Coaches 22/23

Frédéric Maurin

As a guitarist reared to the sound of Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson or Frank Zappa, Frédéric Maurin quickly abandoned a career as an engineer to devote himself entirely to music, pursuing courses in jazz and classical composition in parallel.

For 14 years Frédéric has composed and conducted the repertoire of Ping Machine, a 15-piece music ensemble that is today unanimously recognized as a reference on the new jazz scene in Europe.
With this ensemble, he has developed singular music coming from an abundant and diverse imagination. Largely influenced by musicians and composers ranging from György Ligeti to Steve Coleman, not to mention Charles Mingus, Meshuggah and Gérard Grisey, Frédéric Maurin has always endeavoured, in the extreme precision of his music writing — which questions not only the musical language but also the forms usually employed in jazz and other improvised music — to offer works whose core preserves an energy and generosity that allow a collective dive into a parallel world. Ping Machine is a state-regulated ensemble — through CERNI and DRAC Île-de-France/Ministry of Culture — with the support of SACEM, SPEDIDAM, ADAMI and the Region Île-de-France.


Apart from composing, Frédéric Maurin is also a guitarist who has appeared in a number of projects as a sideman, and for many years he has chosen to work closely with collectives in order to better the conditions in which the music he champions can achieve wider recognition. Between 2011 and 2017, he was the President of the Grands Formats Federation representing artists who play music in large ensembles or formats, a Federation that today represents 57 professional orchestras and more than 1000 musicians spread throughout France. In July 2018, Frédéric Maurin has been appointed Artistic Director of the ONJ for a four year mandate (January 2019 to December 2022).

+  Keep Reading -  Close