Emmanuel Séjourné

Emmanuel Séjourné (b. 1961) is a French composer and percussionist, and head of percussion at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. His music is influenced by Western classical music and by popular music (rock, jazz, extra-European music). Séjourné was born in Limoges. After studying classical piano, violin, music history, acoustics and musical analysis at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, Séjourné continued his education there, and in 1976 entered the percussion class of Jean Batigne , founder director of Les Percussions de Strasbourg. Under his guidance, Séjourné became interested in contemporary and improvised music. He won first prize (médaille d'or) in percussion in 1980, and then specialized in mallet percussion. In 1984, he became professor of mallet percussion at the conservatory and won the European Audio-visual Grand Prix for his 1981 CD Saxophone et Percussion. As a player, he is considered one of the most prominent mallet percussionists and expanded vibraphone and marimba performance by introducing six-stick playing and the vibra-midi. He began to compose around the time he began teaching. While continuing his activities on stage and in teaching, Séjourné emphasized composition. In 1984 Séjourné began teaching mallet percussion at the conservatory and became head of the percussion department. He received his Certificat d'Aptitude in percussion in 1991. In 1994, he was appointed academic advisor to the French Ministry of Culture for the preparation of the Certificat d'Aptitude. He regularly sits on the juries of international competitions and gives master classes in the major music academies in Europe, Asia and North America. His educational compositions include a method of mallet percussion in 6 volumes. In his works, Séjourné varies the ensembles, composing for orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists. His music is eclectic. His compositions include incidental music and musicals, as well as dance and film music. He also works as a composer for France Culture, German television networks ARD and ZDF and the Franco-German cultural television channel ARTE.