Grégoire Pont

Grégoire Pont attended the Animation Workshop in Paris where he studied Norman McLaren’s techniques of animation dynamics. He graduated from the Penninghen school of Graphic Arts (ESAG) in 1992 and shortly after directed his first animated film, Le concerto du chat, with abstract shapes dancing to the sounds of the Orchestre de Paris at Salle Pleyel.

A great lover of classical music, Pont has always been passionate about making it more popular and accessible to both children and adults by means of animation. He developed a new performance concept called ‘Cinesthetics’ where he draws and animates live to a musical performance. He has appeared at Royal Festival Hall, Paris Philharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Suntory Hall and Gothenburg Concert Hall, collaborating with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Stéphane Denève, François-Xavier Roth and Dalia Stasevska.

Recent highlights have included the premiere of Moonlight on the Eiffel Tower at Tongyeong and Weiwuying International Music Festivals, Peter and the Wolf at Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Our Precious Planet, a piece exploring the effects of human activity on our environment, in co-production with the Barbican Centre and Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. Pont has also received great acclaim for bringing his innovative animation techniques to the operatic repertoire. Together with British director James Bonas, he conceived productions at Opéra de Lyon of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges and L’heure espagnole. Their unique approach has led to these productions being presented by houses around the world, including Dresden Opera, Opéra de Lille, Royal Opera House, Muscat, and San Francisco and Cincinnati symphony halls. Most recently they have achieved great success with titles including Hans Abrahamsen’s Snow Queen for Opéra National du Rhin, Emma Bovary for National Ballet of Canada and Candide for Welsh National Opera.

Pont also illustrates books for children, most notably Les Excalibrius, and has made numerous animations for TV commercials, educational animated shorts and music video clips. For three seasons, Pont worked with the French conductor François-Xavier Roth and his groundbreaking orchestra Les Siècles on Presto! (France Television). This animated series of musical works was seen by over three million viewers on weekly primetime television.

photo: Mihaela Bodlovic