Laurent Cuniot (born 1957 in Reims) studied violin, chamber music, composition and experimental music research (with Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel) at the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur, where he would later (1988-2001) be teaching “composition and new technologies”.

Few modern composers manage to combine composing, teaching, performing and media activities, for strictly artistic reasons. Laurent Cuniot has been conducting the ensemble TM+ ever since 1985. Their repertoire consists of new original compositions and 20th c. “classics”. Since taking residence at the Maison de la Musique in Nanterre, near Paris, in 1996, the ensemble has been very productive. From 1987 to 1993, Laurent Cuniot produced the successful Radio France broadcast series “Concerts-lecture”.

How come that a composer associated with new technologies and the GRM has not yet written a single electro-acoustic piece ? As it is, when working with modern technological tools, Laurent Cuniot always uses mixed installations, which he sees as the only way to integrate “the irreplaceable risk-taking process inherent to live performers”. He also likes to stress the “paradox of the past thirty years which have seen technology, whether used as a compositional assistant or a sound producer, lead back to more “humanity”, thanks to a better understanding of sound and sound production, of its development and principle, and of the mechanism of perception”.

Fascinated by the tension/relaxation duality, Laurent Cuniot first favoured the infratonal world. He would later use quarter tones much more sparingly in order to reach a better understanding of their structural role. Influenced by past (violin-playing) and present (conducting) experience, he progressively introduced sonorities that were freed from any instrumental and esthetical vision.

Laurent Cuniot’s present style tends toward simplification - going down to basics - and a tighter control on vertical writing. Thus liberating energies which not only allows for greater linear tension and strong horizontal direction but also unfolds a much more conscious and intense expression. The poetic element, quite obvious in vocal works, is more of an undercurrent in instrumental pieces. In the latter, the composer’s poetic writting, although abstract, fuels a powerfull inner drama. Laurent Cuniot’s sound ideal is not solo - or instrument - oriented (in fact, his catalogue is devoid of any chamber music stricto sensu). It tends instead towards ensemble music in which the composer can experiment with various sound combinations as he pleases, even - or rather : especially - uncommon ones. Musical languages as such is not Laurent Cuniot’s main worry nowadays (at least not any more, even if it still is a legitimate cause for concern) - he is more preoccupied with expression ans form.