Johan Farjot is a French pianist, conductor, composer, orchestrator and academic. He was born in Saint-Étienne, where he began studying music at the local conservatory. Enrolling at the Paris Conservatoire, he was taught by, among others, Michaël Levinas, Thierry Escaich, Zsolt Nagy and obtained five Premiers prix (Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue, Music theory and analysis, Conducting).
Coming third in the Agrégation de Musique, a highly competitive examination for teachers, Johan Farjot studied chamber music at the Conservatoire national de musique et de danse in Lyons.
Composer, orchestrator
Farjot composes in many genres and forms, always exploring new sound horizons. His works are performed by leading musicians, as showcased by one of his recent critically acclaimed CDs Fuga Libera, Contemporary Clarinet Concertos, released in August 2019 by Outhere. This CD has been awarded many prestigious titles like Diapason d’Or, Diapason of the Year, Choice of France Music, etc.
Alongside concertos by Lindberg and Hartmann, this CD features Farjot’s triple concerto Fantasme - Cercles de Mana for viola (Arnaud Thorette), cello (Antoine Pierlot), clarinet (Jean-Luc Votano) and orchestra (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège conducted by Christian Arming).
A monographic CD Childhood (Klarthe) was digitally released in May 2020 (physical release scheduled for September 2020). It contains chamber music performed by artists such as Ensemble Contraste, Geneviève Laurenceau, Jérôme Ducros, Pierre Génisson, etc.
As a composer, Johan Farjot sometimes tackles more popular music styles. This is the case of his children’s musical tale Georgia, Tous mes rêves chantent (Gallimard), published in 2017 in the form of a book with CD in collaboration with Ensemble Contraste (author of the story: Thimotée de Fombelle, illustrator: Benjamin Chaud) and in partnership with the association SOS Children's Villages. Many musicians and singers took part in this project (among them are Alain Chamfort, Emily Loizeau, Albin de la Simone, Marie Oppert, etc.).
Continuing in the same line of work, during the summer of 2020 Johan Farjot composed the music for a new children's book-CD entitled Siam - Au fil de l'eau (Flammarion, author of the story: Arnaud Thorette, illustrator: Olivier Latyk) which also involves a large number of artists (Gérard Jugnot, François-Xavier Demaison, Juliette, Tim Dup, etc.). This CD was created in partnership with the association Le Rire docteur.
Exploring a whole other sphere, Farjot reinvents Schubert for the CD Schubert in Love (Alpha) in collaboration with Ensemble Contraste and the folk singer Rosemary Standley, released in the summer of 2020.
As an orchestrator, Johan Farjot never stops offering new insights into music genres and styles he is passionate about, whether it be musicals (>Song, released in 2011 by Naïve and featuring opera singers such as Karine Deshayes, Sandrine Piau, Magali Léger, Alain Buet, Sébastien Droy, Sébastien Guèze, etc.), Johann Sebastian Bach (Transcriptions, Dolce Volta, 2013), or tango (Café 1930, Zig-Zag Territoires, 2009 and Besame Mucho, Aparté, 2017, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège).
Equally worth mentioning is Farjot’s exploration of the realm of jazz, carried out in particular through compositions addressing a very unique ensemble (two keyboards played by Karol Beffa, Arnaud Thorette’s viola and Raphaël Imbert’s saxophone) for a CD entitled Miroir(s) released in 2013 by Naïve. In these works, Farjot revisits some of the great classic and universally known themes.
