Bastien Pouillès (*1994) is a French classical and contemporary accordionist, composer, improviser and multidisciplinary artist. He is particularly renowned for his work in contemporary and new music, improvisation and multidisciplinary projects (dance, theatre). His eclectic and constantly evolving repertoire often includes electronics or new technologies, close collaborations with composers, as well as old music and transcriptions. His international experience allows him to play with many ensembles (Ensemble Cairn, Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, LUX:NM, SPIIC, Les Espaces XAMP, Ensemble Hors-Champ) and to take part in festivals such as Sound Plasma, müriaadFEST (Estonia), akademie kontemporär, SUBITO!, blurred edge (Germany), Festival des Solutions écologiques, Festival Mondes Nouveaux, Festival Inventio, Tout L’Monde Dehors!, Musique dans la Rue (France), among others.
In spring 2023 he joined the eight accordions of Les Espaces XAMP and created SPACE, a prize-winning project from the Mondes Nouveaux program. As a composer and performer he produced the music for the dance show Cuentos de la Luna in Berlin in May 2023. Meanwhile, he premiered works by composers such as Sylvain Griotto (with Silhouettes Contemporaines) and Dmitri Kourliandski (with Ensemble Cairn). In May 2024 he released the album The Stockholm Sessions with Ewoud Van Eetvelde (e-guitar) on Urborigène Records label. In summer 2024 he is going on tour with the Ensemble Virêvolte for the creation of the show The Magic Flute. He is also collaborating with IRCAM on a new piece for accordion and electronics by Vincent Portes, which will be premiered in September 2024.
Bastien is graduated from the international master CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition), which allowed him to study at the best European institutions: Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Tallinn, Estonia), Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Sweden), CNSMD of Lyon (France) and Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (Germany). Before that, he obtained Bachelor’s degrees in performance and pedagogy at the PESMD in Bordeaux, including an Erasmus exchange at the Hochschule in Munich (Germany). He also holds a Master’s degree in research and musicology from the Aix-Marseille University. Bastien is based mainly in Paris.
Updated – July 2024