Eric Montalbetti

Eric Montalbetti is enjoying since 2015 that his scores are coming to life and reach audiences thanks to wonderful performers.

With orchestra, in 2023/24 have been heard the premiere of a new concertante piece for cello, Nachtgebet, successively with Tanja Tetzlaff & the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Bleuse, Alban Gerhardt & Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège conducted by Lionel Bringuier, and Truls Mørk & Orchestre National de Lyon led by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, as well as Miséricorde for the strings of Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne & Renaud Capuçon and a Concertino for clarinet & string orchestra for Pierre Génisson & Cameristi della Scala conducted by Wilson Hermanto.

At the Philharmonie de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France & Mikko Franck premiered in 2021 the Ouverture philharmonique (a co-commission of Radio France and Gürzenich Orchester Köln who gave in 2024 its German premiere with conductor Duncan Ward). And in May 2022 the Ensemble intercontemporain gave with Matthias Pintscher and soloist Christina Daletska the world premiere of Cavernes & Soleils, a concertino for mezzo-soprano & chamber orchestra on three poems by Andrée Chedid.

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande & Jonathan Nott commissioned the concerto Memento vivere for Emmanuel Pahud and played it in Geneva, Lugano & La Seine Musicale.

Vaste champ temporel à vivre joyeusement was premiered by Pascal Rophé in France on an 8 concerts tour and by Yasuaki Itakura in Japan, then revived by Pierre Bleuse in Toulouse and by the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra in 2019 at the George Enescu festival.

Pierre Bleuse and Yasuaki Itakura also premiered in Geneva and Tokyo the new sinfonietta Fenêtres simultanées sur la villeafter Sonia & Robert Delaunay, which Yasuaki Itakura also conducted with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.

The symphonic fantasy after Paul Klee Éclair physionomique, premiered by Kazuki Yamada at the Monte Carlo spring festival, was also revived by Pierre-André Valade & Tonhalle Orchester Zürich.

Regarding chamber music, violinist Christian Tetzlaff gave the world premiere of a Duo for violin and piano as well as the German premiere of a Sonata for solo violin also performed by Tedi Papavrami and David Grimal. 

Cellist Marc Coppey recorded the suite Un herbier pour la vie, revived in concert by Henri Demarquette who also commissioned Psalterium for cello & choir. 

The soloists of the Ensemble intercontemporain Hae Sun Kang, Eric-Maria Couturier & Hidéki Nagano recorded a Trio, and Les Dissonances the String Quartet Harmonieuses Dissonances, also revived in 2023 by the Mona Quartet, as well as in the Lumières d’Europe Academy at Bucharest Enescu festival and at the International Music Seminar in Prussia Cove & Falmouth (U.K.).

Pianist François-Frédéric Guy premiered in the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw as well as in Tongyeong (Korea) 3 studies after Kandinsky, also performed in Germany by Kiveli Doerken, and in 2024/25, Momo Kodama premieres  6 Intermezzi from Paris to Tokyo and Nagoya.

Among winds, flutist Emmanuel Pahud premiered the concerto Memento vivere as well as the solo piece Memento Emmanuaile from the Wiener Konzerthaus to France, Italy, the Tokyo Opera City and Berlin Pierre Boulez Saal. 

Oboists Jean-Louis Capezzali and Viola Wilmsen played Esprit tendre, clarinetists Nicolas Baldeyrou and Pierre Génisson the Formants pour clarinette, and horn David Guerrier Prière de l’Ange gardien. Pierre Génisson and Delphine Haidan also premiered Hommage à Matisse for clarinet and female voice on the  painter’s 150^th anniversary in his birthplace as well as in Nice.

Eric started composing in his childhood while studying piano and organ. He followed the lectures by Pierre Boulez at Ircam and Collège de France, and studied with composers Alain Bancquart, George Benjamin, Michael Levinas, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury, Paul Méfano and Tristan Murail.

Also the Artistic Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 1996 to 2014, he only started to publish his music in 2015, now available from publishers Durand and Allegretto.

Two CD albums, Solos – a personal diary in music and Chamber music – Harmonieuses Dissonances are available from Alpha Classics. 

Many public radios including France Musique, BBC radio 3, Deutschlandfunk, Nederlands radio, RTBF in Belgium, Radio Suisse Romande, DR in Denmark, RTP in Portugal or the NHK in Japan as well as Arte Concerts have already broadcasted various concerts and recordings.