Composer
Born in Buenos Aires in 1958, Martin Matalon studied at the Juilliard School in New York, where he obtained a Master's degree in composition. In 1989 he founded Music Mobile, a New York-based ensemble devoted to contemporary repertoire, and served as its director until 1996.
He was awarded the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation Prize in New York, the F. Schmitt Prize from the Institut de France Académie des Beaux-Arts, the City of Barcelona Prize, the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Grand Prix des Lycéens...
In 1993, having settled permanently in Paris, IRCAM commissioned a new score for the restored version of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. After this considerable work, Martin Matalon immersed himself in the world of Luis Buñuel, writing three new scores for the Spanish director's three surrealist films, Un Chien andalou (1927), L'Âge d'or (1931) and Las Hurdes - Terre sans pain (1932).
His catalogue includes a large number of chamber music and orchestral works and covers a wide range of different genres: musical theatre, mixed music, musical tales, film-concerts, vocal music, installations, music and poetry, choreographic works, opera...
Initiated in 1997, the Trames series, works on the borderline between solo concerto writing and chamber music, and the Traces cycle, which for the composer is a kind of diary for solo instruments with live electronics, form an important part of his catalogue.
He also conducts orchestras. He has conducted the Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Barcelona 216, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Orchestre d'Auvergne, Court-Circuit, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Ensemble Orchestral de Reims, the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra, etc.
Martin Matalon has taught composition at the Conservatoire of Aubervilliers, He has been a guest professor at McGill University, UC Berkeley, Ircam, Centre Acanthes, in numerous summer academies: CompoLab, Injuve, Institut Français-Barcelona Modern Project... Since 2017 he has been a professor at the CNSM de Lyon.
He has been composer-in-residence at the Arsenal de Metz and the Orchestre National de Lorraine (2003-2004), at La Muse en Circuit (2005-2010), at the Stavanger Festival in Norway in 2011, and guest composer at the Les Arcs Festival in 2014...
His opera "L'Ombre de Venceslao", with a libretto and staging by Jorge Lavelli based on Copi's play, premiered at the Opéra de Rennes in October 2016 and is currently touring France and South America in 11 opera houses. "L'Ombre de Venceslao" was nominated at the 2017 Victoires de la musique awards.