Saturday 22/10 | Ciné-Concert / Pascal Contet | Concert for accordion and silent movie's screening
Pascal Contet, accordion
"I like to enter the film, eat it, slice it and digest it through my musical moments, spontaneous or reflective. I don't like to be left with touching lines of one scene or another that would artificially underline the director's creative power. On the other hand, to mention them, to play random ricochets, fugues or anti-dot tracks, to underline a lighting, a gesture, a subconscious symbolism seems to me a path of complicity with the structure of the film and therefore with the gaze of its creator. During the concert film, I have fun imagining that I'm seeing it with the audience for the first time, even if that's not the case, since it's shown beyond normal." (Pascal Contet)
French accordionist Pascal Contet, reviving the tradition of live music in the first motion pictures of the early 20th century,
will accompany the screening of F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent film “Sunrise”.
Municipal Theater "Aneton"
time 21:00
Ticket: €10/€7 reduced
Single ticket for the three concerts: €20/€15 reduced
(pre-sale: Horodentro, Katholikon 4)
"I like to enter the film, eat it, slice it and digest it through my musical moments, spontaneous or reflective. I don't like to be left with touching lines of one scene or another that would artificially underline the director's creative power. On the other hand, to mention them, to play random ricochets, fugues or anti-dot tracks, to underline a lighting, a gesture, a subconscious symbolism seems to me a path of complicity with the structure of the film and therefore with the gaze of its creator. During the concert film, I have fun imagining that I'm seeing it with the audience for the first time, even if that's not the case, since it's shown beyond normal." (Pascal Contet)
French accordionist Pascal Contet, reviving the tradition of live music in the first motion pictures of the early 20th century,
will accompany the screening of F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent film “Sunrise”.
Municipal Theater "Aneton"
time 21:00
Ticket: €10/€7 reduced
Single ticket for the three concerts: €20/€15 reduced
(pre-sale: Horodentro, Katholikon 4)
PASCAL CONTET, accordion and performer
For over 20 years, Pascal Contet has been a leader for the creation of contemporary music, and a
pioneer of the genre in France. With the creation of around 300 new works to his name, he has
collaborated with many composers, including Luciano Berio, Bernard Cavanna, Joshua Fineberg (USA),
Jean Françaix, Bruno Mantovani, and Martin Matalon.
Following his private study in France, Contet continued his musical studies in Fribourg (CHE), the
Hanover Academy of Music with Elisabeth Moser, the Copenhagen Royal Conservatory (DNK), and the
Graz Academy of the Arts (AUT) with Mogens Ellegaard.
Contet is the laureate of multiple foundations and prizes including the Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet
Vocational Foundation (awarded and bestowed by French President, François Mitterrand), the Yehudi
Menuhin Foundation, the Gyorgy Cziffra Foundation, the Lavoisier Foundation, the Gus Viseur Prize,
and the Samfundet Prize (awarded by the Danish government).
As a soloist, Contet has performed under the direction of many notable conductors including Pierre
Boulez, François Xavier Roth, Pascal Rophé, Jean-François Heisser, Jean –François Verdier, James
Wood, Susanna Mäkkli, Denis Comtet, Arie Van Beek, Laurent Petitgirard, and Daniel Tosi. He has
performed and been the dedicatee of many concertos by a wide range of composers, including
Bernard Cavanna, Benjamin Ellin, Jean Françaix, and Christophe Julien. He has appeared in
performance with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg
(DEU), the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Bratislava, the Orchestre Les Siècles,
the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre
National de Lorraine, the Orchestre Victor Hugo - Franche-Comté, the Orchestre d’Auvergne, the
Orchestre de Perpignan-Méditerranée, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre
de Picardie, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, the Alma Chamber Orchestra, and the
Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris where he premiered Mantovani’s opera, Ahkmatova.
Contet has collaborated with a wide variety of artists in diverse fields of expertise, from theater to
electronic music, to create new and innovative music and mixed media productions. Contet also
enjoys improvisation and jazz. His collaborative improvisation CD, 3, with contrabassist, Joëlle
Léandre, which débuted in March of 2014, received the Choc award from Jazz Magazine, the Coup de
Cœur from the Académie Charles Cros, and was elected to be on the Citizen Jazz website in 2014. In
June of 2015, under his personal label, Plein Jeu, distributed by Socadisc, Contet released Utopian
Wind, a compilation of 13 “comprovisé” titles that combine improvisational and compositional
techniques. In 2014, he performed a new trio at the Europa Jazz Festival with artists Björk, Scanner,
and Joel Cadbury in a mix of electro, rock, and contemporary music.
