Composer Sophie Lacaze, born in 1963 in Lourdes (France), studied music at the Conservatoire National de Région in Toulouse while pursuing scientific studies (she earned an engineering degree and a DEA in environmental physics and chemistry in 1985). She then attended the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where she notably obtained a diploma in composition. Afterwards, she studied with Allain Gaussin, Antoine Tisne and Philippe Manoury in France, and with Franco Donatoni (composition) and Ennio Morricone (film music) at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena (Italy). She also attended Pierre Boulez’s lectures at the Collège de France and explored musical theater with Georges Aperghis at the Centre Acanthes. In 2002, she was invited to Australia for a several-month residency at the Electronic Music Unit of the University of Adelaide.

For about twenty years, she has been working with numerous ensembles and soloists in France and abroad. Her compositions, which range from works for solo instruments to chamber and orchestral music, with also three operas and works with tape, are regularly performed in more than 20 countries.

A winner of several international competitions (Italy, Romania, Great Britain), she was the first woman to receive the prestigious Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs (2009) and Claude Arrieu Prize from SACEM (2010). In 2012, she was honored by the Beaumarchais-SACD Association. In 2023, she was named one of the 100 Femmes de Culture of the year, a distinction that highlights the inspiring and creative voices of Francophone women in culture.

Her music is performed in leading festivals and venues in
France (for example RadioFrance Occitanie Festival, les Chantiers de la Creation Musicale de l’Orchestre National de Lyon, 38e Rugissants, Aujourd’hui Musiques Festival – Perpignan, Convention Internationale de la Flute – Levallois-Perret, Electr()cution – Brest, Expériences du Son by Motus – Paris, Festival d’Autan, Festival de danse et des arts multiples – Marseille, MANCA Festival – Nice, Journées nationales de l’électroacoustique – Amiens, Klang! Festival – Montpellier, Le Son MiRé Festival – Fabrezan, MIA, Printemps Musical and Sons d’Automne festivals – Annecy, Musicora, Musique et Architecture – Angers, Musique Française en Provence, Musique Sacrée à la Cathédrale de Nantes, Piano in Mayenne, Rencontres Musicales ProQuartet – Fontainebleau, les Rencontres Contemporaines – Saint Privat d’Allier, Rencontres Internationales de Composition Musicale – Cergy-Pontoise, la Semaine Cathédrale – Albi, International Week of Electroacoustic Music SIME – Lille, les Vendredis baroques de Dardilly, Vibrez Classique de Saint-Avé, World Saxophone Congress and Festival SaxOpen – Strasbourg, and many others),
Australia (Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australian Flute Festival, Barossa Music Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney),
Austria (Styriarte LunchKonzerte – Graz),
Belgium (Happy New Ears Festival – Kortrijk, 2de Belgisch Fluitfestival and Courants d’air Festival – Brussels, Philharmonie in Namur, Philharmonie in Liège, Les printemps de Saint Laurent),
Brazil (Musica Nova Festival and Alliance Française – Rio de Janeiro, International Viola Congress – Campinas),
Chile (Festival musical Chiloe),
China (Oriental Art Center and Concert Hall – Shanghai),
Czech Republic (Festival Forfest – Kromeríž),
Germany (Brandenburger Theatre, French Institute and Nordische Botschaften – Berlin),
Japan (Festival de Musique Francaise – Tokyo, Hamamatsu International Wind Instruments Academy and Festival),
Lithuania (Contemporary Music Festival « Is Arti »),
Luxembourg (the Luxembourg Philharmonic, Rainy Days Festival – Luxembourg, MusicDays Vianden),
Monaco (Printemps des Arts Festival – Monte-Carlo),
Poland (Festival de musique franco-polonaise – Krakow, « Laboratorium Muzyki Wspólczesnej » International Festival and « Ogrody Muzyczne » Festival – Warsaw),
Portugal (Musical Bounce Back in Braga),
Romania (New Music International Week in Bucharest, Contemporary Music Festival in Bacau, Iasi Philharmonie),
Serbia (Alternative film & video festival, Belgrade),
South Africa (New Music Indaba Festival – Bloemfontein, Baxter Concert Hall – Cape Town),
Spain (LOOP Video Art Festival and Barcelona Modern Festival – Barcelona, Bernaola Festival – Vitoria-Gasteiz, Il Encuentro Internacional de Compositores CSM Manuel Castillo – Sevilla, ME_MMIX in Palma de Mallorca),
Sweden (Grünewaldsale – Stockholm; Malmö Live – Malmö),
Switzerland (Schubertiade de Sion, les Aubes Musicales de Geneve, Schubertiade Espace 2 – Monthey, La Cote Flute Festival – Gland),
UK (Barbican Hall, Maida Vale Studio 1 and Razumovsky Academy – London; Festival Fresco – Manchester),
Ukraine (Festival 2D2N),
USA (American Flute convention – New Orleans, Barnes/Stokowski Festival – Philadelphia, Arts Now Series – Raleigh, Collective:Unconscious – New York, Spark Festival – Minneapolis, CSUF New Music Festival – Fresno),
and also in Armenia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Netherlands, North Macedonia, South Korea, Taiwan.

by distinguished orchestras, such as
Orchestre Philharmonique de RadioFrance, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre National d’Auvergne, Orchestre de Perpignan-Méditerranée (France), BBC Symphony Orchestra (UK), Luxembourg Philharmonic (Luxembourg), I Solisti Veneti (Italy), the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau and the Romanian National Radio Orchestra (Romania), the Orquesta de Cámara PUCV (Chile), conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov, Baldur Brönnimann, Bruno Mantovani, Claudio Scimone, Daniel Tosi, Gerry Cornelius, Horia Andreescu, Ovidiu Balan, Pablo Alvadaro Gutiérrez, Pierre-André Valade, Sakari Oramo,
as well as the Orchestre de Flûtes Français, the Paris Mozart Orchestra, the Nouvel Orchestre de Chambre de Rouen, the Petites Mains Symphoniques, etc., conducted by Paul Méfano, Pierre-Alain Biget, Marc Hajjar, Joël Soichez, Claire Gibault, Joachim Leroux, Eric du Faÿ, etc.

choirs and vocal ensembles: Mora Vocis ensemble (artistic director Els Janssens), Calliope Choir (conductor Regine Theodoresco), Appoggiature vocal ensemble (conductor Eliette Roche), the Madrigal de Lille (conductor Madeleine Saur), Egeria Ensemble,

ensembles and large ensembles: Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (conductor Bruno Mantovani), ensemble K (conductor Simone Menezes), Arcadie flute quartet, Adastra and Aegon string quartets, Aujourd’hui Musiques, Trio a Cordes de Paris, Trio 3D, Accroche Note, Durufle, Helios, Piano&Co, Pleiade, TM+, PTYX and XASAX ensembles (France), Hinemoa Flute Ensemble and Eliseos Flute Quartet (Belgium), Kommandaria Sax Quartet (Cyprus), Zagrebacki Ansambl Flauta and Kalamos reed quintet (Croatia), Amarone String Quartet and Odelya trio (Germany), Quartetto Image (Italy), Kammerata Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Aperto Trio and Pro Contemporania Ensemble (Romania), (A)muse ensemble (Sweden), Tetraflutes Ensemble (Switzerland), SoundLAB, Ecce ensemble, Hesper Quartet and Present Music Ensemble (USA), Canberra New Music Ensemble, NOW Flute Ensemble, Griffyn Ensemble, Settembrini trio (Australia), Antara Ensemble and Ensambla Instrumental Contemporaneo de Lagos (Chile),

