Selvam Thorez

Born in Pondicherry (India), Selvam Thorez has lived in France and involved in art and culture for many years. Passionate about music, he has studied European classical music at the Paris Music Academy where he has learnt several instruments, including the Flute and the Viola da Gamba, an ancient string instrument which was played at the former French royal court. He is also a singer, performing lots of concerts with the prestigious Choeur de l’Orchestre de Paris in Europe and Middle East, notably at the Paris Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, but also in France (Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg, etc.) and abroad (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Lebanon, etc.). Selvam Thorez has also studied history of art at Paris La Sorbonne University and he is PhD in Indian art. In 2011, he has presented his thesis, devoted to “Mughal Painters during the XVIII° century” where he shows evolution of Mughal style and iconography from the Imperial Painting Academy in Delhi until 1750 to the birth of local workshops in Oudh and Bengal. He presents, in this thesis, several great Mughal painters such as Mir Kalân Khân and Mihr Chand, who worked under patronage of Muslim Nababs in Lucknow but also under the control of European civil servants from the East India Company, which introduced European manners in painting, resulting later in the emergence of Compagny painting style. He has further taught Indian Art at La Sorbonne University from 2004 to 2014, presenting notably history of Indian painting and architecture, but also Hindu iconography and Islamic and Sufi cultures. His current researches include Mughal Paintings from the Lucknow, Bengal and studies of modern painters from South Asia at the XX° century. He regularly publishes articles, for example in the French Revue des arts asiatiques (edited by the Musée national des arts asiatiques- Guimet in Paris), Revue Histoire de l’Art (edited by the French Institut national d’Histoire l’Art), Revue Asie (edited by la Sorbonne University), etc. He is member of the Researches Center for Far-Eastern art and archeology (CREOPS) at La Sorbonne and member of the Asie-Sorbonne Association. Selvam Thorez has studied Persian (fârsi) at the Institut national des Langues Orientales (National Institute for Oriental Languages) in Paris. In that frame, he has visited Iran and Afghanistan to work on Persian classical poetry. Selvam Thorez has also worked in cultural field for several years. He has been consultant for Unesco (Cultural Heritage Department and International Music Council) and has lead several musical structures in France devoted to ancient, classic or contemporary music, such as TM+, Les Cyclopes, Ensemble Calliopée, Compagnie Pocket lyrique, etc. and has been the Director of the Festival and Musical Season at the Bourgueil Abbey, in the center of France, from 2007 to 2012. He has been, from 2012 to 2015, Artistic Delegate for the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra and also worked as General Delegate at the Palestine Philharmonic Society in Bethlehem. He regularly organizes international tours for musicians, comedians and visual artists in Palestine, Iran, India, etc. He has for instance managed concerts with Indian flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sri Lankan pianist Shani Diluka, Indian theater company Adishakti, Iranian singer Ariana Vafadari and Iranian percussionist Keyvan Chemirani, African khora player Ballake Sisoko, French-Lebanon jazz trumpetist Ibrahim Maalouf, French baroque violinist Amandine Beyer, Israeli pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï, etc. He has recently worked with the Indian video artist Harsha Biswajit to organize for him a residency in the French cultural center Les Dominicains de Haute Alsace in the frame of the Odyssée Program launched by the French Ministry of Culture. Selvam Thorez has been Alliance française Chattogram Director since 2017.