A French composer born June 26, 1963 in Sisteron.
An oboist by training, Christophe de Coudenhove studied at the Conservatory of Grenoble, then on the Île de la Réunion, while developing a passionate interest in polyphonic vocal music. In 1984 he entered the Paris Conservatory in the electroacoustic music composition class of Guy Reibel and Laurent Cuniot. He then started the composition course, notably in the classes of analysis with Betsy Jolas and of orchestration with Serge Nigg. He also followed the course in Indian music of Patrick Moutal. Having obtained prizes for composition and orchestration, he completed his apprenticeship with the computer music course at Ircam (1991), where he was subsequently a production director for computer music and head of the Max programming courses until 1994.
In that same year de Coudenhove set up a class in composition and computer music at the Conservatory of Montpellier. There his tuition was based on the relationships between instrumental and vocal writing and electroacoustics. He also taught at the Conservatory of Bourg-la-Reine/Sceaux from 2005.
As a composer in search of a balance between intuition and speculation, organisation and improvisation of the mind, Christophe de Coudenhove takes inspiration from the world of the visual arts and letters as well as from his encounters and collaborations with performers. He has found distinction as much in the domains of instrumental and vocal music as in those of mixed and acousmatic music. His works include Matières orchestrales, first performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Kirill Karabits in the broadcast Alla Breve (2004); Soleil noir for vibraphone and fixed sounds, first performed by Philippe Limoge at the festival Aujourd‘hui Musique of Perpignan (2004); Rainbow over the chapel for clarinet and instrumental ensemble, first performed by the Atelier Musical de Touraine Atmusica, conducted by Jean-Pierre Pinet (2005); Un hommage à Salvador Dali for two pianos, children’s choir and wind ensemble, commissioned by the French State and first performed by Sophie Grattard, Pascal Jourdan and the Atelier XXI conducted by Jean-Loup Grégoire in Montpellier (2008); Scènes, music on support, premiered in Montpellier at the Klang! electroacoustic festival (2017); Suite en forme d’hommages for organ four hands and four feet, first performed by Béatrice Piertot and Yannick Merlin in the Cathedral of Lucerne in Switzerland (2018).
