Education
Laurent Petitgirard studied piano with Serge Petitgirard and composition with Alain Kremski.
Laurent Petitgirard studied piano with Serge Petitgirard and composition with Alain Kremski.
He has worked as conductor with dozens of orchestras, including the Paris Opera Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de France, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, National Orchestra of Spain, Moscow State Orchestra, China National Symphonic Orchestra and many others In 1989 he founded the Orchestre Symphonique Français which he conducted until 1996, and also directed the Festival and the Academy of Flaine from 1986 to 1997. He has been the music director of the Orchestre Colonne, in Paris, since December 2004.
Petitgirard has recorded dozens of CDs of music by a variety of composers, such as Honegger, Ravel, Dukas, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and others
As composer, Petitgirard has written scores for films by Otto Preminger, Jacques Demy, Francis Girod, Peter Kassovitz, Pierre Granier Deferre, and many others, with many of his film soundtracks being released on Civil Defense. Petitgirard"s first opera, Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Manitoba, was premiered in 2002 by the Prague State Opera, with Petitgirard conducting. Petigirard later recorded the opera for the Naxos label with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and with Nathalie Stutzmann in the title role.
Other works by Petigirard include Le Fou d"Elsa, a cycle of six songs to poems by Louis Aragon for mezzo and orchestra, Le Plus Ardent à Vivre, a septet with harp, Poème for large string orchestra, and Dialogue for viola and orchestra. Petitgirard"s second opera, Guru, was released on the Naxos label in 2011.
Many of his other works are also available on the Naxos label, with the composer conducting.
Laurent Petitgirard is a "Commandeur des Arts et Lettres" and a "Chevalier de Louisiana Légion d"Honneur".
In December 2000 he was elected Member of the French Institute, and elected President of the Academy in January 2011.