Laurent Hilairet

Passionate about composition and improvisation, Laurent Hilairet is a musician-teacher, multi-instrumentalist and group coach.

After completing a standard music course at the Nantes Conservatory in jazz piano, Laurent Hilairet broadened his musical practice to include new instruments (Chapman stick, hand pan and percussion) as well as various musical styles. He has participated in Western Trio and Western from the Nantes collective 1name4acrew, as well as the group 1band4acrew. These projects have allowed him to play and record with Eric Truffaz and Fédérico Pélégrini of the French Cowboys, among others.

At the same time, he played the Warr Guitar in the group MoTa, which led him to meet Bijan Chémirani (zarb and oriental percussion). This human and musical encounter really brought him into contact with the richness of world music.

For several years now, he has been a musician-teacher in various organisations as a multi-instrumentalist, group coach and improvisation/composition teacher. Among other things, he uses digital technologies as a teaching aid and introduces learners to the basics of recording and the world of the studio.

He began working with Mandalia Musique to organise Hand Pan workshops in Clisson in 2018. The recording and release of an album featuring this instrument via this label is currently under consideration.

Artistically, he is currently focusing on his electronic music project WILD and released an album entitled L'Aube in autumn 2017. He trained in studio recording for the occasion and therefore used some of the equipment from Prodipe (headphones, microphones, monitor speakers, etc.). This return to analogue synthesisers is a return to his roots in a way, as it was these sounds that inspired him to make music when he was younger.

WILD is currently involved in two other projects: "Bokk", which is a mix of electronic music, with Matéo Guyon on vibraphone and percussion, and Fabrice L'Houtellier on drums; and "Drift", which is a collaboration between WILD, Tom Leclerc on machines and Pauline Villain on vocals.

He also plays in J-L Ouvrard's (guitar) Blue Dream project and plays piano alongside Olivier Chabasse (double bass) and Matéo Guyon (percussion) in "Tree Home", a blend of jazz and world music.

His passion for composition and improvisation has now become the common thread running through his artistic approach.