A French composer and conductor born in 1974 in Châtillon.
After studying the piano, percussion and jazz at the Perpignan Conservatory, Bruno Mantovani entered the Paris Conservatory (1993) where he was a pupil notably of Guy Reibel, Laurent Cuniot and Alain Louvier. He completed his training at the University of Rouen (masters degree in musicology), at the Voix Nouvelles academy of Royaumont (with Brian Ferneyhough and Michael Jarrell in 1995) and at Ircam (composition and computer music, 1998-99).
Mantovani has led an international career and collaborated as composer with prestigious soloists, ensembles and orchestras: Jazz Connotation for piano, first performed by Jay Gottlieb (1998); La morte meditata for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, first performed by the ensemble TM+ (1999); Mit Ausdruck for bass clarinet and orchestra, first performed by Alain Billard and the Bamberger Symphoniker (2003); Happy B. for flute, violin, viola and cello, first performed by the ensemble Sospeso at the Carnegie Hall, New York (2005); Con leggerezza for large ensemble, first performed at the festival Ars Musica (2005); Cello Concerto, first performed by Jean-Guihen Queyras and Sarrebrücken Radio Orchestra (2005); L’autre côté, opera premiered at the Opéra National du Rhin during the festival Musica (2006); Concerto for 2 violas and orchestra, first performed by Antoine Tamestit, Tabea Zimmermann and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (2009); Siddharta, ballet for orchestra, first performed at Bastille Opera (2010); Akhmatova, opera premiered at Bastille Opera (2011); Jeux d’eau, first performed by Renaud Capuçon and the Paris National Opera Orchestra (2012); Schlemihl for orchestra, first performed at La Scala, Milan (2014); Entrechoc for orchestra, first performed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Japan (2016); Cadenza n° 1 for percussion and ensemble, first performed by Gilles Durot and the Ensemble Intercontemporain (2018).
Fascinated by the relationships between music and other forms of artistic expression, Mantovani has collaborated with the novelists Hubert Nyssen and Eric Reinhardt, the librettists Christophe Ghristi and François Regnault, the chefs Ferran Adrià and Mathieu Pacaud, the choreographers Jean-Christophe Maillot and Angelin Preljocaj, the cinema director Pierre Coulibeuf. His works regularly examine the history of western music (Bach, Gesualdo, Rameau, Schubert, Schumann) and traditional repertories (jazz, oriental music).
Composer of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2009, Bruno Mantovani has been director of the Paris Conservatory (2010-2019) and then he becomes artistic and musical director of the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain.
