Born into a family of musicians on July 10, 1945, Graciane Finzi first studied at the Casablanca Conservatory, directed at the time by Georges Friboulet, then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she won prizes for harmony, counterpoint, fugue and composition.
Appointed professor at the CNSM de Paris in 1979, she was awarded the Grand Prix de la Promotion Symphonique de la Sacem in 1982, then the Prix Georges Enesco in 1989.
In 1992, her opera Pauvre Assassin was awarded the Prix de la SACD. In 2001, she was awarded the SACEM Grand Prix for her body of work, and in 2006 the Institut de France awarded her the Prix Chartier. In 2013, she received the SACD Music Prize, and in 2020, the Prix Florent Schmitt awarded by the Institut de France. Also in 2020, she was named Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and in 2025, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur.
Graciane Finzi’s repertoire comprises around one hundred and eighty works and seven operas. Some of her works are directly inspired by Judaism, such as Kaddish, Crépuscule du Kol Nidré and Les enfants de l’espérance.
Graciane Finzi’s compositions, which are performed all over the world by leading soloists and orchestras (Paris, New York, London, Rome, Moscow, Helsinki, Vancouver, Nuremberg, Buenos Aires, Cologne, Calgary, Bremen, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Madrid, Warsaw, Athens, Mexico City, Barcelona, Santiago de Chile…), use juxtaposition and superimposition of layers of sound to create a colorful, original universe.
