Born 1969 in Dijon, lives in Dijon. His musical education began there (piano, chamber music, accompaniment, composition); he studied electroacoustic music in Châlon-sur-Saône from 1989 to 1992, and in 1995 continued his studies in Lyon under Gilbert Amy (diploma 1998); in 1999 he studied at IRCAM in Paris.

Among his prizes and awards is the 2005 composition prize from Fondation André Boucourechliev. His works have been commissioned by the Festival d’Automne à Paris, the Musée du Louvre and others and performed by renowned ensembles including Ensemble Intercontemporain, Accroche Note, Cairn, and the Manfred Quartet. His close collaboration with the ensemble L’Instant Donné resulted in several pieces created with the ensemble in mind. At the invitation of the Institut für Neue Musik, both composer and ensemble were guests at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover in May 2009.

Frédéric Pattar’s compositions are for the most part chamber works, sometimes scored to include less conventional instruments such as Fender Rhodes piano or the zarb, a goblet-shaped Persian drum. The music is rhythmically flexible, at times quite lyrically melodic; at intensive dramatic highpoints, the lines coalesce into harmonic textures of unique brilliance and radiance.