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Yan Maresz began his musical training as a pianist and percussionist at the académie de musique de Monte-Carlo before devoting himself to the study of jazz and rock guitar, which he accomplished on his own. In 1983, he met the guitarist John McLaughlin and subsequently became McLaughlin’s only pupil, as well as his principal orchestrator and arranger beginning in 1989. Maresz continued his studies in jazz at the Berklee College of Music (Boston) from 1984 to 1986 before moving into the realm of composition. In 1986, he began to study composition at the Juilliard School in New York. Assistant professor in the composition classes at Juilliard from 1990 to 1992, he completed his training with David Diamond in 1992.

In 1993, Maresz participated in IRCAM’s Cursus program with Tristan Murail, during which he wrote Metallics (1995, revised in 2001). From 1995 to 1997, he was a resident at the Académie de France in Rome – villa Medicis, at the Europaïsches Kolleg der Künste in Berlin in 2004, and at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in 2012.

Yan Maresz is also an active teacher, giving master classes in Europe and Canada. He was composer-in-residence at the Strasbourg conservatory in 2003-04 and guest professor at McGill University in Motreal in 2004-05. He taught composition to students in IRCAM’s Cursus program from 2006 to 2011 and is currently a professor of orchestration and electro-acoustic at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris and at the CRR de Boulogne-Billancourt.

Maresz works closely with the Ballets de Monte-Carlo and their choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot. Al Segno, commissioned by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou was composed for dance and choreographed by François Raffinot, but the piece was reworked and developed for a concert setting, giving birth to Sul Segno in 2004. Among his recent works, music for the film by René Clair, Paris qui dort (2005), is performed on a regular basis.