Having first studied music and choreography, Alain Germain then turned his attention to architecture, earning diplomas from both the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and the Architecture Department of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
Supported by the pianist Arthur Rubinstein and the visual artist Béatrice Casadesus, he was awarded the prestigious Fondation de la Vocation Prize.
In 1972, he founded his own company whose originality resides in the mixing of different art forms: music, singing, dance, theatre and the visual arts. Over the years, he has created many productions not only in Paris but around the world.
At the same time, he has been invited to teach and to give workshops by the dance, theatre and music departments of New York University, Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles California Institute of the Arts, Pennsylvania University, Yale University, la Chartreuse de Villeneuve-les-Avignon, la Sorbonne, the French Fashion University Esmod of Dubaï …
In the 70s and 80s, Alain Germain’s contemporary musical theatre creations attracted a lot of attention, not only in Europe but in the United States as well. Some of the productions were, amongst many others: Choreography for a masquerade (National Gallery of the Grand Palais …), The Pianist knits (Theatre Carré Silvia Monfort …), Midnight for giants based on music by Claude Ballif (Maison des Arts of Créteil, Museum of Modern Art Paris, Espace Pierre Cardin … / all of the above in Paris, France), The Moon sunny side up (Marais Festival in Paris, Whitney Museum in New York, Summer Festival of Bonn in Germany …), The Ambulant widows (Art in the City Festival in Paris, Theatre Basel in Switzerland, Summer Festival of Bonn …), The Counter dance of other times (Theatre Carré Silvia Monfort, Theatre Basel, Summer Festival of Bonn …), The Other Mozart (Summer Musical Festival of New York, Metz Opera House & Theatre Caen …), The Merseburg incantation (Museum of Modern Art Paris, Theatre Basel, Summer Festival of Bonn, Columbia & Pennsylvania Universities USA …), A Little musical comedy (Centre Georges Pompidou / Beaubourg in Paris …), In the shadow of the garden years (Marais Festival in Paris, Wadworth Theatre in Los Angeles, Opera Houses of Bonn & Cologne, National Opera of Paris …), Directions for counter use (Rencontres of the Carreau du Temple in Paris …), The Old ladies from Osnabrück based on music by Ginette Keller (Osnabrück Opera House in Germany, the Chartreuse of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon …), Dracula based on music by Claude Ballif (Festival Estival of Paris, Theatre of Paris, Metz Opera House …), Amorous salvage (Palais des Glaces Theatre in Paris …), Three Opera folies for three women composers based on music by Isabelle Aboulker, Ginette Keller and Francine Aubin (Royal Opera of Wallonie in Belgium, Capucins Theatre of Luxembourg, Winter Festival of Avignon, Espace Jacques Prévert of Aulnay-sous-Bois …), Inventory with the dancers Janine Charrat and Jean Babilée based on music by Isabelle Aboulker (Centre Georges Pompidou / Beaubourg in Paris …), A Piano for two pianists based on music by Alain Margoni (Espace Jacques Prévert in Aulnay-sous-Bois, Capucins Theatre in Luxembourg …), The Anouilhesques (Saint-Etienne Opera House, Potinière Theatre in Paris …).
Alain Germain has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers who have written original music for his company: Claude Ballif (Dracula and Midnight for giants), Ginette Keller (The Old ladies of Osnabrück and The Farewell of a diva without memory), Isabelle Aboulker (From the other side of the mirror, Inventory, The Scientists and the Revolution, Champagne notes and Chassé-croisé ), Francine Aubin (Dinner à la française), Alain Margoni (A Piano for two pianists), Ichiro Nodaïra (Buffon côté jardin), Frédéric Durieux (The Origins of Man), Adrienne Clostre (Around the world in 80 languages and The Triumph of virtue), Eric Tanguy (Les Arts et Métiers en spectacle), Bruno Ducol (KNES Symphonie) …
Major productions by Alain Germain based on classical repertory masterpieces include: Rossini’s La Scala di seta (National Opera of Paris / Bastille, Theatre of Versailles …), Mozart’s requiem (Opera Houses of Vichy and Nancy, National Opera of Paris / Opéra Comique …), Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (ROH Covent Garden in London, Athens Festival …), Rossini’s Le Siège de Corinthe (Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid …), Schumann’s Dichterliebe (Royal Opera House of Wallonie in Belgium, Musée National des Techniques in Paris …), Molière and Lully’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (ROH Covent Garden and Whitehall Palace in London, Châteaux of Chambord and Blois, Grand Théâtre of Reims …), Franz Lehár’s The Merry widow (Opera Houses of Saint-Etienne, Vichy and Massy …), Iannis Xenakis’s Oresteïa (ROH Covent Garden), Pietro Antonio Cesti’s Il Tito (National Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg / Mulhouse), Banchieri’s From Venice to Padova (Grand Théâtre of Reims), Molière and Charpentier’s The Imaginary invalid (Château of Blois, Grand Théâtre of Reims), Gluck’s Telemaco (Sadler’s Wells in London, Odeon Theatre / Herodes Atticus in Athens), Molière and Gounod’s Le Médecin malgré lui (Opera Houses of Tourcoing, Vichy and Massy, Phoenix Theatre of Valenciennes, Monsigny Theatre of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Grand Théâtre of Reims, Opera Houses of Tours and Limoges …), Rameau’s Platée (Megaron / Alexandra Trianti Hall in Athens).
