Aurélien Besnard

Aurélien Besnard (FR) - Plays all clarinets, from the small E flat one to the bass. He composes, improvises and teaches music and jazz improvisation. He has studied at the “Conservatoire National” de Caen in the classical and jazz classes and was awarded the prize for best soloist at the 2001Poitiers European improvisation tournament.
He has also played with, amongst others, Louis Sclavis, Barre Phillips, Martin Tétreault, Jean Derome, Bernard Sylvain Chauveau and Günter etc.
He performs regularly in France but also in the USA, Canada, Denmark, Taiwan, Portugal, etc.
A very active person in the jazz and contemporary improvised music scene, he is notably the founder and artistic director of the “Rude Awakening” label.
He is currently involved in several international groups such as the Franco-Danish “Contrabande” quintet, or the Franco-US sextet “Empty Cage Quartet meets Soletti / Besnard” and in “SPOT”, the “music meets video project” launched in Quebec.
He also composes for the theater (Alain Behar, Any Mendieta) and for dance (Mitia Fedotenko, “Compagnie Voie E”).