Alex Nante

Alex Nante cultivates a music that is both abstract and organic, whose primary value is this fusion between the concerted shimmering of instrumental effects and the overall meaning and architecture of the score: musical time and spiritual dramaturgy then merge admirably in a frenzied race of about 20 minutes, which constantly sparkles. Classique News, 4 September 2021

Alex Nante's extensive oeuvre is characterised by a nocturnal and dreamlike atmosphere that opens the door to a spiritual world. Born in Buenos Aires in 1992, he has already firmly established himself in the concert hall with his works, as demonstrated by his recent world premières: both for the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and for the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano under Kent Nagano, he composed the orchestral works El Rio de Luz and O nata lux, which were performed with great success in 2022. This was followed in April 2024 by A Subtle Chain, performed by the orchestra Les Siècles under François-Xavier Roth with soprano Jodie Devos at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and composed during a residency for which he was invited to New York as the first winner of the Pizar Prize created by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Villa Albertine and the Juilliard School.  

The series of world premieres of large-scale works continues in the 2024/25 season: His Symphony No. 3 Anahata for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra will be performed in June 2025 in the Elbphilharmonie with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under the direction of its dedicatee Kent Nagano. It is inspired by spiritual traditions and texts centred around the heart as a universal symbol.

In 2021, his Sinfonía del cuerpo de luz, premiered during his residency at the Orchestre National de Lille and nominated for the Victoires de la musique classique, caused a sensation. This was followed in 2022 by Luz de lejos, a piano concerto for Alexandre Tharaud, which was performed in 2023 by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn for its German premiere. The residency in Lille concluded with the premiere of Mysterium for narrator, soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra. In 2021, his first string quartet Prima Materia was premiered at the Lucerne Festival with the Quatuor Diotima, followed by Escenasy sueños premiered by the JACK Quartet.

The young Argentine, who is also trained as a guitarist, pianist, and conductor, has studied with George Benjamin, Peter Eötvös, Stefano Gervasoni, Luis Mucillo, Santiago Santero, and Daniel D'Adamo, earning degrees from the Conservatoire de Paris, the National University of the Arts of Argentina, Université Paris 8,  the Conservatoire de Reims and the King's College London. The first major premieres of Alex Nante’s works took place in relation to his numerous early awards. These include compositions such as Fulgor, (1st Prize 2010 Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra Competi-tion, South Korea), Tres sueños lúcidos (1st Prize “Guillermo Graetzer“ composition competition 2013, premiere with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional 2017), La pérégrination vers l’Ouest (Orchestre National d’Île de France, Composition Prize Île de Créations 2015) and Helles Bild (Sinfonieorchester Basel, Basel Composition Competition 2019). Several works were written in 2018 as part of the Peter Eötvös Mentoring Program; among others, the flute concerto de luz y sueño was premiered with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Two major commissions followed in 2019: Invocación was premiered by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon, and Las noches de las piedras was launched by Ensemble Musikfabrik under Peter Eötvös in Cologne. Also in 2019, Alex Nante received the Prix de composition de la Fondation Salabert for Estrella de la mañana, based on poems by Jacobo Fijman – an example of the influence of mystical poetry from East and West present in many of his vocal works. 

Alex Nante is the founder and artistic director of the vocal ensemble Terra Lucida, which has set itself the task of performing sacred music from various traditions and thus contributing to interreligious and intercultural dialogue. The ensemble regularly performs in hospitals, works with various social projects and is committed to creating and strengthening community through music.

About his CD, Le Fil d'Ariane, which is a juxtaposition of his music with that of Pietro Locatelli made in collaboration with violinist Marianne Piketty and Le Concert Idéal, Le Monde wrote enthusiastically, "Each score page of our young contemporary is a masterpiece of sensitive diffrac-tion, as intelligently composed as it is deeply felt." Awards for the composer and his work include the “Gisela Timmermann” grant from the Mozarteum Argentino and the Ibermúsicas grant for composers. He is a laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire, Académie Musical de Villecroze, Académie des Beaux-Arts – Institut de France, and Herrenhaus Edenkoben. Alex Nante's works are published by Durand/Universal Music Publishing Classical and Éditions Henry Lemoine.

2024/245season

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