The grandson of an orchestra conductor and a carpenter, Jean-Paul Secher today readily describes himself as a musical craftsman. Born in 1962, he studied piano, singing and conducting at the Conservatoire National de Région de Nantes. He also obtained a degree in musicology from the University of Tours.
Attracted by the voice, he naturally gravitated towards accompaniment, and has given numerous concerts as an accompanist. He also plays chamber music, notably sonatas with François Garnier, violinist with the O.P.P.L., in the 90s.
At the same time, he teaches piano and musical training, and conducts various choirs. Attracted by music publishing, he offered his services to various publishers as a proofreader, then for the production of piano-chant and finally for music engraving.
This activity gradually took up most of his time. He joined the Opéra National de Paris, where for 3 years he managed all the Opera’s scores in the copy-library department. This kept him in contact with publishers and enabled him to develop relationships with musicians of international stature (musicians from the Opéra National de Paris orchestra, guest conductors, opera artists), while at the same time developing computerized music engraving within the Opéra. In February 2005, he founded Éditions Musicales Artchipel.
The publisher is at the crossroads of all those involved in musical life. He is on the road that links an author to an audience, the discovery of a talent to its dissemination, the gestation of a work to its creation, a work to a performer, a teacher to a pupil, a musical venue to an existing heritage. In today’s fast-paced world, publishers take long, winding paths where time slows down.
It takes time to discover, listen, engrave, print, distribute… Seen in a landscape far removed from high-speed communication, the life of the published object is somewhat comparable to that of a peaceful “archipelago” where we take the time to travel from island to island.
Éditions Musicales Artchipel came into being on February 1, 2005, after a long gestation period. With no acquisition of pre-existing publishing collections, the catalog was gradually built up through various musical and human “encounters”. Our editorial approach is guided by a spirit of openness, combined with a concern for quality in terms of both content (musical content) and form (musical engravings, scores).
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