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French composer, conductor and writer Amaury du Closel was born Amaury Barbat du Closel on 6 February 1956. He studied composition with Max Deutsch and conducting with Alexandre Myrat and in masterclasses with Karl Österreicher and Charles Mackerras.
His output as a composer, consisting of about thirty works, included songs, music for classic silent films and the chamber opera Le Château de Barbe-Bleue.
During his conducting career he directed over eighty orchestras.
From 2000 he was artistic director of the touring opera company Opéra Nomade.
In 2003 he founded Forum Voix Etouffées to perform the music of exiled, forgotten and persecuted composers, particularly those persecuted during the twentieth century, and two years later he published a book about voices silenced by the Nazis - Les Voix étouffées du Troisième Reich.
From 2006 he was musical director of an international academy for operatic singing - the Académie Lyrique.
In 2018 he founded the Orchestre Les Métamorphoses to focus on twentieth century music, performing in a historically informed way but on modern instruments.
Amaury du Closel died on 7 October 2024. aged sixty-eight.
Classical music news - October 2024 Obituaries - Our summary of those the classical music world has lost this month
CD Spotlight. Something Magical - Music by Malipiero, recommended by Geoff Pearce. '... the forces on this disc are well up to the challenge.'