Camille Pépin Essentials

Camille Pépin’s rigorously crafted music for orchestra and chamber ensemble builds up organically, patiently traversing broad expanses of time and sound textures. Born in 1990 in northern France, Pépin studied at the Regional Conservatory in her hometown of Amiens and at the Paris Conservatory. Notable composers with whom she studied include Guillaume Connesson and Marc-André Dalbavie. Pépin rose to prominence in 2015, when she won a "young composer" Grand Prize from the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music. Her orchestral piece Vajrayana, from the same year, was premiered at the Philharmonie de Paris by the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France. Fuelled by percussion, it progresses in short, lively sections, with quicksilver turns to beguiling sonorities; it is a great place to start. Another orchestral work, Laniakea, was premiered in 2019 by the Orchestre National de Lyon, led by famed American conductor Leonard Slatkin. Pépin’s first album, Chamber Music (2019), features the French composer’s distinctive knack for orchestral colouring and tempo variation, albeit set to smaller forces. She was the 2020-21 composer in residence at the Besançon International Music Festival.