French composer born in 1977 in Reims.
Trained at the National Conservatories of Reims and Lille, as well as at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMD), Sébastien Béranger studied with Emmanuel Nunes, Michaël Levinas, Yann Geslin, Luis Naón, and Michèle Reverdy. His studies included analysis, composition, and new technologies applied to composition. He holds a Master's degree in Aesthetics and Art Sciences, with a thesis on "The spectrum and acoustic reality generating curved scales in 20th-century music." Sébastien Béranger continued his academic career at the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, where he obtained a doctorate in musicology with a thesis on "Parametric spaces in instrumental music since 1950." His study of the musical translation of mathematical and geometric formulas and graphic representations influenced his own compositional process.
A multifaceted composer with a variety of approaches to music, Sébastien Béranger navigates between writing instrumental scores and live electronic improvisation. He synthesizes, confronts, and fuses the idioms of spectral music, post-serialism, and post-modal trends. Like a sculptor, he works on space as a metaphorical representation of different musical scales (pitch, duration, sound thickness) and explores multi-channel broadcasting and immersive listening systems. He is also interested in the relationship with video, notably collaborating with visual artist Celia Eid; he adds a visual dimension to the sound odyssey and applies real-time processing to the image medium.
Sébastien Béranger composes for all types of ensembles, from solo instruments to orchestras, purely instrumental or mixed works, as well as electroacoustic works. These include Le triangle de Pascal for viola, premiered by Christophe Desjardins at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg (2003); Versus for ensemble and electronics, premiered by the 2e2m ensemble for the Alla Breve program (2012); BWK_extended for ensemble and electronics, premiered by the Concert Impromptu and Bruno Belthoise (2013); [S]mash up for string quartet and electronics, premiered by the Quatuor Parisii at the Extension Festival (2015); Le Tourbillon de la Samare for accordion, premiered by Vincent Lhermet at the Les Musiques Festival in Marseille (2019); Dyades, acousmatic piece (2020); Miroirs||Echos for women's choir, premiered by La Belle Équipe (2022); Vi(e)revolte for soprano saxophone and electronics, premiered by Joël Versavaud at the Propagations festival in Marseille (2023).
Sébastien Béranger also promotes awareness of electroacoustic music and was responsible for education and research at La Muse en Circuit for several years. Since 2019, he has devoted himself to his company Diƒƒƒusion, with hybrid artistic projects at the crossroads of mediation, new technologies, and live performance.