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Edith LEJET
Born in 1941 in Paris, France
Died on july 15, 2024 in Paris
Composer

CURRENT POSITION

With Maurice Ohana and Odile Marcel, 1974

EDUCATION

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 Radio’s 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).

Lejet’s 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)

• Sept. 1970 : Taught written harmony until June 1972.

- At Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP)

- At Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot

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.