and soloists: Pierre-Yves Artaud, Serge Bertocchi, Hélène Boulègue, Mathilde Caldérini, Jennifer Clippert, Pascal Contet, Natalie Dessay, François Dumont, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Jean-Claude Gerard, Baudoin Giaux, Fabrice Jünger, Daniel Kientzy, Helen Kearns, Marie Kobayashi, Wilhem Latchoumia, Giuseppe Laterza, Florian Lauridon, Karine Lethiec, Aino Lund, Thérèse Malengreau, Axia Marinescu, Thierry Miroglio, Yumi Nara, Nathalie Negro, Kiyoko Okada, Fabrice Pierre, Nadia Ratsimandresy, Christel Rayneau, Emma Resmini, Gabriella Smart, Stephane Sordet, Elena Stojceska, Liesl Stoltz, Chiharu Tachibana, Fuminori Tanada, Francoise Vanhecke, Marie Vermeulin, Stephen Whittington and many other distinguished musicians and singers.

Sophie also works with reciters, actors and directors such as Alain Carré, Jeanne Debost, Christian Giriat, Marcelle Rosnay, Pierre-Moïse Pivin, dancers and choreographers including Sabine Novel (France), Laura Shapiro (USA), Raluca Ianegic (Romania).

Her works are published by Alphonse Leduc, Artchipel, Babel scores, Billaudot, Delatour, RadioFrance Editions (France) and Svitzer Editions (Denmark). They are featured on numerous CDs (France, Germany, Romania, Australia, USA), including four monographs.

They have been the subject of articles, lectures and a documentary film:

• • documentary film « Portrait de Sophie Lacaze, compositeur » (co-production MEZZO TV / Fonds d’action SACEM), 2012,
  • interview « La stoffa inesauribile di cui sono fatti i sogni – Intervista alla compositrice francese Sophie Lacaze, prima donna a ricevere il Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs » by Davide Fersini, for the information and culture weekly Azione, Switzerland (July 2024),
  • interview « Vocation: Composer – An interview with Sophie Lacaze » by Julie Mooser, Stretta Music (January 2023)
  • interview « Sophie Lacaze » for a performance of her work “Vers les étoiles” at Musiques démesurées festival (Musiques démesurées, November 2021),
  • article « la musique pour flûte de Sophie Lacaze » (Sophie Lacaze’s Flute music) published in Traversières, the official magazine of the French Flute Association (Traversières n°104), 2012,
  • article « La música de los cuatro elementos » by Geneviève Mathon, translated by Alberto Leongómez H., in “(Pensiamento), (palabra)… Y oBra”, Revista de la Facultad de la Universidad Pedagogica Nacional, Bogotà, Colombia, 2014,
  • article « Aborigines – impressionen » by Dr. Hanns-Peter Mederer, published in the musical magazine amusio, Germany, april 2016,
  • article « Composer profile: Sophie Lacaze » by F.D. Leone, Musica Kaleidoskopea, July 2014,
  • Several lectures about her music in France, Germany, Russia, by Jean-Louis Tallon (November 2022), Irina Koryakina (November 2010), Patrick Quillier (2005).

as well as a book edited by Editions Delatour (May 2018): « Sophie Lacaze, portrait d’une compositrice » (Sophie Lacaze, portrait of a composer), by Geneviève Mathon. The English version has been published in 2021.

Sophie is regularly invited to give master-classes or conferences (Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Barossa Music Festival – Australia; CNSMDP in Paris, CNSM in Lyon, CNR in Versailles, CRR in Nancy, Rouen, Montpellier, Perpignan, CRD in Tourcoing, IUFM in Tarbes – France; Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, Conservatoire Royal in Liege, Conservatoire Royal in Mons – Belgium). She taught composition and history of music at Paul Valéry University in Montpellier for twelve years, and was the artistic director of several classical and contemporary music festivals, including the Printemps Musical d’Annecy, the Festival Turbulences Sonores in Montpellier and the Festival Musiques Démesurées in Clermont-Ferrand.