Claire Gibault
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and politician
Politics of France
France is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of France is head of state and the Prime Minister of France is the head of government, and there is a pluriform, multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is...
and a Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
for the south-east of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. She is a member of the Union for French Democracy
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
, which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is a transnational alliance between two European political parties: the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and the European Democratic Party. It has political groups in the European Parliament, the EU Committee of the Regions, the...
, and sits on the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
's Committee on Culture and Education and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.
She is also a member of the delegation to the EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
–Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
Joint Parliamentary Committee and a substitute for the delegation for relations with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Career
- Baccalaureate
- First prize for violin at the Le Mans conservatory of music (1958)
- Prize for harmony, fugue, counterpoint, aesthetics and the history of music, Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music (CNSM) (1968)
- First prize for conducting the CNSM orchestra, Paris (1969)
- Conductor of the Opéra orchestra, Lyons
- director of vocal training (solo and choral), Opéra of Lyons (1971–1978)
- Conductor of the Chambéry and Savoy orchestra (1977–1984)
- Musical director of Musica per Roma (2000–2002)
- Numerous concerts in Europe and the United States
- KnightKnightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the National Order of Merit - KnightKnightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the Legion of Honour - Officer of the Ordre des Palmes académiquesPalmes académiquesThe Ordre des Palmes Académiques is an Order of Chivalry of France for academics and cultural and educational figures...
Political career
Since 2004 Claire Gibault has been an MEP, a member of the Committee on Culture and Education and of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She was rapporteure for a draft report on the social status of artists in Europe, approved by a large majority in June 2007.Claire Gibault tries to defend modern feminism in order to give women the opportunity to have the same chances of success as men. This is what she is committed to within the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee, on matters concerning women and poverty, the reconciliation of working life and family life or women migrants.
Artistic career
Born in Le Mans, that is where Claire Gibault began her studies. She won first prize for violin and chamber music at the Le Mans Conservatory before going to the Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music where she received first prizes for Orchestra Conducting, Harmony, Fugue and Counterpoint.From 1976 to 1983 she was Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Chambéry, and from 1983 to 1989 assistant to John Eliot Gardiner, then Music Director of the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon.
In 1995, she became the first woman to conduct the La Scala orchestra on the occasion of the creation of the Opera "La Station Thermale" by Fabio Vacchi and in 1997 she conducted the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with the Opera "Jacob Lenz" by Wolfgang Rihm.
She was in charge of the Lyrical and Choral Workshop of the Opéra de Lyon between 1991 and 1998. There she was responsible for the musical direction of numerous productions, notably Pelléas et Mélisande, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La Finta Giardiniera, Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz, Orfeo by Monteverdi, Les Brigands by Offenbach, L'Heure Espagnole and L'Enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel, Haydn's Il Mondo della luna, Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, The Rape of Lucretia by Britten and Le Chapeau de paille d'Italie by Nina Rota, whilst La Station Thermale (recorded by Ricordi) and Les Oiseaux de Passage by Fabio Vacchi and Dédale by Hugues Dufourt (recorded on CD by MFA/Radio France) are among her world creations.
Between January 2000 and 2002, she was Music Director of Musica per Roma, where she created the Laboratorio Voci in Musica. Presented there with her conducting were Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Die Entfurung aus dem Serail, Henze's Pollicino, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel and Bernstein's West Side Story.
She has also conducted Pelléas et Mélisande (Covent Garden, London), Le Comte Ory (Glyndebourne Festival), Cosi fan tutte (Opera North), Chabrier's L'Etoile (Edinburgh Festival), Zaïde and Der Schauspieldirektor (Bastille), L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (Châtelet), Boîeldieu's La Dame Blanche (Opéra Comique de Paris), Mirthridate, La Donna del lago, Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro and Bastien und Bastienne (Nice), La Clemenza di Tito (Orléans), La Traviata (Nancy), Idomeneo and Cosi fan tutte (Liège), Maria Stuarda (Torino), La Cenerentola (Rome) and Les Oiseaux de passage (Bologna).
She was Claudio Abbado's assistant for Pelléas et Mélisande at the Royal Opera House, La Scala and the Vienna Opera House.
In November 2002, she made her debut at the Washington Opera, conducting Mozart's Idomeneo with Plácido Domingo in the title role.
In February 2003, she conducted a world creation of Fabio Vacchi at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and in March 2004 she conducted the Copenhagen Philharmonic for the first time.
In 2005, she adapted into French and conducted Henze's Pollicino at the Châtelet theatre.
During the same season, she conducted concerts with the Orchestra Mozart Bologna and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, and recorded Fabio Vacchi's music for the film Gabrielle by Patrice Chéreau.
In 2006, she conducted the New Year concert with the orchestra of the Antwerp Opera, in February the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, in March the Orchestra Mozart Bologna, in April the Savoie Orchestra, and in May the opera Peter Pan by Patrick Burgan at the Châtelet theatre.
Claire Gibault has conducted concerts all over France and in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and the United States. She has been invited by the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
, the RAI Sinfonica Nazionale Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium and the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra. She has recorded works by Beethoven and Schubert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also worked in Denmark with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra and in Sweden with the Våsterås Sinfonietta.
Today, she is assistant orchestra conductor with Claudio Abbado for the new Orchestra Mozart Bologna