Contet works frequently on the connection between music and image, accompanying many cinema
concerts and compositions for TV and cinema in this capacity, including the film Port-Au-Prince
Dimanche 4 janvier by François Marthouret (screenplay by Marc Guilbert and Peter Kassovitz), based
on the book Bicentenaire by Lyonel Trouillot.
An avid composer, Contet has also worked on many pieces for dance and theater including No Way
Out (2004) for his duo with Jin Xing (performed and broadcast by the Shanghai Opera, France 2, TF1,
Casino de Paris, and the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon), Trio 03 for the Centre Chorégraphique National
de Belfort (Odile Duboc) (2003), and La Madeleine Proust- Haut Débit de Lola Sémonin, which has
been in production since 2008. His joint research with the artist Miguel Chevalier culminated in an
interactive visual music performance, L’Origine du monde, which was premiered on September 19,
2013 at the Enghien Center for the Arts to critical and public acclaim.
Visit Contet’s website, www.pascalcontet.com, for a comprehensive look into the things
that inspire and propel him toward new and revolutionary artistry.
For over 20 years, Pascal Contet has been a leader for the creation of contemporary music, and a
pioneer of the genre in France. With the creation of around 300 new works to his name, he has
collaborated with many composers, including Luciano Berio, Bernard Cavanna, Joshua Fineberg (USA),
Jean Françaix, Bruno Mantovani, and Martin Matalon.
Following his private study in France, Contet continued his musical studies in Fribourg (CHE), the
Hanover Academy of Music with Elisabeth Moser, the Copenhagen Royal Conservatory (DNK), and the
Graz Academy of the Arts (AUT) with Mogens Ellegaard.
Contet is the laureate of multiple foundations and prizes including the Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet
Vocational Foundation (awarded and bestowed by French President, François Mitterrand), the Yehudi
Menuhin Foundation, the Gyorgy Cziffra Foundation, the Lavoisier Foundation, the Gus Viseur Prize,
and the Samfundet Prize (awarded by the Danish government).
As a soloist, Contet has performed under the direction of many notable conductors including Pierre
Boulez, François Xavier Roth, Pascal Rophé, Jean-François Heisser, Jean –François Verdier, James
Wood, Susanna Mäkkli, Denis Comtet, Arie Van Beek, Laurent Petitgirard, and Daniel Tosi. He has
performed and been the dedicatee of many concertos by a wide range of composers, including
Bernard Cavanna, Benjamin Ellin, Jean Françaix, and Christophe Julien. He has appeared in
performance with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg
(DEU), the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Bratislava, the Orchestre Les Siècles,
the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre
National de Lorraine, the Orchestre Victor Hugo - Franche-Comté, the Orchestre d’Auvergne, the
Orchestre de Perpignan-Méditerranée, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Orchestre
de Picardie, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, the Alma Chamber Orchestra, and the
Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris where he premiered Mantovani’s opera, Ahkmatova.
Contet has collaborated with a wide variety of artists in diverse fields of expertise, from theater to
electronic music, to create new and innovative music and mixed media productions. Contet also
enjoys improvisation and jazz. His collaborative improvisation CD, 3, with contrabassist, Joëlle
Léandre, which débuted in March of 2014, received the Choc award from Jazz Magazine, the Coup de
Cœur from the Académie Charles Cros, and was elected to be on the Citizen Jazz website in 2014. In
June of 2015, under his personal label, Plein Jeu, distributed by Socadisc, Contet released Utopian
Wind, a compilation of 13 “comprovisé” titles that combine improvisational and compositional
techniques. In 2014, he performed a new trio at the Europa Jazz Festival with artists Björk, Scanner,
and Joel Cadbury in a mix of electro, rock, and contemporary music.
Contet works frequently on the connection between music and image, accompanying many cinema
concerts and compositions for TV and cinema in this capacity, including the film Port-Au-Prince
Dimanche 4 janvier by François Marthouret (screenplay by Marc Guilbert and Peter Kassovitz), based
on the book Bicentenaire by Lyonel Trouillot.
An avid composer, Contet has also worked on many pieces for dance and theater including No Way
Out (2004) for his duo with Jin Xing (performed and broadcast by the Shanghai Opera, France 2, TF1,
Casino de Paris, and the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon), Trio 03 for the Centre Chorégraphique National
de Belfort (Odile Duboc) (2003), and La Madeleine Proust- Haut Débit de Lola Sémonin, which has
been in production since 2008. His joint research with the artist Miguel Chevalier culminated in an
interactive visual music performance, L’Origine du monde, which was premiered on September 19,
2013 at the Enghien Center for the Arts to critical and public acclaim.
Visit Contet’s website, www.pascalcontet.com, for a comprehensive look into the things
that inspire and propel him toward new and revolutionary artistry.