Born in a musical family, Alexandra Grimal started to study the piano and compose at the age of five, and the saxophone at the age of thirteen. She has never stopped perfecting her music, whether in schools (the Sibelius Academy in Finland, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, The Hague Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands under the guidance of John Ruocco) or studying alongside masters.
Grimal released her first record as a saxophonist in 2009, Shape, a trio with Antonin Rayon and Emmanuel Scarpa. After making her second album under her own name Seminare Vento, she settled in New York for two years, returning with yet two records; Owls Talk, this time with the prestigious line-up of Lee Konitz, Gary Peacock, Paul Motian and Andromeda (Ayler Records) with Todd Neufeld, Thomas Morgan and Tyshawn Sorey. Her fifth album as a leader, Heliopolis with Nelson Veras, Jozef Dumoulin and Dré Pallemaerts (Dragons) was released digitally in 2013 and physically in 2019. Then, she released kankū in 2017, with Sylvain Daniel and Eric Echampard and the double album Nāga with her septet featuring Marc Ducret, Lynn Cassiers, Benoît Delbecq, Stéphane Galland, Jozef Dumoulin, and Nelson Veras in 2019. As a soloist, she won several prizes in France, and has performed in the biggest venues in Europe. She was a member of the National Jazz Orchestra (2014-18) and part of the Joëlle Léandre 10, Can you hear me?, Dedalus, and many other ensembles.
As a composer, she received two MacDowell fellowships and many grants (Chamber Music of America, Commande d’Etat…) She was composer in residence at the National Theater of Orleans (2015-17). She composed a clandestin opera la vapeur au-dessus du riz, the concert version of which was perfomed in 2017 at the National Theater of Orleans.
Today Grimal is involved simultaneously in several ambitious projects. She is currently creating her first choreographic piece shānta. Artist in residency at the Centre des arts for numerical entries in Enghien-Les-Bains in 2020, she is working on an immersive show The Monkey In the Abstract Garden for voice with the visual artist Antonia Fritche, the electronic musician Benjamin Lévy and the landscape designer David Simonson.
She will be composer in residency in the castle of Chambord in 2020 and is composing a piece for symphonic orchestra that will be premiered at the Philharmonie in Paris in 2020.
