A French composer born February 20, 1955 in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
A guitarist by training, Christine Mennesson is a laureate of the composition and electroacoustic research prizes of the Paris Conservatory. She also studied analysis and serial counterpoint with Max Deutsch and Jeannine Richer as well as the analysis of spectral music with Tristan Murail, and completed her training in composition with Franco Donatoni in Italy. In parallel with the study of computer languages and of studio techniques linked to questions of composition, she commenced the study of early musical languages (reading tablatures, sixteenth-century counterpoint, Gregorian, languages of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries). Her artistic research evolved profoundly in contact with artistes and thinkers in the course of a trip through Asia (1993-1994). She was in residence at the Villa Kujoyama in Japan in 2000.
Mennesson composes for all groupings: chamber music (Soloïst 3 for double bass, first performed in Darmstadt; Miquitzli for string quartet, first performed at the festival Futurs/Musiques, 1991; Nun for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin and cello, 1991, premiered by the ensemble Contrechamps for Voix Nouvelles in Royaumont; Quand l’éternité aura pris le temps par la main for flute, viola and harp, premiered at the festival Les Musiques Démesurées by the trio Antara, 2014; Infinite Breathing 5 for two clarinetists, first performed at the festival Ars Musica in Brussels by Jean-Marc Fessard and Béatrice Berne, 2015), music for ensemble (Pyanissino for orchestra of flutes, 1990, premiered by the Orchestre de Flûtes Français), vocal and choral music (Sur les champs lisses de l’infini, for mezzo-soprano and instrumental ensemble, first performed at Radio France by Tricia Hayward and the ensemble 2e2m, 1998; Sun Word for 12 female voices, first performed at the Festival d’Ambronay by the Choeur Britten conducted by Nicole Corti, 2008; Feet echoing in the corridors of time for 4 female voices, first performed by the 4anima Quartet, 2014; Dans la Nuit comme en plein jour, for mixed chorus and trumpet, first performed by David Guerrier and the Choeur Britten conducted by Nicole Corti, 2016), as well as pedagogical music. Her first monographic CD, Solem,was awarded the ‘Coup de cœur’ of the Académie Charles Cros in 2004.
Noticed by György Ligeti for the pertinence of her analyses, Mennesson took part in the editorial committee and headed the contemporary music rubric of the periodical Analyse Musicale (1999-2003). She has also written general reader analyses for phonographic producers as well as biographies for musical comic strips.
Christine Mennesson teaches analysis and composition at conservatory level and is in charge of a professional teacher training programme.
