“My te Deum will rent the fire of the Pentecost”

On December 7, during the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, your first intervention at Notre-Dame de Paris consisted of responding to the archbishop that apostroped the organ. How did you experience it?

This ceremony for the awakening of the organ was a historic moment and a real discovery for me which arrived at this post of holder of the large organ. I could only repeat three or four times, but in reality, I was happy with this direct confrontation with the instrument. After all, I am an improviser of the emergency!

Rediscover the cathedral in its new light, with this magnificent cleaned and harmonized organ, immediately stimulated me. It was also after this unforgettable evening that I really started composing the Te deum That the archbishop, Mgr Laurent Ulrich, and the rector, Mgr Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, had ordered me more than a year ago.

Do you feel like you have “” tamed »» This instrument, since then?

I had hesitated to accept this position, impressed by the immensity of this cathedral. I was previously organist in Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, a small “large Parisian church”, much more intimate. However, from the first offices, I found the rhythm, felt how to respond to the song of master’s degree.

During a mass, I express myself echoing what is said and sings, while stimulating my own personality. Recently, perceiving the strength of a rector’s homily, I improvised in another way than that which I had imagined. It’s a chance to live these moments.

Do you feel the presence of the faithful?

Yes, despite the distance that separates us and the fact that we are invisible to each other, I feel the breath inspiring from the assembly, its listening, the quality collected from its silence. It is a feeling that I share with the other holders, my colleagues Olivier Latry, Vincent Dubois and Thibault Fajoles.

There are indeed four of us relaying to accompany the masses and clothes of the weekend-the choir organ ensuring the offices of the week. And sometimes, as during this Easter Monday when Pope Francis died, I am asked to come for an additional mass. The commitment is strong, because the liturgy does not suffer from interruption.

How do you go from improvisation to composition?

An organist is above all an improviser. But in parallel, on the plane, in the RER, or at the hotel, I compose all the time. And very different pieces: concertos for orchestra, chamber music, oratorios, operas…

Even in Notre-Dame, when I expect between the offices, I use the organ bench like a table, or else I will sit in the treasure room. I wrote some of the scores there for the Te Deum. I am lucky to be able to work everywhere, even in the middle of the crowd … provided that there is no music. Otherwise, it’s impossible!

Tell us about this Te deum Written for Notre-Dame…

The Latin text of this praise song will introduce the work. But it was too short to support a composition of forty-five minutes. My friend the philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj then suggested that I start from the idea of ​​fire which destroys everything but does not light up, that is to say from the fire of April 15, 2019. And to unroll the dramaturgy to the burning bush of Moses, who illuminates but does not consume, then to the languages ​​of the fire of Pentecost.

Darkness is walked towards promise and light. I have broken down this theme into four paintings which go from “the night of fire”, a very dark first movement, to “the flame pierces” where a child will only read the text, full of hope, by Charles Péguy, which has the same name.

Over the songs, we will hear allusions to the characters of Quasimodo and Esmeralda, in homage to Victor Hugo, as well as another praise text, contemporary paraphrase of the Te deum, Written for the occasion by the poet Nathalie Nabert.

There will also be biblical passages and odes to the Virgin, to which a whole part of the work is dedicated. When I create, I like to mix the sacred and literary writings. I have a very strong relationship with words. It feeds my music and I hope that the audience will hear them clearly.

Who will sing?

The three mastery choirs (children, young people and adults) will be distributed in three places in the cathedral for better spatialization of music. And the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra will play in front of the altar. While I will improvise in the organ between the four paintings. I will also have to be careful not to “crush” my own composition during these interventions (smile) !

You claim the heterogeneity of your inspirations. How would you define your style?

Music is always a meeting of many influences. I have been composed since the age of 9, and professionally since I was 18 years old. My style was very quickly forged around a few big constants: I first need a dramaturgy that guides me, as for this Te Deum.

Then, I inspire as well of sacred music, in particular Gregorian singing, as jazz and ball music that I practiced in adolescence with my accordion. Between the two, I pay a strong tribute to romantic music and in particular to César Franck (1822-1890), one of my greatest masters.

Finally, I am indebted to the great French tradition, notably in Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and to Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013). I have these spiritual and profane sons between them, as I link the instruments of orchestra with organ and song. It’s exciting.

Why did you choose the organ?

Because of my mother! When I was a child, in Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), she was a volunteer in our parish of Sainte-Geneviève and took me there often. The parish priest, by dint of seeing me get rid of the organ, asked me if I did not want to accompany the offices.

I started in self -taught, before joining a classic route at the Paris Upper Conservatory. But I always live Rosny-sous-Bois and, in March 2025, I had the pleasure of going back to play at Sainte-Geneviève, during a big party.

Today you are an academician. What does this institutional recognition mean for you?

It is not at all contradictory with my desire to remain accessible in my art, to make a learned and popular music dialogue. I do not run after the distinctions, far from it. The Academicians of Fine Arts sought a recognized personality in the field of composition and came to ask me in 2013.

I accepted because this assembly is a fabulous artistic pool: we exchange with writers, photographers, painters … Above all, we are patrons: we work voluntarily to give 80 prizes per year to young creators. I feel useful.

Is it important for you, transmission?

It’s a major need! I love to teach. My students are worried about me, because sometimes I come back from a concert in Seoul or Tokyo and I chain, tired, with a master class of writing or improvisation … In the slightly crazy rhythm of my musician life, these courses are essential. Of course, I give. But I also receive a lot. The reactions of young people, our exchanges nourish me, stimulate my energy and my creativity.