Claude Samuel

Born in Paris, after medical studies and graduating as a dental surgeon, Samuel chose to devote himself to classical music journalism.

He was a regular contributor to various newspapers of the daily press (Paris-Presse, from 1961 to 1970; Le Matin de Paris, from 1977 to 1987), of the weekly press (L’Express in 1959 and 1960; Le Nouveau Candide from 1961 to 1967; Le Point, from 1974 to 1989), the monthly press (Revue Réalités, and discs collection Philips-Réalités from 1957 to 1960) and the music press (Harmonie, Le Panorama de la Musique, Musiques, La Lettre du musicien, Diapason, where he has been responsible for the "Ce jour-là" column since 2001).

Devoting an important part of his activity, in different forms, to contemporary creation, he was responsible for the programming of the Royan Festival from 1965 to 1972 and then, after a dispute with the Royan authorities, he continued this work in La Rochelle from 1973 to 1977.

Creator of the "Centre Acanthes", an annual educational session for young composers and performers held successively at the Conservatoire d'Aix-en-Provence (1977–1986), at the Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon (1987–2003) and then at the Arsenal de Metz (2004–2011), he has invited a number of leading figures of contemporary music to attend: (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Mauricio Kagel, Pierre Henry, Luciano Berio, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Tōru Takemitsu, Elliott Carter, Sofia Gubaidulina, Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Péter Eötvös, Wolfgang Rihm).

At Radio France, he created and directed the Festival Présences [fr] from 1991 to 1997.