Rate My Professor Jean Besingrand

Jean Besingrand is a composer and musicologist born in 1985 in Bordeaux, France, whose work explores timbral explorations, temporality, and silence in contemporary music. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy in Composition from the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2023, his dissertation, 'Ways of Silence and Other Absences in the Music of George Crumb,' examines innovative sonic landscapes. He also earned a Master of Philosophy in Music from the same institution in 2019, an Advanced Music Certificate in Composition from Carnegie Mellon University in 2015, a Master of Arts specialized in Music from Université Bordeaux III Michel de Montaigne in 2012, and a Bachelor of Music from the same university in 2009. Besingrand obtained conservatory prizes and certificates from the Conservatoire de Bordeaux Jacques Thibaud, including in Instrumental Composition (2014), Soundpainting (2013), Harmony, Fugue, and Counterpoint (2011-2012).

In the Arts and Culture domain, Besingrand has built a distinguished teaching career as an Adjunct Instructor at Baruch College, CUNY, teaching Music in Civilization (MSC 1003) since Spring 2016 and Principles of Music (MSC 1005) in Summer 2020, and at Brooklyn College, CUNY, where he instructs Music: Its Language, History, and Culture (MUSC 1300) and Music History and Score Analysis III: Twentieth-Century to the Present (MUSC 3243). Previously, he lectured at Université Bordeaux III Michel de Montaigne on piano accompaniment and Frank Zappa, and served as a certified music teacher at French secondary schools, leading orchestras, choirs, and courses in music history, advanced analysis, and harmony. His compositional achievements include major awards such as the ISB David Walter Composition Competition Grand Prize (2024), first prize absolute at the International Composition Competition Città di Udine (2023), Agorart Ensemble Call for Scores winner (2022 and 2021), Voix Nouvelles Royaumont laureate (2021), second prize at New Music Generation (2020), Robert Starer Composition Award (2016), and first prize at the Festival Musica/SaxOpen saxophone quartet competition (2015). Besingrand's music has been performed by ensembles including Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine, JACK Quartet, Molinari Quartet, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and Mivos Quartet at festivals like Festival Musica (France), Shanghai New Music Week (China), and Barcelona Modern Festival (Spain). His scores are published by Artchipel and Babelscores, contributing significantly to the contemporary music field.