Michèle Reverdy, born in Alexandria on 12 December 1943, studied at the Paris Conservatory in the classes of Olivier Messiaen and Claude Ballif, where she obtained First Prizes for counterpoint, analysis and composition. A producer at Radio France from 1978 to 1992, in residence at the Casa Velázquez in Madrid between 1979 and 1981, composer in residence at the Strasburg Conservatory and guest of the Festival Musica in that city in 1993, she has been teaching analysis and orchestration at the Paris Conservatory since 1983. In 1995 she won the Grand Prix for symphonic music of the SACEM for her work as a whole. Michèle Reverdy has written many pieces for various chamber formations, vocal and choral music, works for chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra, as well as four operas, of which the latest, Médée, from Christa Wolf, received its premiere in 2003 at Lyons Opera with stage direction by Raoul Ruiz. A special mention should be made of her Concerto for orchestra first performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain and successfully revived in San Francisco in 2002, and Lac de lune premiered in 2004 by the Orchestre National de France in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, conducted by Kurt Masur. Michèle Reverdy has also written two books on Olivier Messiaen.
