Gabriel Michaud

Born in France in 2003, Gabriel Michaud is a percussionist and composer whose work spans classical music, jazz, contemporary music and electronic production. He performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.

In September 2026 he won First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) Award, the Bavarian Philharmonic Award and the ARD Classic Media Award. His other competition successes include First Prize, the Audience Award and the Press Prize at the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Eindhoven (2022); First Prize and the Best Chinese Work Performance Award at the IPEA International Percussion Competition in Shanghai (2025); First Prize at the World Marimba Competition in Hangzhou (2025); and First Prize at the II International Marimba Competition in Pollença (2021).

In 2024 he made his solo debut with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Jonathan Nott, performing Harrison Birtwistle’s double concerto Panic with his sister, saxophonist Valentine Michaud, at the Victoria Hall in Geneva. He has performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Shanghai Opera House, the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven and the Victoria Hall, and at festivals including La Folle Journée in Nantes, Tokyo and Warsaw, Le Vent sur l’Arbre, the Festival International de Musique de Chambre de Provence, Les Concerts de Poche and Le Violon sur le Sable. He has shared the stage with Éric Le Sage, Emmanuel Pahud, Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley.

He performs regularly in duo with Valentine Michaud, with whom he released the album Oiseaux de Paradis on Mirare in 2024, and with the NIMM Quartet. He has also played as an additional percussionist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.

He has given percussion masterclasses at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest (2023), the Conservatoire de Nantes (2024) and the TROMP Percussion Festival in Eindhoven (2024), and has been a Kolberg Percussion artist since 2023. He also composes for chamber ensembles and produces electronic music under the name ULTRXN.

He began percussion at a community music school before entering the Conservatoire de Nantes at the age of eleven, where in 2020 he obtained his diplomas in percussion and jazz vibraphone. At the Haute École de Musique de Genève he studied contemporary and orchestral percussion, drum kit, tabla and composition, graduating with the highest honours in 2023. He then completed a master’s degree in percussion at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with the highest honours in 2025, and in September 2026 began a master’s in jazz at the same institution.