Originally from Castelsarrasin in Tarn-et-Garonne, Manon Gayet has made the transverse flute her profession. The one who started at the city’s municipal music school, is now studying in Geneva, Switzerland, and took part in the summer session of the La Francophonie Orchestra in Canada.
How distant the time seems when she was behind the scenes in the Ghislain-Descazeaux room or the Jean-Moulin room in Castelsarrasin in Tarn-et-Garonne. From now on, Manon Gayet performs in much more prestigious venues. This summer, the flautist from the birthplace of Pierre Perret even discovered the Forget estate in Canada with the La Francophonie Orchestra.
To reach this level, Manon Gayet rose one after the other. “I was 7 years old when I entered the municipal music school, remembers the transverse flute, I don’t know exactly, I remember that the instrument inspired me. We got along very quickly, I found him friendly and funny.
Beginnings at the municipal music school of Castelsarrasin
For seven years, the young girl successfully passed her exams. She went on stage with the lyre, discovered the courses of the departmental orchestra and then the regional harmony orchestra, and at the same time continued her studies.
“It was actually in first grade that I decided to make music my profession. I took the specialization in heavy music in the literature course at the Michelet high school in Montauban, also with the optional option. I also joined Michel Brun’s class at the Conservatory of Regional Radiation (CRR) in Toulouse,” continues Manon Gayet. There she obtained her diploma in musicology and met Sandrine Tilly, principal flutist of the Orchestre national du Capitole (ONCT), with whom she took several courses around the instrument.
After graduating from the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory in the Paris region, she won a prize for outstanding performance and successfully passed the entrance exam to the Haute École de Musique de Genève in Switzerland, where she continued her progress under the guidance of Michel Bellavance. “I am now in the second year of my bachelor’s degree. In addition to my classes and my four hours of daily practice, I also give lessons to young people on the French side of the border, where I live with my roommate.” The latter introduced him to the La Francophonie Orchestra. “She attended it last year and recommended it to me. I submitted my audition by video and was finally selected.”
On tour with the Francophonie Orchestra
With her plane ticket in her pocket, Manon Gayet discovered Canadian concert halls: the Domaine Forget, Ottawa, Montreal… “I had the chance in particular to play solo flute in the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Fauna ‘Debussy! It’s a moment I will never forget. The hardest thing was playing the first phrase alone,” she says.
After a six-week tour to the sounds of Stravinsky, Ravel, Dvorák and West Side Story, Manon Gayet returned to her everyday life on the French-Swiss border. And is already targeting numerous competitions such as the Gustav Malher or the Maxence Larrieu-Nice Interpretation Competition. A journey without a false note…
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