About author : MARCHAND Christophe

Christophe Marchand was born in Sedan, in the Ardennes, in 1972. He studied history, ancient civilizations and art history at university, and after eleven years working with Pascale Rouet at the Charleville-Mézières CRD, he was awarded a gold medal for organ in her class. He also studied musical analysis and composition with composer François Leclère for nine years, while completing his instrumental training with organists Norbert Petry and François Menissier. Holder of a Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies in Greek history, agrégé in history-geography, certified in art history and Inspecteur d'académie, he is now Inspecteur pédagogique régional d'histoire-géographie in Alsace.

Although his activities are eclectic, he defines himself above all as a composer. From 2000 to 2010, he enriched his musical writing practice by meeting leading figures in contemporary music: Jean-Pierre Leguay, Jean-Louis Florentz, Michael Radulescu, Claude Ballif, Charles Chaynes and Bruce Mather, among others. This approach led to the publication, with Pascale Rouet, of a book of interviews and analyses synthesizing the exchanges with over a dozen composers (Enquêtes sur le sacré dans la musique d'aujourd'hui, Delatour, 2011). His work, which to date comprises some forty pieces mainly dedicated to the organ, is reviewed in specialist reference works such as Le Guide de la Musique d'orgue edited by Gilles Cantagrel (Fayard, Les indispensables de la musique, 2012) and L'histoire de la Musique d'orgue au XXe siècle by François Sabatier (L'Orgue-Symétrie, 2015).

Finalist in the Dom Bedos International Competition in Bordeaux in 2002, guest composer at the Cité de la Musique's Journées de l'orgue contemporain in 2005, he has received commissions from performers, conservatories, local authorities, cultural associations and Radio-France. Author of critically acclaimed collections of pedagogical pieces, he is a frequent guest at summer academies and masterclasses, and contributes to the musical review Orgues Nouvelles.

His music is regularly performed in France and abroad (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Austria, Sweden, Italy). It is published by Delatour France and has been the subject of a dozen recordings and radio broadcasts (L'Echappée belle en Musique, Grand Jeu, Sacrées musiques...). His Sonate A travers les Etoiles was premiered at the request of Radio France as part of the inauguration of the grand orgue at Maison de la Radio in May 2016, and the first monographic CD devoted to his music (Musiques en miroirs, by Pascale Rouet) released by the Triton label in 2017 was hailed by the critics (5 Diapasons, 5 Etoiles de Classica, Bourdon d'Or de l'émission Grand Jeu).