Florent Ghys is a French composer and upright bass player.
He uses notes, hair dryers, blinkers, weather reports, vacuum cleaners, numbers, and enjoys controlling randomness.
He obtained degrees in ethno-musicology at Bordeaux University (Masters 03) and Bordeaux Conservatoire (Gold Medals 04), before going on to study the classical double bass with Thierry Barbé in Paris (Gold Medal 05). He participated in several composition master classes in the United States (Bang On A Can 06) and in Italy (Sentieri Selvaggi 2006-2010).
As a composer he works in a style situated between contemporary and pop music, shaping tonal masses with more or less pulsation. It has often been said to resemble American minimalist music.
He has collaborated with different ensembles, musicians or video directors such as Abigail Fischer, Claudio Cavallari, Dither quartet, Eleonore Oppenheim, Isabelle Solas, Lisa Diez, the Opéra de Paris, Regard Camera, and Wael Shawky.
The label Cantaloupe music in New York city released an EP in January 10 called Baroque Tardif: Soli and invited him to play at the "Bang on a Can Marathon" in NYC in July 10.
As a double bass player, he is developing a solo performance with a laptop and controllers. Working with samples extracted from weather reports and a variety of other radio and TV sources, he has developed a new tuning of the bass in fifths, inspired by the idea of "alto double bass" by Thierry Barbé.
With the collaboration of Jérôme Hérault, he has invented a Z-form endpin which changes the balance of the instrument, inspired by the Francois Rabbath and Christian Laborie's endpin.