Concertino

Gabriel Marie Grovlez (4 April 1879 – 20 October 1944) was a French composer, conductor, pianist, and music critic.

Born in Lille, Grovlez studied with Gabriel Fauré, Louis Diémer, and André Gedalge at the Conservatoire de Paris. At the Schola Cantorum, Charles Bordes introduced him to Gregorian Chant and the music of the Renaissance.

As a solo pianist and accompanist Grovlez toured through Europe. He was professor of piano at the Schola Cantorum from 1899 to 1909, choir director and deputy conductor of the Opéra Comique (1905–1908), and musical director at the Théâtre des Arts (1911–1913) where he was responsible for the first performances of Albert Roussel's Le Festin de l'araignée, Maurice Ravel's Ma mère l'oye, and a number of baroque operas.

From 1914, he was for twenty years the director of the Opéra de Paris ("Societé Nationale de l'Opéra"), where, among other productions, he also conducted a season of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. As a guest conductor he worked at opera houses in Monte Carlo, Cairo, Lisbon, New York, and Chicago.

As a composer, his compositions were mainly for voice and for the stage, including ballets. Much of his work shows strong neo-classical influences. He also wrote reviews for Paris music journals including Excelsior (1916–17) and L'Art musical (1937–39).

Grovlez died aged 65 in Paris.