French composer Michel Bosc (born in 1963) is largely self-taught. In 1985, the French singer and composer William Sheller convinced him to devote himself to writing music. Since then, he has tackled registers as diverse as chamber music, symphonies, sacred music and music for the theatre.
Leading soloists have given Michel Bosc encouragement, among them the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal (for a flute trio), the countertenors James Bowman and Bertrand Dazin (creators of his cantata Ils sont là), the soprano Natalie Dessay (for the melody Madinina), John Walz, first cello of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera and Monica Cecconi-Botella, composer and premier Grand Prix de Rome (for the Elégie for strings).
A member of the Société Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michel Bosc is a distinguished music critic and analyst. His writings include the sleeve-notes for a recording of French Baroque
music by the Petits Chanteurs de Versailles.
As a composer, Michel Bosc is the author of over two hundred pieces of music; many of them have been played in places as diverse as Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Gaveau, Musée d'Orsay, Palais
de Tokyo), Angers, Saumur, Tours, Fontevrault, Annecy, Strasbourg, Lille, Lyon, Poitiers, Toulon, but also Wavre (Belgium), Landgoed Vilsteren (The Netherlands), Madrid (Spain),
Brno (Czech Republic), Bruchsal (Deutschland), Pasadena and San Jose (USA), Yokohama, Tokyo and Kobe (Japan) .
As an orchestrator, he has done several arrangements and transcriptions for symphony or chamber orchestras.
His work spans over a wide range of styles: symphony, symphonic poem, choral music, concerto, string quartet, opera, wind quintet, brass quintet, trio with piano, melodies… His sacred music
includes a mass, a requiem, a set of “Leçons de Ténèbres” and two oratorios.
Bosc's works have been performed worldwide by such performers and ensembles as Jean-Walter Audoli, Hugues Reiner, Philippe Fournier and
Maximilian Fröschl, the soprano Agnès Mellon, the choir conductor Michel Laplénie, the Ensemble Sagittarius, the brass quintet
of the Orchestre National des Pays-de-Loire, the Orchestre Pasdeloup, the National Orchestra of Kazakhstan, the Academic Symphony
Orchestra of the Ulyanovsk Philharmonia, the European Orchestra, the Orchestre Instrumental d’Ile-de-France, the Orchestre
Symphonique Lyonnais and the Ensemble Gabriele Leone.
The music of Michel Bosc is both tonal and highly personal, marked by a fierce, independent hedonism. In the words of conductor Maximilian Fröschl, Bosc’s music combines
“melodic sweetness, polyphonic rigor and the power of rhythm”.
Several works of Michel Bosc are published in the United States by Wolfhead music, Aedam Musicae, Fabrik Music. Compilations of scores are also available on lulu.com. More information and details about Michel Bosc's works can be found here.
Michel Bosc has written several books in French:
- novels: Marie-Louise - L'Or et la Ressource ; Poste restante ; L'amour et son ombre ; Heureux, et alors ? ; Comme les doigts de la main.
- fantastic novels: Le coquillage brisé
- plays: Viendras-tu ? ; La Chute de Minos ; Loups.
- poetry book: Cathédrales;
- essays: Musique baroque française, splendeurs et résurrection; Symbolisme et dramaturgie de Maeterlinck dans Pelléas et Mélisande; Au Bout du rêve, La Belle au Bois dormant de Walt Disney; L’Art musical de Walt Disney : l’animation de 1928 à 1966 ; Jill Feldman, soprano incandescente ; Bernard Galais, la discrétion faite harpe ; L'héritage d'Allan Kardec, validé et méconnu ; Langue française et musiques, mille ans d’enjeux ; L'ilot Victoria, des idées et des hommes - Un laboratoire sociétal, 1859-1966
- study: Mannequins GéGé, Chic de Paris ; Mily, la poupée dans le vent ; Le jouet, miroir de la France, 1900-2000.
- a series of novels/colouring books for children: Les Z'aventures de Zabounette.
He occasionally wrote for the musical magazine La Lettre du musicien.