and classical repertory.

Or, if you like, to make you listen to the history of music.