Christophe Bertrand

Christophe Bertrand
Period: 2008-2009
Profession: Composer Christophe Bertrand (b. 1981, d. 2010). After winning gold medals in piano and chamber music at Strasbourg’s C.N.R. (classes of Laurent Cabasso, Michèle Renoul, Armand Angster), he performed with the Ensemble Accroche Note and the Ensemble In Extremis, of which he was co-founder. He collaborates with composers such as Pascal Dusapin, Michael Jerrell, Mark André and Wolfgang Rihm. In 1996, he began studying composition with Ivan Fedele at Strasbourg’s C.N.R., graduating in 2000 “unanimously with congratulations from the jury”. The same year, the Festival Musica devoted a concert to him, and he took part in Ircam’s annual Cursus de composition et d’informatique musicale 2000-2001, where he worked with Philippe Hurel, Tristan Murail, Brian Ferneyhough and Jonathan Harvey. His works, conducted by Pierre Boulez, Jonathan Nott, Pascal Rophé, Hannu Lintu, Marc Albrecht, Guillaume Bourgogne and others, have been performed by prestigious ensembles and soloists: Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Quatuor Arditti, Accroche Note, Ensemble Court-Circuit, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Ensemble Aleph, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Ensemble Intégrales, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Musicatreize, Quatuor Mandelring, Avanti! among others; Garth Knox, Irvine Arditti, Hidéki Nagano, Juliette Hurel, Jean-Marie Cottet, Jérôme Comte, Claire-Marie Le Guay, Marc Coppey, Jan Michiels, Ilya Gringolts, Sébastien Vichard, Ferenc Vizi and others. In France: Festival Musica, Ircam, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Festival Agora, Centre Georges Pompidou, Salle Olivier Messiaen de la Maison de Radio-France, Festival des Serres d’Auteuil, etc. – Germany: Beethovenfest Bonn, Ultraschall-Festival Berlin, Internationale Ferienkurse Darmstadt, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg Opera – Switzerland: Lucerne Festival – Belgium: Festival Ars Musica Brussels – Italy: Villa Medicis, Festival Suona Francese, Festival Traiettorie in Parma, Rondo-Milano, Spoleto Festival – in Holland: Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Festival Gaudeamus – as well as in the USA (San Francisco), England (Manchester), etc., and on various French radio stations (Radio France). as well as on various French (France Musique) and foreign radio stations. He has received commissions from the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Lucerne Festival, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Beethovenfest in Bonn, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, the Louvre Auditorium, the André Boucourechliev Foundation, Les Musicales de Colmar, Berlin Radio, the French government, Accroche Note, the Musicatreize Ensemble, as well as from several private patrons. In 2001, he won the Prix de la Musique de l’Académie des Marches de l’Est, as well as the Mention d’Honneur at the Gaudeamus Festival and the 2002 Earplay Prize. In June 2007, he was awarded the Prix Hervé Dugardin by the SACEM, as well as the Prix André Caplet by the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de France).