Régis Campo

Régis Campo in 2009.

Régis Campo, born in Marseille in 1968, is a French composer.^[1]

Biography

Born in Marseille in 1968, Régis Campo is one of France’s best-known young composers. His music possesses a distinct rhythmic energy and vitality, is highly melodic, and possesses a certain humour that found in the work of French composers such as Janequin, Rameau, Couperin, Satie or Ravel.

After studying counterpoint and composition with, notably, Georges Bœuf at the Conservatoire in his native town, and studying philosophy at the University of Aix-en-Provence, he continued his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris with Gérard Grisey, where he was awarded a First Prize in Composition in 1995. While in Paris he met independently with composers such as Edison Denisov and Henri Dutilleux.

In 1996, he received the Dutch prize from the Fondation Gaudeamus for his work entitled Commedia. In the same year, his quintet for the brass ensemble Exsultate Jubilate won him three prizes at the Henri Dutilleux competition. In 1999, Sacem awarded him the Hervé Dugardin Prize and the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de France) awarded him the Pierre Cardin Prize.

Between 1999 and 2001, Régis Campo was a resident at the Académie de France in Rome (Villa Medici). Lumen for orchestra was performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano in September 2001 in Berkeley, California. In April 2003 they also commissioned his first symphony.

In November 2003, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the singer Dame Felicity Lott performed Happy Birthday for soprano and orchestra with the Ensemble orchestral de Paris directed by John Nelson. In 2005 Sacem awarded him the Sacem Prize for young composers and the Institut de France presented him with the Georges Bizet Prize. In the same year, at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, the Ysaÿe quartet performed his first string quartet Les Heures maléfiques.

His latest recording, Pop-art (on the Aeon label), has received a Coup de cœur – Charles Cros and won the Professors’ prize for the Grand Prix Lycéen for composers for 2006. His second symphony Moz’art was performed in September 2005 by the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris conducted by John Nelson during the 2005-2006 season at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Lumen II for orchestra was performed at the end of September 2006 by the new chamber orchestra Pelléas under the direction of Benjamin Levy at the Besançon festival.

Campo is currently working on a cycle of melodies composed for Felicity Lott and the Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski; he is also working on the orchestration of Erik Satie’s Sports et divertissements for the Montréal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. The film director Philippe Grandrieux (Sombre, La Vie Nouvelle) has recently entrusted him with the task of creating the music for his next feature-length film Un Lac.

Catalogue

His catalogue – comprising over a hundred works – covers various instrumental and vocal formations:

• Commedia (1995) for 19 musicians;
• the Concerto de chambre for 7 musicians (1996);
• the Concerto pour violon (1997 - revised in 2001);
• the Livre de Sonates (1997-1999) for organ;
• the Concerto pour piano et orchestre (1998-1999);
• Nova (1999) for 12 mixed voices, large mixed choir and ensemble;
• the Livre de Fantaisies for cello (1999);
• Faërie (2000-2001) for orchestra;
• Happy Bird (2001) concerto for flute, 2 horns, percussion and string orchestra;
• Lumen (2001) for orchestra;
• Premier Livre (2000-2002) for piano;
• Pop-art (2002);
• Symphonie N°1 (2002-2003) for orchestra;
• Ouverture en forme d’étoiles (2004) for orchestra;
• Quatuor à cordes N°1 "Les Heures maléfiques"(2005);
• Symphonie N°2 "Moz’art" (2005) for orchestra;
• Quatuor à cordes N°2 (2006).

References

External links

• A biography on IRCAM's website (French)