Art and science are equal domains of interest for Alain Germain as evidenced by his productions at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (Buffon côté jardin for the bicentennial of Buffon’s death), Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie de La Villette (The Scientists and the Revolution for the bicentennial of the French Revolution), Musée en Herbe / Halle Saint Pierre (The Origins of Man), Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Les Arts et Métiers en spectacle), National Archives (La Vie aménagée for the 250th anniversary of the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussés) …
Alain Germain has presented his paintings on The Origins of Man in the gallery of Jäggi Bücher in Basel, Switzerland. He has conceived and implemented many exhibitions: Opéra côté costumes for the National Opera of Paris / Palais Garnier, Les Arts et Métiers en costumes at the Marché Saint Honoré in Paris, Costumes à jouer, costumes à rêver for the Museum Villa Médicis in Saint-Maur, Le Théâtre en costumes for the French Cultural Centers of Cotonou in Benin and Lome in Togo, Costumes de scène en liberté and Phantoms of the Opera for the Grand Théâtre of Reims, Turbulences, a « happening » on the theme of wind at the Tinguely Museum in Basel, Alain Germain : mémoires de scène for the French Bibliothèque Nationale / Museum of the National Opera of Paris …
Alain Germain has published nine novels: Les Origines de l’Homme, La Ville invisible, Les Grenouilles de Saint-Pierre, L’affaire Callas, Meurtre à la française, Fantômes d’opéra, Pas de deux avec la mort, Les Cuisines du diable and Le Sceau de la mort. He has written four books on theatre: Le Tour du monde en 80 langues, Costumes de scène en liberté, Les 400 coups de l’hôpital Saint-Louis and Les Arts et Métiers en spectacle. He has also created and supervised a collection of detective novels for the Editions du Rocher called Le Rouge et le Noir. Several of his books have been translated into Russian and Czech.
In recent years: Alain Germain, at the request of the famous opera singer Julia Migenes, has realised the costumes and sets for Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Sevilla, Ms. Migenes’ first stage production. He has written Fleurs du mal for the Orford Festival in Canada for the 150th anniversary of Baudelaire’s book. He has conceived and materialised Alain Germain, entre costumes et machines for the Musée National des Arts et Métiers in Paris (commemorating four decades of his career), The Costume Object Workshop & Exhibition for the French Fashion University Esmod of Dubaï, Alain Germain habille Chambord d’opéra for the Château of Chambord and Before Birth : 5000 Years of Images for the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre. He has staged The 400 Beats of the Hôpital Saint-Louis for the 400 year anniversary of the Parisian hospital and a new production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow for the Limoges Opera House.
In 2010, Alain Germain was again invited by the French Fashion University Esmod of Dubaï to this time direct The Costume Art Workshop & Exhibition. Also, the text from his theatrical production Inventory, which was created at the Centre Georges Pompidou / Beaubourg, was published in the Theatre Collection of the Editions de l’Amandier. Inventory retraces the life and work of the French dancer-choreographer Janine Charrat. In addition, he was once again back at the Château of Blois to conceive and implement the exhibition Festivities and Crimes at the Renaissance Court of Henri III, and he produced the show Soir de Fête for the 10th anniversary for the reopening of the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.
In 2011, after presenting his production Flowers of Evil at the Sully-sur-Loire Music Festival, he staged the opening ceremonies for the Wine Grape Harvesting Festivities at the Town Hall of the Parisian 18th Quarter (fashion week/Paris) as well as KNES Symphonie for the 50th Anniversary of the French National Space Center CNES presented at the National Technical Museum CNAM.
Alain Germain’s novels Three Little Rats at the Opera, the first volume of his new book series Nutcrackers at the Opera, and The Last Phantom of the Opera were released by the publishing house Editions Oslo.
In 2012, Alain Germain continued his collaboration with the French Fashion University Esmod in Dubaï for whom he directed the Workshop & Exhibition Textures. He was also the « godfather » and president of the student examination jury for Esmod in Paris. He participed in the collective work of texts at the Sorbonne University for Mélanges, dedicated to Joëlle Gardes, published by Editions de l’Amandier. In September, Editions Oslo published his Les Casse-Noisettes et les mystères de Londres (The Nutcrackers and the Mysteries of London). He was invited to the University of Mekele (Ethiopia) for the international conference Development of Museums and Heritage in Africa and he also presented his work at the colloquium Turchinu Maio : Dialogue des arts mêlés at the University of Corte in Corsica.
In 2013, Alain Germain was again invited to the French Fashion University Esmod in Dubaï, first for the workshop and the exhibition Textile to Texture, presented at the Wafi Mall Gallery, then for Fashion Hardcore Performance, a theatrical « Happening », where dance, techno and fashion were mixed. He also published two new novels: Péril au Bolchoï (Peril at the Bolshoï) for Editions Oslo, as well as Mariez-vous ! (Get Married!) in the collection « Court-métrage » for Editions Oskar. He presented a musical retrospective of Compagnie Alain Germain for the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Paris Historique and the Festival du Marais in the courtyard of the Parisian Hôtel de Beauvais, with the participation of Swiss tenor Andreas Jäggi and the pianist Jean-François Ballèvre. Alain Germain was invited to Belgium for 20 Jeunes chorégraphes/Bruxelles 2013.
Alain Germain’s collection of stage costumes is registered with the performing arts fund of the French Bibliothèque Nationale.