Following his graduation from the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP)—with highest honours in analysis, music aesthetics, orchestration, composition, and music history—and participation in the IRCAM Cursus (IRCAM’s composition and computer music course), Bruno Mantovani embarked on an international career as a composer. His works have been performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Kölner Philharmonie, KKL in Lucerne, La Scala, Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, Cité de la Musique, and Salle Pleyel. He regularly works with esteemed soloists such as Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Alain Billard, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Antoine Tamestit, and Tabea Zimmermann, conductors Pierre Boulez, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Eötvös, Laurence Equilbey, Günther Herbig, Emmanuel Krivine, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Nott, Pascal Rophé, and François-Xavier Roth, ensembles such as Accentus, TM+, and Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Bamberg and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Cologne WDR, La Chambre Philharmonique, the Frankfurt and Sarrebruck Radio Orchestras, BBC London and Wales Symphony Orchestras, Radio France Philharmonic, Turin RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Lucerne Academy, the Orchestra of the Paris Opera, Paris Orchestra, the Czech and Liège Philharmonic Orchestras, NHK in Tokyo, Warsaw Sinfonia, and the Vienna Radio Symphony (RSO).

Mantovani has received numerous accolades, both in international competitions and for recordings of his works, including several “Coups de Cœur” from the Charles Cros Academy, a “Choc de l’Année” from Monde de la musique, and inclusion in the New York Times’ list of the “Top 10 CDs of 2008”. He became a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in January 2010.

Mantovani was in residence at Edenkoben Herrenhaus (Germany) in 1999, at the October in Normandy Festival in 2001, at Villa Medici Extra Muros (in Bologna) in 2002, at Villa Medici in 2004-05, at the Besançon Festival in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and with the Lille National Orchestra from 2008 to 2011. He has appeared as a guest artist at the Musica Festival since 2001, where a portrait concert of his works was presented in 2006.

Fascinated by the relationship between music and other art forms, he has collaborated with novelists Hubert Nyssen and Eric Reinhardt, librettists Christophe Ghristi and François Regnault, Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, choreographers Jean-Christophe Maillot and Angelin Preljocaj, and film director Pierre Coulibeuf. His work frequently explores aspects of Western classical music history (Bach, Gesualdo, Rameau, Schubert, Schumann) as well as popular musics, such as jazz and Eastern traditions.

Mantovani has collaborated on multiple occasions with the Paris National Opera, giving rise to the ballet Siddharta (2009); Akhmatova (2011), an opera based on the life of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova; the violin concerto Jeux d’eaux (2012); and Carnaval (2014), a trio for clarinet, cello, and piano.

He is also active as a conductor, and has led ensembles and orchestras including Accentus, Alternance, Sospeso, TM+, the Lille, Lyon and Capitole de Toulouse National Orchestras, the Paris Orchestra, and Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Bruno Mantovani was named Director of the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) in 2010. His scores are published by Henry Lemoine Editions.

Awards and Prizes

• First Prize in the City of Stuttgart Competition in 1999 for Violin Concerto and Turbulences
• Hervé Dugardin Prize in 2000
• SACEM Georges Enesco Prize in 2000 and 2005
• UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Prize in 2001
• André Caplet Prize from the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2005
• SACEM “Grand Prix” in 2000, 2005, and 2009
• SACD “New Talent” Prize in 2007
• Belmont Prize from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation in 2007
• Victoires de la Musique “Composer of the Year” in 2009
• Claudio Abbado Prize from the Berlin Philharmonic in 2010
• Prize of the International Musical Press in 2010
• Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) in 2010