Life

Gisèle Barreau grew up west of Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

, in Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, and studied with Émile Leipp and Michèle Castellengo for musical acoustics at Jussieu University. She continued her studies with Pierre Schaeffer

Pierre Schaeffer

Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...

 at the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 Conservatory and later with Oliver Messiaen. In 1977 she received a diploma in electroacoustic

Electroacoustic

The term "Electroacoustic" can refer to any of the following:* Electric acoustic guitar – A type of guitar.* Electroacoustic music – A variety of experimental music.* Electroacoustic phenomena – A reaction phenomenon studied in chemistry and physics....

 music from the Groupe de Recherches Musicales

Musique concrète

Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...

 (GRM).

After completing her university studies, Barreau obtained a teaching certificate for music. She was composer-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony

MacDowell Colony

The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...

 in 1978 and resident at the Villa Medici

Villa Medici

The Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French...

from 1980-82. Barreau works as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire.

Honors and awards

• 1st Prize in Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue and Musical Analysis at the Paris Conservatoire
• 1st prize in musical composition, Olivier Messiaen class (1977)
• Koussevitzky Composition Prize (for Tlaloc, 1977)
• Composition Prize of the SACEM Georges Enescu (1978)
• Award of the Ministry of Women's Rights (1986)
• Prix de composition Stéphane Chapelier-Clergue (1988)
• Prix SACEM Partition teaching (for Blue Rain, 2000)

Works

Selected works include:

• Blue Rain for 2 pianos, 2 percussion, 1998
• Océanes for orchestra, 1988
• Piano-Piano for ensemble, 1982
• Little Rain
• Tlaloc, for two percussionists