Biography
Edith LEJET
Born in 1941 in Paris, France
Died on july 15, 2024 in Paris
Composer
CURRENT POSITION
Emeritus Professor, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (Cité de la Musique)
Professor of Composition, Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot
114 bis, boulevard Malesherbes, 75017 Paris
With Maurice Ohana and Odile Marcel, 1974
EDUCATION
Baccalaureate in Mathematics, 1958, Lycée Molière,
Paris
CAEM (Certificat dAptitude à l'Enseignement Musical, Education Nationale), 1965
Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de
Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) :
1958-1968
FIRST
PRIZE HONOURS AT CNSMDP
- Aesthetics (class of Marcel Beaufils)
- Harmony (class of Henri Challan)
- Counterpoint (class of Marcel Bitsch)
- Fugue (class of Marcel Bitsch)
- Composition (class of Jean Rivier, then André Jolivet)
At the Conservatoire, she studied Composition with
Jean Rivier and André Jolivet, whose classes
were frequently augmented by the outstanding teaching of Henri
Dutilleux. She credits her friendship at that time with composer
Maurice Ohana to be an important contribution to her training.
Trainee with the Groupe de Recherche Musicale of Radio-France
(GRM), 1966
Concurrent with, but outside her studies at CNSMDP,
she participated as a trainee in introductory courses to electro-acoustic
music organized in 1966 by the group under the guidance of François
Bayle.
Summer Scholarship
As an undergraduate, she was awarded a scholarship
by the French Foreign Ministry to two summer courses in composition
with composer Virgilio Mortari.
Virgilio Mortari is co-author with Alfredo Casella of the well-known "Treatise of Orchestration". The courses were held
at Chigiana Academy in Siena in 1965, and in Venice at the Conservatory
Benedetto Marcello in 1966.
OTHER
HONOURS
- « Grand Prix de Rome de Composition »
- Fellowship holder of Artistic Section of « Casa de Velazquez
» in Madrid, 1968-1970, where she attended
concerts and conferences organized by the Alea Group, and had contacts
with Luis de Pablo and Cristobal Halffter.
- Prix Bleustein-Blanchet pour la Vocation
- Prix Florence Gould (Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris)
- William and Noma Copley Foundation Award (Chicago)
- Prix Hervé Dugardin (SACEM, Paris)
- Grand Prix de la Musique de Chambre (SACEM, Paris)
- 2003 : Prix Nadia et Lili Boulanger [Académie des Beaux-Arts,
Paris]
Georges
Auric makes the presentation of the quadrennial
award for composers "Prix de la Confédération
des travailleurs
intellectuels", to E.L., 1967
COMPOSING
CAREER
Lejet has composed numerous works which were published by Amphion,
Lemoine, Billaudot, Transatlantiques, Eschig.
These published works have been performed by orchestras or instrumental
groups such as the New Philarmonic Orchestra of Radio-France, Ars
Nova, 2e 2m, Musique Vivante, in festivals such as Royan, the Festival
of Nordic Music in Oslo etc. , and in concert series such as les
Mardis de Radio-France, les Concerts-Lectures de France-Musique,
Espace Contemporain etc.
They have been frequently featured, including a few programmes entirely
devoted to her work with interviews, in broadcasts over Radios
France Culture and France Musique.
In addition, her compositions were broadcast on foreign radio stations
in Japan, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland,
Spain, Portugal, and Yugoslavia, to name a few.
Six of her works for instrumental groups have been recorded on a CD released in November 2004 (Mandala, distributed by Harmonia Mundi).
Lejets works, which are not aesthetically linked to any particular
trend or school, are characterized by conciseness and carefully-selected
material with meticulous research about the form.
ACADEMIC CAREER
- At Paris-Sorbonne University (Institut de Musicologie)
- At Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP)
-
Jan. 1972 : Conservatoire National
Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP). Professor
of Theory in the Voice Department (sightreading), replacing Janine
Rueff.
- Jan. 1975 : Granted tenure at CNSMDP
- Oct. 1987 : Taught the class "Instrumentation et Orchestration" in lieu of Marius Constant for one academic year at the request of Alain Louvier (then Director of the CNSMDP).
- Oct. 1988 : Named full professor at CNSMDP for Écriture, (a course that offered musical composition theory using several styles), replacing Marcel Bitsch, teaching Fugue.
- Oct. 1992 : Placed in charge of a new class focusing on modernist styles of the twentieth century. The class, "Écriture : Musique du XXème Siècle", had just been created by Xavier Darasse (then Director of the CNSNDP).
- Sept. 2005 : retirement from this activity, Alain Mabit takes over.
- At Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot
- 2004 : appointment to a teaching
post of Composition.
These teaching responsibilities,
plus extra activities such as conducting a Composition workshop
at the invitation of both the French Cultural Centre and Gutenberg
University of Mainz, Germany, enhance her artistic creativity while
leaving contemporary composition as her primary focus.
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