Bastien Pouillès (*1994) is a French accordionist, composer and improviser. He is particularly renowned for his work in contemporary music, improvisation and multidisciplinary projects (dance, theatre). His repertoire often includes electronics or new technologies, close collaborations with composers, as well as his own pieces. He is a regular guest performer at institutions such as the CNSMD in Paris and IRCAM. He plays with many ensembles (Ensemble Cairn, Ensemble NEXT, Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire, Ensemble PTYX, Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, LUX:NM, SPIIC, Les Espaces XAMP, Ensemble Hors-Champ, Ensemble Virêvolte) and performs both in France and abroad.
Among his most recent projects is the release of the album The Stockholm Sessions in 2024 on Urborigène Records label. He joined the Ensemble Virêvolte for the show The Magic Flute, with which he is touring during the summers 2024, 2025 and 2026. He is involved in a research-creation project with Paris 8 University on contemporary musical theatre writing, with composers Clara Olivares, Francisco Alvarado and Núria Giménez-Comas, which will result in a new show in 2026. He did a residency at La Turbine in 2025 with his duo Silhouettes Contemporaines, which recreates medieval music and in which he also plays modular synth. In addition to his collaborations with ensembles he is regularly invited to perform with, he commissions numerous composers to write solo pieces for his instrument, mostly with electronics: Vincent Portes (IRCAM cursus), Mads Emil Dreyer (for 8 toys-accordions!), Julien Malaussena, Alexandre Singier, and even himself. Some of them will be released on an album in 2027.
Bastien is currently studying composition in the class of Jean-Luc Hervé at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatoire. He is graduated from the international master CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition): CNSMD Lyon, EAMT Tallinn (Estonia), KMH Stockholm (Sweden) and HfMT Hamburg (Germany). Before that, he obtained Bachelor’s degrees in performance and pedagogy at the PESMD Bordeaux, including an Erasmus exchange at the HMTM Munich (Germany). He also holds a Master’s degree in research and musicology from the Aix-Marseille University. Bastien is based in Paris.
Updated – January 2026
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