Julien-François Zbinden (11 November 1917 – 8 March 2021) was a Swiss composer and jazz pianist.

Life

Born in

Rolle Rolle () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle (district), Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon District, N ...

Kanton Waadt Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

, Zbinden studied piano in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

and Geneva. He learned

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

mainly autodidactically, but also took lessons with

René Gerber René Gerber (29 June 1908; Travers, Switzerland – 21 October 2006; Bevaix) was a Swiss composer. A student of Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, among others, he taught at the Collège Latin (Neuchâtel) and became the director of the Conservatoire ...

. In 1938 he became pianist of a jazz band. From 1947 he worked at Radio Suisse Romande in Lausanne, first as a recording manager and from 1956 as head of the music department. From 1973 to 1979 and from 1987 to 1991 Zbinden was president of the Swiss Society for the Rights of Authors of Musical Works (

SUISA Suisa is a village in the Tunturi-Suisa panchayat in the Baghmundi CD block in the Jhalda subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Suisa is located at . Suisa is situated at a distance of abou ...

). Zbinden is the winner of numerous prizes: the Henryk Wieniawski Composition Prize in Warsaw (1956), the Grand Prize of the Communauté radiophonique des programmes de langue française, the Swiss Radio Broadcasting Prize, the prize of the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (SACD) and the prize of the Association des amis du Festival international de Lausanne. In 1978, he was appointed to the rank of Officer in the Officier des Arts et des Lettres. and in 1993 he received the Gold Medal of the City of Lausanne. He was an honorary member of the association Les Amis de Maurice Ravel. He lived in Lausanne. Zbinden's catalogue of works comprises more than 100 compositions, including stage works, 5 symphonies (the No. 5, his Op. 100, was premiered in 2007), concertante works, chamber and vocal music for various instrumentations. In his overall tonal language, influences of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

and

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to ...

can be discerned. Zbinden played the piano every day and was still performing in public as late as 2017, the same year he celebrated his

centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

. He died in March 2021 at the age of 103.

Discography

* ''Jazz solo trio sextette'' (1952–1979, with different line-ups) * ''It's the Talk of the Town'' (with Antoine Ogay and

Marcel Papaux Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...

, 2007)
works''
ymphonies 1-4, Torneo veneto op. 64, Prosphora op. 61, Elégie op. 76(2007) (double CD on Gallo label, various artists) * ''Last Call…?'' (2010)

External links

Officiel site web de Julien-François Zbinden
(fr.)
Biographie und Werkverzeichnis bei musinfo.ch
(engl.) *
Julien-François Zbinden
s discography on WorldCat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zbinden, Julien-Francois 1917 births 2021 deaths 20th-century classical composers Men centenarians Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from Rolle Swiss centenarians Swiss jazz pianists 20th-century Swiss composers Lausanne Conservatory alumni

Life

Discography

Further reading

External links

References