Gabriel Michaud is a French percussionist, marimbist and composer whose work spans solo performance, chamber music, jazz and electronic music. Born in France in 2003, he began percussion at seven and entered the Nantes Conservatory at eleven.
Education
He studied percussion at the Haute école de musique de Genève from 2020 to 2023, completing a bachelor’s degree. His training also included drum set, tabla and composition. He then continued at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, completing a master’s degree in percussion in 2025.
Competition awards
- 2022 — TROMP International Percussion Competition, Eindhoven: first prize, audience award and Jan Pustjens Press Award.
- 2022 — Luxembourg International Percussion Competition: second prize with Trio Fragments.
- 2025 — World Marimba Competition: first prize. Read the results .
- 2026 — ARD International Music Competition, percussion: first prize. Read the results .
Performance and composition
Michaud has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals including La Folle Journée and Festival Archipel, and has performed with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. His work with these orchestras sits alongside a longstanding interest in jazz.
In 2022, he and saxophonist Valentine Michaud formally launched their saxophone-and-percussion duo. Their repertoire brings commissioned works together with transcriptions of classical, baroque, jazz and pop music. As a composer, he writes for chamber ensembles and makes electronic music with the rap collective Codex Dissident.
Recordings
With Valentine Michaud, he recorded Oiseaux de Paradis, released by Mirare on September 6, 2024 (MIR716). The programme includes Keiko Abe’s Dream of the Cherry Blossoms, and Gabriel Michaud composed the electronic interludes. Album details and listening links .