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composer / orchestrator / cellist
At tea time, my grandmother, a pianist would read sheets of four-handed Ravel, Roussel or Bartok hits, mailed to her by various publishers or picked up during one of her travels. My parents were school teachers but nonetheless musicians, and I chose to play the cello not only because it so happens to be the most beautiful instrument, but also because there was a lack of cellists in the county orchestra. After a year, I became their official cellist (naturally, since there was no other cellist or double-bass player for miles around) in poor Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.
After years of study and a first prize in cello and chamber music at the National Music Academy of Nimes, with high hopes, I attended cello classes with Andre Navarra, composition classes with Franco Donatoni and Giuseppe Sinopoli at the Chigiana Academy in Sienna (Tuscany). I followed these with cello and chamber music studies at the prestigious Conservatoire Superieur de Musique in Paris (first prize), then further training with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano and harmony, analysis and aesthetics at the same time.
This new Parisian life style soon broadened my horizon. An informal group of students were playing for young composers such as Philippe Saisse and Agnes Reverdy.
Principal cello of John Elliot Gardiner's Opera Orchestra and becoming a classical soloist, didn't stop me from playing electric cello on rock stages. At the same time, I played throughout Europe contemporary pieces.
A few attempts at playing chamber music in trios then in quartets (recordings of quartets with Lalo Shiffrin, Gabriel Yared, Bruno Coulais, Charles Ives, etc...), some very pleasurable jazz bands : Pandemonium with François Jeanneau, Katia Labèque, Didier Lockwood, Mino Cinelu, JF Jenny- Clark, String Swing System with Didier Levallet, Bernard Lubat, Martial Solal's Big Band and even some tango: Quartetto Cedron, Trottoirs de Buenos Aires, Susana Rinaldi.
And then I had a hit ! "Song of Ocarina" a duet (flute-cello) pop album was released in 1992, and went straight to number one in the singles and album charts, gold and platinum in various countries, totaling 3 million copies of the album worldwide. Tours in China, Korea, Colombia, Argentina etc...
The sweet smell of success is great as long as you manage to deal with it. And I dealt with it fine by performing Bach's complete cello suites for the anniversary year, by directing a season of theatrical scores for the Darius Milhaud theatre and the Opus cafe in Paris, by exploring the cello's acoustic, & electric capacities, by writing arrangements for Iggy Pop, Johnny Depp, Stephan Eicher, Paul Personne... by coaching for Babylon Circus and for the "Salon de la Musique et du Son" Fair, by writing or participating in the writing of various film scores "Tôt ou tard", "Mr N", "Partir, revenir", "L' homme de sa vie", "Désaccord Parfait", by writing orchestrations for Steve Nieve, a regular with Elvis Costello and Sting.
And since I've been regularly promised alternative pieces that never showed, I rolled up my sleeves, sat down and wrote "Alleluiah Graffiti", an album of 32 acoustic fragrances, variations of the famous cello theme by Bach.
My main cello is a Gioffredo Cappa built in 1637.
In 2007, with Jerome Badini (ElectroSax) and Judith Darmont (VideoKeyboard), I (VideoCello) have launched MOVIESONIC, a multimedia group mixing electro-jazz, classical music and video-art. On stage, our digital instruments trigger simultaneous music, photo and video, in a next generation invention...
check www.violoncelle.net
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