Didier Petit was born in Reims in 1962 into a musical environment and began the cello at the age of six. He entered the conservatoire to study the instrument he was to research and work upon in the future. Thanks to his family, Didier wasswimming in music from a very early age.
In 1977, Didier walked out of the conservatoire, to find himself face to face with the world. At this time, he realises that music won’t leave him and, feeling a tremendous desire to exceed both physically and mentally, he turns to jazz. Particularly inspired by Sun Ra and his Arkestra and Celestrial Communication Orchestra of Alan Silva in which he played for ten years, he studied at the IACP, became a teacher, then administrator until 1989. He shared numerous musical experiences with musicians of all over the World as Vladimir Tarasov, Iva Bittova, Daunik Lazro, Bruno Girard, Carlos Zingaro, Roger Turner, Benat Achiary, François Tusques, Marilyn Crispell, Terje Isungset, Larry Ochs, Evan Parker, Tony Hymas, Xu Fengxia… Didier petit also played an important part in organising the festival Decades of Improvised Music in 1986, create the The WormHoles Festival in 2007. In order to set up something stable, he creates the record label In Situ in 1990 which now comprises 39 titles. An utopist and realist at the same time, Didier petit never loses the taste for risk and imagination. In 2009 he creat the East West collective in Hong Kong for the French May Festival to creat a bridge between two cultures. Since then he travel every year in China.
Since 2010, he is the artistic director of the French Space NationalAgency (CNES) for the Sideration Festival. In 2016 he has fligh withhis cello in the zero G plane to experiment music in zero gravity. And creat the group The Space Travelers, playing all aver coutries with Claudia Solal and Philippe Foch.