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
Laurent Mettraux
was born on May 27th, 1970, in Fribourg (Switzerland). He completed
the studies of analysis, counterpoint, harmony and fugue with René Oberson at
the Music Academy of Fribourg, as well as piano, violin and singing. He
continued his studies in Geneva (composition with Prof. Eric Gaudibert,
conducting with Prof. Liang-Sheng Chen), while
following also courses of ancient music and musicology. He received 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.
His Symphony for
chamber orchestra won in 1993 the 1st Prize and Public Prize of the 1st
Competition for young composers, organized by the Orchestre
de Chambre de Lausanne. He has been laureate of
several foundations, and finalist of, among others, the European Competition of
Choral Composition (Amiens, France). His work “Ombre”
(“Shadow”) for orchestra, won 1998 the prize of the prestigious Donaueschinger Musiktage, given
for the first time (among the members of the 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.
He receives numerous orders, 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 (more than 30 countries, in
Europe, North and South America, Central Asia and Far-East), among others
during numerous festivals, out of which are to be mentioned the Tibor Varga Festival, the Bachfest of
Leipzig, the European Month of
Music 2001, the World New Music Days, the Davos
Festival, the Festival de Radio France – Montpellier, the Viva Cello Festival
of Liestal, the Festival of Universal Sacred Music of
New York, the Festival des Rives d’Accordéon of
Paris, the “Musicales” of the Auberive Abbey, the Rencontres Musicales Internationales
des Graves, the Scènes d’Eté
of the Villette Park in Paris, the Festival of Sacred
Musics of Fribourg, the Greifswalder
Bachwoche, different world saxophone or cello
congresses, the festivals of contemporary music of Bratislava, Kaunas,
Ljubljana, Odessa, El Salvador,…
His works are
played by numerous Swiss and foreign ensembles and interpreters, among which a
great number of famous interpreters, for instance : the Talich
Quartet, the Janacek Quartet, Riccardo Chailly, Tibor Varga, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Sylvain
Cambreling, Francisco Araiza,
the Wiener Klangforum, the Zürcher
Streichtrio, the New London Chamber Choir.
Among his works
are to be mentionned the Concerto for 15 soloist
strings, personal order by Tibor Varga,
for the opening concert of the 1994 Tibor Varga Festival ; the 2nd Violin Concerto, also
first performed under the direction of Tibor Varga, on the occasion of the celebrations, in Budapest, of
the 150th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution in 1998 ; the oratorio Vers le Soleil Couchant (Towards the Setting Sun),
commissioned by the Fribourg University choir, first performed in 1996 in
Fribourg ; the orchestral work Le Cocyte, ordered by
the Pro Helvetia Foundation for the 100th Festival of Swiss
Musicians (Swiss Musicians Association) in St. Moritz in 2000 ; the choral work
La Plus Belle des Lumières, commissioned by the
Festival of Sacred Music of Fribourg ; a String Quartet, first performed in
2003 by the Talich Quartet.
Among his recent compositions :
an oratorio for the Swiss National Exposition ; “Complainte”
for solo violin, written at the request of Shlomo Mintz to be the set piece of the International Violin
Competition of Sion ; 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 ; “Stèles” for piano, first
performed by Dana Ciocarlie ; a concerto for organ and orchestra, for the
inauguration of the new great organ of the Lausanne Cathedral. This concerto
has been played again as German first performance in June 2010 together with
the world first performance of a work for choir and orchestra (commissioned by
the Gewandhaus) 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. »