LAURENT
METTRAUX
Route Principale 160, CH-1791 Courtaman (Switzerland),
tel. + fax: (+41) 26/684.18.65, E-mail : laurent.mettraux(at)bluewin.ch
Welcome ¦ Principal works ¦ Catalogue of works
Documents
to download ¦ Score
excerpts ¦ Audio examples
CDs
¦ Critics and articles ¦ (First) performances ¦ Texts
¦ Links
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Fribourg
(Switzerland) on May 27th, 1970. Musical studies at Conservatoire et
Académie de Musique de Fribourg (complete studies of analysis, counterpoint,
harmony and fugue with René Oberson, piano, violin and singing) and in Geneva
(composition with Prof. Eric Gaudibert, conducting with Prof. Liang-Sheng
Chen). Follows also courses of ancient music and musicology. Receives a prize
of the Kiefer-Hablitzel Foundation (Association of Swiss Musicians). Counsels
and courses with, among others, Klaus Huber, Luis de Pablo, Heinz Holliger,
Arvo Pärt, Paul Méfano.
1st Prize and
Public Prize of the 1st Competition for Young Composers – 1993, organized
by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra; finalist of, among others, the European
Competition of Choral Composition (Amiens, France); laureate of several
foundations. His work Ombre (Shadow) for orchestra, chosen among more
than 80 scores, won 1998 the prize of the prestigious Donaueschinger Musiktage,
given for the first time (Jury: Wolfgang Rihm, Sylvain Cambreling, Gérard
Grisey, Christian Wolff). He is also honoured in 2000 with a contribution
ad personam from the UBS
Kulturstiftung for his « remarkable partaking to the musical life in
Switzerland and abroad ».
First compositions in
1982. Numerous commissions, as much from the interpreters as from concert
associations, festivals, broadcasting and foundations. His works are more and
more performed, as well in Switzerland as in other countries. His style is
appreciated as well by specialists of contemporary music and musicians as by
the public. He is also one of the youngest composers about whom a notice
appears in the International Who’s who in Music and Musician’s Directory,
from the 16th edition onward (1998). He is since July 2007 member of
the committee of the Association of Swiss Musicians.
His works are performed in many countries all around the globe by
numerous famous interpreters, among which are to be mentioned : Talich Quartet,
Tibor Varga, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Sylvain Cambreling, Francisco Araiza, Wiener
Klangforum, Zürcher Streichtrio, the New London Chamber Choir. Among his recent
works : an oratorio for the Swiss National Exposition ; Complainte for solo
violin, written at the request of Shlomo Mintz to be the compulsory piece of
the International Violin Competition of Sion 2003 ; a choral work, commission awarded through
competition by the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music of New York ;
« Émergences » for violin and accordion, first performed by Marianne
Piketty and Pascal Contet ; a double concerto for Boris Livschitz, violin, and
the famous pi’pa player Yang Jing ; a quintet for flute and strings for
Alexandre Magnin and the Janácek Quartet ; a concerto for organ and orchestra,
for the inauguration of the new great organ of the Lausanne Cathedral, which
shall be played again in April 2010 by the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig,
conducted by Riccardo Chailly.
You can download the
complete dossier in pdf or Word, under the rubric documents.
Please
see also Principal works and catalogue of works !
You can also listen to
some audio recordings.
« In our time of aesthetic pluralism, it is much more important to find one’s own way, to follow it without concession, reminding to keep listening in the others. From medieval to contemporary music, going along the musical traditions (learned or popular) of the civilisations of every time and place, everything can be subject for consideration and learning, without forgetting to canalise these contributions to one’s own artistic sensibility. Materials are nothing more than materials if not animated by the spirit that makes them alive. »