Bruno Coulais History and Biography (Lire version française)

Bruno Coulais (born 13 January 1954) is a French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks. Coulais was born in Paris; his father is from Vendée and his mother is an Iraqi Jew. Biography Coulais began his musical education on the violin and piano, aiming to become a composer of contemporary classical music. However, a series of acquaintances gradually re-oriented him towards film music. Coulais was particularly influenced by director François Reichenbach, who asked him in 1977 to write the soundtrack to his new documentary Mexico Magico. The first full-length production he composed the score for was the 1986 film La femme secrète by Sébastien Grall. Until the end of the 1990s, he remained low-profile, composing mainly for television. His name can often be found from TV films by Gérard Marx and Laurent Heynemann. He also composed the soundtracks for Christine Pascal's 1992 film Le petit prince a dit, and Agnès Merlet's Le fils du requin in 1993. In 1994, he met the television producer Josée Dayan, who let him write a theme for the TV series La rivière Esperance, aired on the France 2 network in autumn 1995. He worked with Dayan again with other major productions such as Le comte de Monte-Cristo, Balzac, and Les nuiteux. The largest turning point of his career came in 1996, when he worked with directors Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou of the documentary Microcosmos. This single film, which gave a great significance to the music in it, was a great success and made Coulais one of the most wanted composers of French film music. In 1997, he won the César award for the best musical score in a film, as well as a Victoire de la Musique. His reputation was confirmed by the soundtracks to Himalaya (1999) and Les rivières pourpres (2000), and after that Bruno Coulais's name was to be found on most new French blockbusters, such as Belphégor and Vidocq. After producing the soundtrack to Le peuple migrateur in 2001, Coulais announced that he wanted to significantly reduce his contributions to film music, and instead concentrate on other projects, such as the creation of an opera for children, and collaborations with Akhenaton and the Corsican group A Filetta, with whom he had worked since he had made the soundtrack for Jacques Weber's film Don Juan in 1998. In 2002, his name was found on the ending credits of the animation L'enfant qui voulait être un ours, and in 2004, on Frédéric Schoendoerffer's Agents secrets. The same year, he wrote the soundtrack to the film Les choristes by Christophe Baratier, which subsequently became an international hit. The music for this film received as great praise as the film itself, and it won Coulais his third César award. Since then, Coulais's collaborations in cinema seem to be limited to works by directors with whom he already shares some history, in particular Jacques Perrin, Frédéric Schoendoerffer, and James Huth. Bruno Coulais's musical style may vary significantly between different projects, but there are some constant factors visible: his taste for opera and for human voice (in particular that of children), for a search for original sonority, for world music and mixing different musical cultures, and finally, a certain tendency to give preference to the ambience created by lighting rather than the film's narration. Filmography La femme secrète (1986), by Sebastien Grall Qui trop embrasse (1986), by Jacques Davila Zanzibar (1988), by Christine Pascal La campagne de Cicéron (1990), by Jacques Davila Le jour des rois (1991), by Marie-Claude Treilhou Le fils du requin (1992), by Agnes Merlet Le retour de Casanova (1992), by Edouard Niermans Les équilibristes (1992), by Nico Papatakis Le petit prince a dit (1992), by Christine Pascal Vieille canaille (1992), by Gérard Jourd'hui Waati (1994), by Souleymane Cissé Adultère mode d'emploi (1995), by Christine Pascal Microcosmos, le peuple de l'herbe (1995), by Claude Nuridsany La famille Sapajou (TV) (1997), by Elisabeth Rappeneau Don Juan (1997), by Jacques Weber Déjà mort (1997), by Olivier Dahan Préférence (1997), by Gregoire Delacourt Gaetan et Rachel en toute innocence (1997), by Suzy Cohen Belle maman (1998), by Gabriel Aghion Serial Lover (1998), by James Huth Balzac (TV) (1999), by Josée Dayan Épouse-moi (1999), by Harriet Marin La débandade (1999), by Claude Berri Scènes de crimes (1999), by Frédéric Schoendoerffer Le libertin (1999), by Gabriel Aghion Un dérangement considérable (1999), by Bernard Stora Zaide, un petit air de vengeance (1999), by Josée Dayan Comme un aimant (2000), by Akhenaton Les rivières pourpres (2000), by Mathieu Kassovitz Harrison's Flowers (2000), by Elie Chouraqui Belphégor, le fantôme du Louvre (2000), by Jean-Paul Salomé De l'amour (2000), by Jean-Francois Richet Un aller simple (2000), by Laurent Heynemann Vidocq (2000), by Pitof Origine océan quatre milliards d'annees sous les mers (2001), by Gérald Calderon L'enfant qui voulait être un ours (2001), by Jannick Astrup Genesis (2002), by Claude Nuridsany Les choristes (2003), by Christophe Barratier Agents secrets (2003), by Frédéric Schoendoerffer Je préfère qu'on reste amis... (2004), by Eric Toledano Brice de Nice (2004), by James Huth  Source : Wikipedia.org

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