The French composer Yann Robin began his musical studies in Aix-en-Provence. He later joined the jazz class at the Conservatoire National de Région in Marseilles and simultaneously studied composition with Georges Boeuf. He was awarded the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire National in Paris in the composition class of Frédéric Durieux and the analysis class of Michaël Levinas. He received a grant from the Meyer Foundation, and was awarded a 1st Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts as well as from the Salabert Foundation, and in 2011 Grand Prix de la Musique Symphonique from SACEM. From 2006 to 2008, he attended the two-year curriculum at IRCAM.
The Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain commissioned him to write Art of Metal, a concerto for metal contrabass clarinet and ensemble, the first part of a triptych for the instrument, prepared in close collaboration with Alain Billiard. Next came Art of Metal II (for metal contrabass clarinet and electronics) as well as Art of Metal III (for metal contrabass clarinet, ensemble and electronics), premiered at the Agora Festival in 2008 by the Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Susanna Mälkki. Between 2006 and 2008, Yann Robin was guest composer with the Orchestre National in Lille.
A monographic recording for the Kairos label’s Sirènes collection, with the Ensemble intercontemporain and IRCAM, was released in 2012. During 2008 and 2009, he contributed, as research composer at IRCAM in conjunction with Gérard Assayag and d’Arshia Cont, to the continuing work on the Omax programme.
His music is performed in France and other countries in concert halls such as Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), the KKL (Lucerne) and Lincoln Center (New York) as well as in festivals such as Agora, Donaueschingen, Musica, Biennale de Venise, Présences, Gaudeamus, Lucerne Festival, and others.
In addition to chamber music works, in particular the String Quartet No. 2 for the 2011 Aix-en-Provence Festival, he received a co-commission from IRCAM and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France for Inferno, a work for large orchestra and electronics based on the cartography of Hell by Dante, which was premiered at the Agora Festival in 2012. He received another co-commission for the same year, from the New York Philharmonic and the Casa da Música in Oporto. In 2013, he will compose a large orchestral work for the SWR Baden-Baden und Freiburg that will be presented at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg. In 2014, he will pursue his orchestral work with a newly commissioned piece for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
In 2005, he and other composers founded Ensemble Multilatérale, of which he later became the artistic director. In 2009 and 2010, he was a fellow at the French Academy in Rome (Villa Médicis), where he launched a new contemporary music festival, the Controtempo Festival, which he still programmes. His music is published by Editions Jobert.
Selected works: Chaostika for percussion and electronics (2005), Les histoires parallèles for 15 instruments (2005), Polycosm for orchestra and five traditional instruments (2005), Ni l’un ni l’autre for dancers, mezzo-soprano, cello and saxophone (2006), Schizophrenia for clarinet and soprano saxophone (2006), Art of Metal I for metal contrabass clarinet and ensemble (2006), Art of Metal II for metal contrabass clarinet and electronics (2007), Art of Metal III for metal contrabass clarinet, ensemble and electronics (2008), Dementia Praecox for orchestra (2008), Rilke Fragment for a cappella choir (2009), Vulcano for orchestra (2010) Con fuoco for cello and piano (2011), Crescent Scratches for string quartet (2011), Backdraft for ensemble (2012), Inferno for orchestra and electronics (2012).
