the composer

baudime jam

The silent film concerts of the Prima Vista Quartet

 
... a musical cinema enthusiast

Baudime Jam devotes much of his professional life to film music, a subject he has studied in the United States in composition, conducting and aesthetics classes at the University of Norman.

He shared his passion for this repertoire as a radio producer in Radio France (between 1993 and 1998) ; as a conductor of film music (John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Nino Rota, Maurice Jarre, John Barry, etc.) and his own compositions ; as a musicologist lecturing about film music History and aesthetic, leading workshops and masterclasses ; and also as violist of the Prima Vista Quartet with which he performed works by famous film composers (Delerue, Herrmann, Rota, Korngold, Bruzdowicz, etc..), and many film concerts. Since 1997, he gave near 2000 performances.

As a composer, member of SACEM and member of the UCMF (Union of Film Music Composers), he signed the scores of ten silent films and several silent shorts, which allowed him to be familiar with the concrete techniques of writing music for the screen and become a specialist in silent film concerts, both as a composer and a performer. After attending one of his film concerts, Lisa Nesselson wrote, in Variety, that it was «the best silent film accompaniment I've heard. Festival programmers in search of a sure-fire crowd pleaser that melds high art with pop art should definitely take note, as it were.»

His first creation in 1999 (for "The General"), was followed by four short films in 2001, “Nosferatu“ in 2002, “The Black Pirate“ in 2004, two shorts in 2005, “Orphans of the Storm“ in 2008, “The Goddess“ in 2010, “Studies on Paris“ and “Two Stars in the Milky Way“ in 2012, and two more short films in 2013. In 2014, he has completed two new scores : “Wings“ and “The Great War“. In 2015, three new scores for Chaplin and Keaton short films have seen the light, and he completed an orchestral score for John Robertson’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. His latest composition is for Renoir’s «Nana» and has been premiered in 2019-20 in Paris, Madrid, Budapest, London and Amsterdam.

Baudime Jam composed all these film concerts for the Prima Vista Quartet who created and performed them in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Poland, Russia, United States, China and Africa. His performances have been hosted in famous venues such as the Balzac Cinema or the Adyar Theater in Paris, the Cannes Festival, the Barbican in London, the Odeon in Firenze, the Politecnico Aula Magna in Como, the Antiguo Marina in Cartagena, the Cultural Center in Gijon, the Smolny Cathedral of Saint Petersburg, the Philharmony of Nijni-Novgorod, the Pod Baranami Theater in Krakow, the French House in Washington, the French Cultural Center in New York, the National Theater in Beijing, the Poly Theater in Shanghai, the Stone Town Amphitheater in Zanzibar, etc.


Baudime Jam also passes down his experience as a silent film composer to the younger generations in masterclasses for which he has been invited in conservatories in France, England and Singapore, and professional ensembles, such as the Debussy Quartet, the ConTempo Quartet, the Tang Quartet or the Opus 62 Ensemble, are performing his silent films scores.

Baudime Jam is also the author of many transcriptions of orchestral works and piano for string quartet and quintet, musical tales and concert works : his latest, the song cycle «Les Horizons perdus» was recorded for the label Opus Millésime. Apart from his film music passion, Baudime Jam is a regular chamber musician who gave near a thousand concerts with the Prima Vista Quartet, in a wide repertoire ranging from Bach to contemporary works, including classical, romantic and modern famous and obscure works. As a musicologist, he is the author of two major reference books about the composer George Onslow, along with other writings and articles.

 

« Divided by a profusion of arrows to the bow of his genius, Baudime Jam seems like one of our greatest hopes. Few musics touch me more than his intimate lyricism. »


Jean Alain Joubert

(The Society of French Music Friends)

...conducting the Orchestra of Corsica for a film music concert

(Ajaccio, June 22, 2012).

...introducing a live performance of his orchestral score for «Nosferatu»

(Paris, Théâtre Adyar, October 31, 2011).

photo : Fanny Arnaudin

...leading a masterclasse devoted to musical composition and performance for silent films.

(Singapore, School of the Arts, April 2012).

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