Violist Frantz Loriot performs solo and is active in a number of international ensembles, mainly focusing on improvised music practices.
He often contributes to interdisciplinary projects related to dance, theater, image, poetry and space.
Over the years, Loriot has developed a unique and radically personal musical language, breaking with tradition and constantly seeks to push himself and his music towards ever-wider horizons. His constant development prompts him to reflect on the relationship between his own practice and philosophical and political theories.
To push reflection on another side, he launched Recordedness, an online writing project centered on the nature of recordings in music.
Loriot regularly performs around the globe (Europe, USA, South America, Asia & Middle East) and has been invited to be artist in residence at the Météo - Mulhouse Music festival (2016 edition) and Moods in Zurich (December 2018). Loriot has also been invited by different ensembles such as Barre Phillips' EMIR, trio LDP, the ensemble Musica Nova, Bambi Pang Pang, etc.
Loriot initiated and led two large ensembles, the European Notebook Large Ensemble and the NYC based Systematic Distortion Orchestra.
While living in NYC, he created and co-curated the musical series Ze Couch in Brooklyn, and the Avant-Post series with Tonino Miano in Harlem. Both series were mainly dedicated to avant-garde/new music.
In Zurich, he curated for one season the WIM-Hearings. He is today one of the curator of Zwei Tage Zeit, a musical festival in Zürich (CH) dedicated to different practices of improvised music.
Loriot appears on over 50 records released on international labels such as Bruit, Peira, FMR, Sickcore, Impressus, Prom Night, Edible Onion, Komma Null, Klein, Neither/Nor, OutNow, Shhpuma, Intonema, Clean Feed, Creative Sources, Veto Exchange, Wide Ear, Thin Wrist etc.
Loriot studied music in Paris with several professors (Mari Yasuda-Raclot, the Pons brothers, Nicolas Dupin, Ivry Gitlis, Yukari Tate & Pascal Robault) and was brought to improvisation by (a.o.) Régis Huby, Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips, and David S. Ware. He was initiated to soundmassage by Thierry Madiot.
Loriot studied musicology in Paris and holds a master degree in Transdisciplinary studies in the arts from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).
After having lived in Paris and New York City, Frantz Loriot now resides in Zürich (Switzerland).
Selected discography / publications :
- with Bertrand Denzler ''Musique improvisée & questions politiques'' (May 2025, Bruit Editions)
- Tetrao Tetrix ''Nyctalopia'' (March 2025, Bruit)
- Diaphane ''München'' (January 2025, Neither/Nor)
- Christoph Erb/Frantz Loriot ''Wabi Sabi'' (December 2023, Veto Exchange, CH)
- Trio Kahn/Loriot Wolfarth ''Köln'' (March 2023, Edition)
- Trio Koch/Loriot/Kocher ''Stranger Becoming'' (December 2022, Neither/Nor)
- Duo Loriot/Jeger ''Blurred Edged Zones'' (February 2022, digital s/r)
- Diaphane ''Paris'' (July 2021, Neither/Nor)
- Frantz Loriot solo ''While Whirling'' (June 2021, Thin Whrist)
- Der Verboten ''Ether & Litanie'' (April 2021, Wide Ear)
- Loriot/Wong ''Live at zoom in'' (May 2020, Creative Sources)
- Erb/Loriot/Morishige "Dry" (November 2019, Veto Exchange)
- Anemochore "Suites & Seeds" (May 2019, Creatives Sources)
- Loriot/Wolfarth ''The Call'' (December 2018, Shhpuma)
- Der Verboten "Der dritte Treffpunkt" (September 2017, Clean Feed)
- Natura Morta "Environ" (April 2017, Neither/Nor)
- Frantz Loriot Systematic Distortion Orchestra "The Assembly" (May 2016, OutNow)
- Christoph Erb/Frantz Loriot duo "Sceneries" (April 2016, Creative Sources)
- Frantz Loriot/Manuel Perovic Notebook Large Ensemble "Urban Furrow" (July 2015, Clean Feed)
- Frantz Loriot solo "Reflections on an Introspective Path" (April 2015, Neither/Nor)
- baloni "Ripples" (April 2015, Clean Feed)
- baloni "belleke" (July 2014, Clean Feed)
- Natura Morta "Decay" (February 2014, FMR)
- Jeremiah Cymerman / Frantz Loriot "Seven Bridges" (February 2012, Peira)
- Bobun "Suite pour machines à mèche" (November 2011, Creative Sources)
- Natura Morta (March 2011, Prom Night)
- baloni "fremdenzimmer" (November 2010, Clean Feed)
- ViolaTwoViola (December 2010, Creative Sources)
- Miano/Loriot ''Ulysses'' (February 2009, Impressus)
- Fröhn (June 2007, EPM)
Presence Festivals & venues:
Kaleidophon (Ulrichsberg, AT), Concepts of doing (Berlin, D), Acéfalo Festival (Valparaiso, Chile), Textures Festival (Montreuil, FR), Hors-Normes festival (Le Pont, CH), Zoom-In festival (Bern, CH), Fragment (Metz, FR), Gent Jazz festival (Gent, B), Neue Musik Markt (Bern, CH), Ljubljana Jazz festival (Ljubljana, SL), Bruisme (Poitiers, F), Middelheim Jazz festival (Antwerp, B), Brand! Festival (Mechelen, B), Super Flux (Tours, FR), Jazz im Goethe Garten (Lisbonne, P), Intakt Festival at the Stone (New York, USA), Undead jazz festival (New York, USA), Jazzdor festival (Strasbourg, FR et Berlin, D), Météo Festival (Mulhouse, FR), Banlieues Bleues (Pantin, FR), Vive le Jazz (Cologne, D), Jazz à la Cité (Paris, FR), Pori Jazz Festival (Pori, FI), Loches en Jazz (Loches, FR), Avantgarde Festival (Schiphorst, D), Schaffauser Jazz Festival (Schaffausen, CH), Unerhört Festival (Zürich, CH), Total Meeting Festival (Tours, FR), D'Jazz Nevers Festival (Nevers, FR), Festival Musik Woche (Braunwald, CH), What You Will Fest (Columbus, Ohio, USA), Clean Feed Festival at Exploratorium (Berlin, D), Grenzenlos Festival at Stadtgarten (Cologne, D), Le Petit Faucheux (Tours, FR), Les Instants Chavirés (Montreuil, FR), Radio France (Paris, FR), Exploratorium (Berlin, D), Bimhuis (Amsterdam, NL), Paradox (Tilburg, NL), le Pannonica (Nantes, FR), Theater Rigiblick (Zurich, CH), Moods (Zurich, CH), Le Duc des Lombards (Paris, FR), Offene Ohren (Munich, D), Unterfahrt (Munich, D), WIM (Zurich, CH), Jazzatelier (Ulrichsberg, AT), The Stone (NYC, USA), Roulette (NYC, USA), Cornelia Street (NYC, USA), Stadtgarten (Cologne, D), Handelsbeurs (Gent, B), Flagey (Elsene, B), De Werf (Brugge, B),Vrijstaat O (Oostende, B), Theater am Gleiss (Winterthur, CH), NUMU (Baden, CH), Pitt in (Tokyo, JP), Candy (Chiba, JP), Urban Guild (Kyoto, JP), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (Kanazawa, JP), etc.