If Eric Montalbetti long kept his music secret, he enjoys since 2015 that his scores are coming to life and reach audiences thanks to wonderful performers.
Among strings, violinist Christian Tetzlaff gave the world premiere of a Duo for violin & piano with Alexander Vorontsov, as well as the German premiere of an earlier Sonata for solo violin which was first performed in France by both David Grimal and Tedi Papavrami.
Cellists Marc Coppey, Henri Demarquette and Alejandro Viana played Un herbier pour la vie, and Henri Demarquette also gave the world premiere of Psalterium for cello & choir.
The soloists of the Ensemble intercontemporain Hae Sun Kang, Eric-Maria Couturier and Hidéki Nagano recorded a Trio for violin, cello & piano and Les Dissonances Quartet (David Grimal, Stefan Simonca-Oprita, David Gaillard and Xavier Phillips) the String quartet “Harmonieuses Dissonances”, to be revived in 2023 by Quatuor Mona.
With orchestra or instrumental ensemble, Vaste champ temporel à vivre joyeusement was first performed by Pascal Rophé & Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire on an 8 concerts tour, as well as by the Tokyo Sinfonietta and conductor Yasuaki Itakura in Japan. Pierre Bleuse also conducted the piece in Toulouse, and the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra gave its Romanian premiere in the George Enescu festival.
Kazuki Yamada conducted the premiere of Éclair physionomique, a large symphonic fantasy after Paul Klee commissioned by the Monte Carlo Festival du Printemps des Arts, which Pierre-André Valade revived with the Tonhalle Orchester in Zurich.
Following a first performance in Geneva Victoria Hall, Jonathan Nott and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande also performed the concerto Memento vivere with Emmanuel Pahud at the LAC Lugano and Paris / La Seine Musicale.
In 2020, the Lemanic Modern Ensemble and Pierre Bleuse commissioned the sinfonietta Fenêtres simultanées sur la ville, a sinfonietta inspired by painters Sonia & Robert Delaunay, also cocommissioned by the Tokyo Sinfonietta and Yasuaki Itakura, who have presented a portrait of the composer in Tokyo in July 2020 performing 3 different works.
In 2021, Ouverture philharmonique was premiered by Mikko Franck & Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at the Philharmonie de Paris, a co-commission of the Gürzenich Orchester Köln & François-Xavier Roth.
And in spring 2022, Cavernes & Soleils on poems by Andrée Chedid for mezzo-soprano & chamber orchestra was first performed by the Ensemble intercontemporain, Christina Daletska and Matthias Pintscher.
Further projects for 2023 include a Rapsody for clarinet & strings for Pierre Génisson and a concertante Nachtgebet for cellist Truls Mørk.
Eric started composition at the age of 11, while studying piano and organ. He followed the courses by Pierre Boulez, Robert Piencikowski and Andrew Gerszo at Ircam and Collège de France, and studied with composers Alain Bancquart, George Benjamin, Michael Levinas, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury, Paul Méfano and Tristan Murail.
From 1996 to 2014, he was the Artistic director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and chose to compose for himself like a personal diary. Since 2015, most of his music is published by Durand. A few other scores have been published by Allegretto.
Two CD albums entitled “Solos – A personal diary in music” and “Chamber music – Harmonieuses Dissonances” are available from Alpha Classics. Many public radios like BBC radio 3, France Musique, Deutschlandfunk, the Netherlands radio, RTBF in Belgium, Radio Suisse Romande, RTP Portugal as well as the NHK in Japan have also broadcasted various concerts and recordings.