Jean-Michel Jarre， one of the most successful French artists of all times， has broken numerous records for concert attendance. His concerts in London， Hong Kong and Beijing attracted hundreds of thousands of fans——while his show in Moscow in September 1997 drew crowds of 3 million!

Jarre was born in Lyon on 24 August 1948.He grew up in a highly creative musical environment at home. His parents encouraged their son to learn music from an early age.Jarre had been playing the piano since the age of 5 and he gained a place at the famous Conservatoire (音樂學院) of Paris.The turning-point of Jarre's career came in 1968 when he discovered electronic music. He went on to specialise in electroacoustic music and soon proved himself to be a brilliant composer and musician in this new field . In 1971 the Paris Opera House commissioned Jarre to write the music for the ballet AOR.The sight of Paris's most prestigious2 ballet company dancing to electroacoustic sounds was certainly a first at the Paris Opera House.

In1973 Jarrebegan writing for avariety of French stars， composing some of the most famous French hits of the 70's.Jarre's dedication soon paid off. In August 1976 Jarre recorded his legendary concept album Oxygène. Shortly after its release in November， the album's title track Oxygène soared to the top of the charts around the world. Oxygène not only became one of the best-selling French musical exports of all times， it also transformed Jarre into a huge international star.

On 14 July 1979 Jarre organised a spectacular concert at the Place de la Concorde(協(xié)和廣場) in Paris. It attracted a phenomenal(驚人的)crowd， over 1 million people flocking3 to watch Jarre perform. Later that year the French musician's name was inscribed4 in the Guinness Book of Records for having assembled5 the largest concert audience ever!By this point in his career Jarre's music was known all over the world and， accordingly， the French Association of Songwriters and Composers also presented him with Gold Medal for the outstanding contribution he had made to exporting French culture around the world.

In October 1981 Jarre scored another first， flying out to China to play a series of five concerts. Jarre's visit to China was hailed as a major event in the music world， for no Western musician had been allowed to perform in China since 1976.Jarre's extraordinary success in China resulted in a new double album entitled Les Concerts en Chine. In June 2001 Jarre carried off a new musical challenge，heading off to Athens to stage three mega-concerts (大型音樂會) at the Acropolis (雅衛(wèi)城)as part of Greece's Cultural Olympiads. Themoneyraisedfromticketsalesto Jarre's spectacular6 Acropolis shows was donated to a children' s cancer charity7.

In May 1993 UNESCO appointed Jarre as its Ambassador of Goodwill.In spite of his international status，Jarre continued to live quietly in France，spending busy after- noons locked away in his studio experimenting with new synthesizer (音響合成器) sounds.

讓—米歇爾·雅爾是所有時代最成功的法國藝術家之一，他無數(shù)次打破了出席音樂會人數(shù)的記錄。他在倫敦、香港和北京舉辦的音樂會吸引了成千上萬的樂迷——而他于 1997年在莫斯科舉辦的演出則吸引了300萬的觀眾!

雅爾于1948年8月24日出生于里昂，他成長的家庭有著富于創(chuàng)造力的音樂環(huán)境。他的父母很早就鼓勵兒子學習音樂。從5歲起雅爾就開始彈鋼琴，并在著名的巴黎音樂學院獲得了一席之地。雅爾的事業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)折開始于1968年，當時他發(fā)現(xiàn)了電子音樂：他進而專攻電子音樂，并且很快在這個新的領域成為卓越的作曲家和演奏家。1971年巴黎歌劇院委托雅爾為巴蕾舞劇《AOR》譜寫音樂。巴黎最具聲望的芭蕾舞團用電子音樂伴奏，這在巴黎歌劇院實屬第一次。

1973年雅爾開始為巴黎各類明星寫曲子，創(chuàng)作了20世紀70年代法國一些最著名的作品。雅爾的熱忱很快得到了回報。1976年8月雅爾錄制了其風格非比尋常的唱片《氧氣》。當它于11月份發(fā)行后不久，該唱片中的主打曲《氧氣》一下子攀升至世界流行唱片榜榜首?！堆鯕狻凡粌H一直成為最暢銷的法國音樂出口商品之一，也使雅爾變?yōu)橐晃粐H巨星。

1979年7月14日，雅爾在巴黎協(xié)和廣場組織了一場引人注目的音樂會。它吸引了大批觀眾，100多萬人聚集一堂觀看雅爾的演出。那年晚些時候，由于會集了有史以來最多的音樂會觀眾，這位法國音樂家的名字被載入了《吉尼斯世界記錄大全》。此時，雅爾的音樂已聞名世界，法國詞曲作家協(xié)會，向他頒發(fā)了金質(zhì)獎章，以表彰他將法國文化傳播到全世界所做的杰出貢獻。

1981年10月雅爾又開創(chuàng)了另一個先河，飛往中國接連舉辦了5場音樂會。雅爾的中國之行被盛贊為音樂界的一樁大事，因為自1976年以來尚未有西方音樂家被允許在中國演出。雅爾在中國超乎尋常的成功帶來了一個新的題為《在中國的音樂會》的雙碟唱片的誕生。2001年6月雅爾進行了一次新的富有意義的音樂之旅，前往雅典，在雅典衛(wèi)城舉辦了作為希臘《文化奧林匹克》一部分的三場大型音樂會。這是一次壯觀的演出，其門票收入捐贈給了一家兒童癌癥慈善機構(gòu)。

1993年5月聯(lián)合國教科文組織任命雅爾為親善大使。雖然具有顯要的國際地位，雅爾仍繼續(xù)在法國過著平靜的生活，每天下午都把自己鎖在工作室里，忙著試驗其新型電子合成器音樂。

注釋：

1．electroacoustic adj．電聲的，電聲學的

2．prestigious adj．有聲望的，有威信的

3．flock vi．群集，蜂擁

4．inscribe vt．寫，印

5．a(chǎn)ssemble vt．集合，聚集

6．spectacular adj．壯觀的，引人注目的

7．charity n．慈善事業(yè)