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ESPERANZ'ARTS

Arts For All

Pascal Contet I Accordion

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Accordion Essential in contemporary creation for more than 20 years and a pioneer in this field in France, Pascal Contet has about 300 works to his credit. Many composers trust him, including Claude Ballif, Franck Bedrossian, Luciano Berio, Edith Canat de Chizy, Bernard Cavanna, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Ivan Fedele, Joshua Fineberg (USA), Jean Françaix, Ivar Frounberg (Denmark), Philippe Hurel, Pierre Jodlowsky, Klaus Ib Jorgensen (Denmark), Philippe Leroux, Bruno Mantovani, Javier-Torres Maldonado, Martin Matalon, Marc Monnet, Yann Robin, Oscar Strasnoy, Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, Johannes Schoellhorn (Germany).

In 2012, first for accordion, he was nominated for the Victoires de la musique classique in the category "Instrumental Soloist of the Year" and in the category "Recording of the Year" as well as in 2007 for the Victoires du Jazz (artist of the year) for his album "NU" with Bruno Chevillon and François Corneloup. After a private career in France, Pascal Contet continued his musical studies in Freiburg, Switzerland, at the Musikhochschule in Hanover (Elsbeth Moser), at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen and at the Akademie der Künste in Graz, Austria (Mogens Ellegaard). He is a laureate of several foundations: Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet for Vocation (promoted and awarded by the President of the Republic François Mitterrand), Yehudi Menuhin, Gyorgy Cziffra, Lavoisier and several prizes including the Gus Viseur Prize, Samfundet (Danish government). He plays as a soloist under the direction of conductors Pierre Boulez, François Xavier Roth, Pascal Rophé, Jean-François Heisser, Jean-François Verdier, Esa Pekka Salonen, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Diego Masson, Daniel Kawka, James Wood, Susanna Mäkkli, Denis Comtet, Arie Van Beek, Laurent Petitgirard, Daniel Tosi. Dedicated * to many concertos, Pascal Contet performs the accordion concertos of Bernard Cavanna*, Benjamin Ellin*, Jean Françaix*, Christophe Julien*, Arne Nordheim, Sofia Gubaïdulina, Astor Piazzolla, concertante piece by Peter Eötvös with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg (D), the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Bratislava, the Orchestre Les Siècles, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Orchestre Victor Hugo - Franche-Comté, the Orchestre d'Auvergne, the Orchestre de Perpignan-Méditerranée, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne, the Alma Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris for the creation of "Ahkmatova" by Mantovani. Pascal Contet is also a permanent member and soloist of the 2e2m and Ars Nova ensembles. He likes to improvise with double bass player Joëlle Léandre (their album "3", released in March 14, received a Choc de Jazz Magazine, Le Coup de Cœur de l'Académie Charles Cros, Elu 2014 Citizen Jazz), with the renowned mouth organ player Wu Wei, with Pauline Oliveros, Carlos Zingaro, Carol Robinson, Tom Mays, Nosfell or the singer Camille. In 2014 he creates for Europajazz Le Mans a new trio "The White Concert" with London's Scanner, international master of laptop (Björk, Christian Rizzo) and London singer and guitarist Joël Cadbury (Unkle, Gavin Clark, Sydney Opera) in a mix of electro, rock and contemporary music.

He works on the relationship to the image, accompanying numerous film-concerts or composing for television or cinema (Port -Au -Prince Sunday, January 4, by François Marthouret based on the novel Bicentenaire by Lyonel Trouillot, script by Marc Guilbert and Peter Kassovitz. In the field of visual arts, he continues his research with the artist Miguel Chevalier in an interactive musico-visual performance L'origine du Monde, the first of which, on 19 September 2013, at the Enghien Arts Centre, was hailed by the public and critics, then revived at the Tons voisins festival in Albi, Samsung's Conférence Modiale at the IFA 2014 exhibition in Berlin, the Nuits de Nacre festival in Tulle 2014, the Arsenal in Metz and soon in Istanbul. His chamber music partners are Paul Meyer, whose latest album "Fantaisies Lyriques" released by Sony Classical is acclaimed by the media, Ophélie Gaillard, Marianne Piketty, Louis Rodde, Marion Tassou, Fanny Robillard, the Debussy, Diotima, Danel and Travelling Quartet quartets. Readings or theatre, he collaborates with Marie-Christine Barrault, François Marthouret, Fabrice Melquiot, Anne Alvaro, Charles Gonzalès, Roland Auzet, Christian Rizzo, Didier Galas or the Congolese Dieudonné Niangouna (Les Inepties Volantes, revelation of their show in duo during the Avignon Festival In 2009).

Composer-improviser-performer, he received several commissions (state commission from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, commission from the Nuits de Nâcre festival, by Odile Duboc - CCN de Belfort, Commissioned by Tage der Utopie (Austria), Commissioned by the Avignon Festival 2009, Commissioned by Skertzo. Among his compositions for dance and theatre, we can remember: - Trio 03 for the Centre Chorégraphique National de Belfort (Odile Duboc) Festival Agora-Ircam 2003 - Acts I to III by Mié Coquempot (assistance from the Sacem Action Fund), 2008 to 2010 - No Way Out (2004) for the duo with Jin Xing (Shanghai Opera, France 2, TF1, Casino de Paris, Halle Tony Garnier Lyon) - Des souffles de vie de Fattoumi- Lamoureux (state order 2001), - La Madeleine Proust- Haut Débit by Lola Sémonin - on the bill since 2008, - Festival d'Avignon 2009 - music by Dieudonné Niangouna's Inepties Volantes - In 2012, for Skertzo (video creation projected on historical monuments), he composed a part of Beauvais, Infinite Cathedral visible until 2022 and the entire visual creation of Jamais deux fois le même fleuve for the façade of the Capitole de Toulouse.

During the 2015-2016 season, in association with violinist Anne Gravoin and the Travelling Quartet, Pascal Contet will create Influences Latines (Le Toboggan à Décines and then on tour), a sound journey around ancient tangos arranged by composers Tomas Bordalejo and Fernando Fiszbein. In June 2015, Pascal Contet created his own label: PLEIN JEU distributed by Socadisc and offered UTOPIAN WIND, 14 "compiled" titles.

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