Patrick Mayran was born in 1951 in the Republic of Côte d'ivoire and received his education in Paris and Crans-Montana, Switzerland. His broad musical education included, among others, being taken in as a private student of Prof. Jean Rivier at the Conservatoire de Paris. After completing his education he relocated to Germany and has since performed throughout Europe and the USA.

The music of the internationally recognised composer and interpreter, Patrick Mayran spans a variety of styles and perspectives in contemporary composition. While Mayran´s music is clearly influenced by traditions drawing on French Impressionism and the New Music, the composer has evolved his own unique expressive form and style which is, in part, supported by computer technology.

Mayran´s music has both a philosophical and spiritual character and these sources of inspiration are reflected in numerous church concerts, music festivals and vernissages, as well as film and radio recordings. Mayran’s work with renowned artists, such as the American composer Anthony Braxton, the trumpet-player Don Cherry and the solo-dancer Mark McClain has achieved high acclaim. In the style of French Impressionism, Mayran relies on an intensive use of tonal techniques reminiscent of images approximating those effects observed in painting, thus inducing within his audience impressions of the real and of the visionary.
As a whole, Mayran´s sound possesses what may be fittingly described as both a reserved percussive character coupled with a clarity and precision always shot-through with an iridescent play of colour. While tonal surfaces emerge through transparent sounds and parallel chords, the melody documents a clear thematic line contrasted by unique, whole tones and modulations combining to produce fully unexpected movements.

Mayran elicits playing styles from serial music. Serial connections from tonal qualities and numerous constructions of sequences emphasise the dimensions of the spatial and temporal in their cosmic musical dimensions. It is by applying such techniques that Mayran manages to extricate himself from traditional tonal languages and to develop his own methods. In the artists own words, „it is only through such creative acts that music becomes art."

The challenge that electronic music represents to the artist is that he is compelled to push himself beyond the existing limits of his potential. Tonal collages supported by computer technology, which can be both minimalist and orchestral in sound, are characteristically aleatorical. Thus, improvisational styles are integral within Mayran´s compositional work.

Though, in spite of this distinctly compositional complexion, particularly within his live solo performances, he enjoys freely adopting and combining his repertoire to the requirements of any particular performance situation. And precisely in this connection, it is by means of such flexibility that the true calibre of the artist’s professionalism achieves full expression: to present his compositions within the performance space in such a way as to be responsive to the sensitivities of his audience.

Cooperation with et. al.:
Don Cherry, trumpeter, New York
Cecil Taylor, pianist
Günther Humpel, vibraphonist, Goettingen
Ramsey Najim, director and film producer, New York
Friedrich Förster, light and laser artist, Reutlingen
Marc McClain, director of the Manheim Ballets
The National Ballet, Munich, the Braunschweig Ballet