Michel Petrossian (born 1973) is a

French-Armenian Armenians in France ( hy, ֆրանսահայեր, translit=Fransahayer; french: Arméniens de France) are France, French citizens of Armenians, Armenian ancestry. The French Armenian community is, by far, the largest in the European Union and the A ...

composer of classical music.

Career

Born in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

, Armenia, Petrossian studied cello and guitar and then studied composition at the

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

in Paris, from which he graduated in 2001. He has given duo performances on guitar with the Egyptian percussionist Gad Hesham and in 1998, with Jérôme Combier, co-founded Cairn, a contemporary music ensemble of fellow students from the conservatoire. , he was working on an opera with the American

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Leslie Dunton-Downer. He also has an interest in

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

and ancient languages, and studied Ancient Hebrew, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ancient Greek and Old Armenian at the École des langues et des civilisations de l'Orient ancien (part of the Catholic University of Paris) and at the Sorbonne, where he earned a master's degree. Petrossian won the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Prize for Composition. His concerto for piano and orchestra ''In the Wake of Ea'', inspired by his interest in ancient languages, will be performed at the

Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels The Centre for Fine Arts (french: Palais des Beaux-Arts, nl, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or PSK in Dutch. The b ...

, by the twelve finalists in the piano competition and the

National Orchestra of Belgium The Belgian National Orchestra ( nl, Nationaal Orkest van België, french: Orchestre National de Belgique) is a Belgian orchestra, based in Brussels. Its principal concert venue is the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar). The orchestra also gi ...

conducted by

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

from 27 May (the world première) to 1 June 2013."Concours Reine Elisabeth: l'imposé de la finale est une oeuvre de Michel Petrossian"
''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...

'', 24 May 2013

Selected works

Solo

* ''Overcoming Trakart'', for cello * ''La lutte ardente du vert et de l'or'', for piano * ''Manuela with the broken finger'', for clarinet

Ensemble

* ''Feu pale'', for 6 instruments * ''Autel des parfums'', for 9 instruments

Voice

* ''Le miroir et le masque'', three melodies for voice and instrumental ensemble :"Huitan" :"Rose sombre" :"Lysanxia" * ''En Ein Anéin'', for soprano and recorder

Orchestra

* ''Iris lunaire'', for choir and orchestra * ''Château du double de Ptah'' * ''Epiphaneia'', for six singers and orchestra * ''Sur la surface de l'abîme'', for string orchestra *''In the wake of Ea'', for piano and orchestra

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrossian, Michel 1973 births Living people 21st-century classical composers French classical composers French male classical composers Armenian composers Musicians from Yerevan Conservatoire de Paris alumni French people of Armenian descent 21st-century French composers 21st-century French male musicians Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition