Laurent Mettraux

Laurent Mettraux (born Fribourg, Switzerland, 27 May 1970) is a composer and organist.

Studies
Mettraux is a graduate of the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Freiburg|Conservatoire de Fribourg where he studied under René Oberson. He studied composition with Éric Gaudibert and conducting with Liang-Sheng Chen in Geneva.

He studied further under Klaus Huber, Luis de Pablo, Arvo Pärt and Paul Méfano. de Pablo wrote:

"'You have clearly your own particular way, which has not much to do with the musical languages of most of the contemporary composers. Your love for the grand phrase, for rhetoric in the noblest sense of the term, as well as your whole musical deportment associate you with a certain 'enlightened romanticism' and general independence of mind. That is the reason for which I want to tell you this : only listen to your own voice.'"

Early career
Mettraux began composing in 1982, and by the early 1990s was writing for a wide range of ensembles including Sonata (Nachtmusik) for solo flute (1990), Gethsemané for solo organ (1990), Piano sonata in one movement (1991), Racines avides (Lyrics by Luce Péclard) for voice and piano (1991–92), Symphony for chamber orchestra (Symphony No. 1) (1992), Hommage à Olivier Messiaen for solo organ (1992), Quartet of saxophones (1993), Mass for 8 voices à capella (1993), Sonata for trumpet and organ (1993), Adagio for violin and piano (1993), Mass for men's choir and organ ad libitum (1994), 5 Microludes for solo viola (1994–97), Concerto for 15 soloist strings (1994), Concerto for piano and orchestra (1994), Fantasia for solo violin (1994–95), Miroir du silence for solo harp (1995), Trio for violin, cello and piano (1995–96) and Vers le soleil couchant, oratorio (1995–96).

His Symphony for chamber orchestra won First Prize and the Public Prize in the 1993 Concours pour Jeunes Compositeurs organised by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and premiered on 1 March 1993 with the orchestra conducted by Jesús Lopéz-Cobos, who wrote:

"'Laurent Mettraux is a young promising composer, following an atypical and personal way, creating free from the dogmas and fashions of contemporary music.'"

Critic Jean-Jacques Roth wrote in Le Nouveau Quotidien of 3 March 1993:

"'He is part of a new generation of musicians grown weary of formal researches, who return to the expression of their personality in contempt of the vanguards, and resort to tonality whenever they want to.'"

Mettraux revised the Symphony; it was performed in its new form in 1999 by the Volgograd Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Emmanuel Siffert.

In 1997 Mettraux was a finalist at the Concours européen de composition chorale in Amiens. There he presented his two works, Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet for Maundy Thursday for mixed choir and Lucis Creator optime for children's choir.

In 1998 his work Ombre for orchestra won the prize at the Donaueschingen Festival. The jury included Wolfgang Rihm, Sylvain Cambreling, Gérard Grisey and Christian Wolff. The first performance of Ombre was given on 17 October 1999 by the SWR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Cambreling.

UBS Kulturstiftung funded Mettraux in 2000 on the grounds that he had made an "outstanding contribution to musical life in Switzerland and abroad."

Mettraux composed the Concerto for 15 soloist strings, commissioned by Tibor Varga for the opening concert of the Tibor Varga Festival on 12 July 1994. Varga explained:

"After I had heard a work by Laurent Mettraux, I .. wrote .. asking him to compose a work for my orchestra. The “Concerto pour 15 soloist strings” (1994) was the result of my demand, a work of exceptional quality. The innovative ideas, the subtleties, the contrasts, everything contributes in forming a work of perfect homogeneity. It requires from the musicians a great sensibility, an important mastery of the instrument, without appealing to a mathematician’s austerity nor to the manual capacity of a circus artist. The musicians played this work with very great pleasure; the reaction of the public was spontaneous, enthusiastic."

In 1996 the Fribourg University Choir commissioned Mettraux to write an oratorio, Vers le soleil couchant for soloists, choirs and orchestra. This premiered on 1 June that year in Fribourg. Also in 1996 he completed the Trio for violin, cello and piano commissioned by the Jeunesses Musicales de Fribourg for Trio Animæ which gave the first performance in 1999 at the Bratislava Festival of Contemporary Music.

In 1997 when Mettraux was commissioned to write the Violin Concerto No. 2 to commemorate the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the establishment of Switzerland as a Federal State under a new Constitution. The premiere was given in Budapest on 1 October 1997 with Isabelle Lambelet as soloist, and the Camerata Budapest conducted by Varga. Also in 1997, Mettraux was commissioned by the Chamber Choir of Fribourg University to write Crucifixion for mixed choir à capella, and this was given its premiere at the Greifswald Festival in Germany followed by a performance in Stettin, Poland, both in June 1997.

Later career
Le Cocyte for orchestra was commissioned by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia for the centenary of the Association Suisse des Musiciens, and first performed at St. Moritz on 2 September 2000 by the Bern Symphony Orchestra conducted by Luca Pfaff; Radio Suisse Romande commissioned the Violin Concerto No. 3 for the 2000 Concours International de Violon Tibor Varga, and the first performance was given by Ryoko Yano with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Varga's son, Gilbert.

Other works commissioned in 1999 included a String Quartet requested by Jeunesses Musicales Gruèriennes for the Talich Quartet and first performed in March 2003, and the Duo for flute and clarinet forKlangforum Wien, premiered on 27 November 1999.

Writing for chamber ensembles continued in 2003 as commissions included a piece called Complainte for solo violin requested by Shlomo Mintz for use as a set piece at that year's Concours International Violon Sion Valais, a Trio for clarinet, cello and piano for Trio Avalon who first performed it in April 2004 in the program of Two Days and Two Nights of New Music in Odessa's International Festival of Modern Art, and a Quintet for flute and strings for Alexandre Magnin and the Janáček Quartet who premiered it in September 2004.

In 2001, a new organ was built for Lausanne Cathedral by the US builders C. B. Fisk and Mettraux was commissioned to write an Organ concerto for the inauguration on 3 December 2003. The premiere was given by the Cathedral's organiste titulaire Jean-Christophe Geiser with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra conducted by the late Jean Balissat. This was recorded by Radio Suisse Romande and broadcast in the United States. The concerto was given its German premiere on 18 June 2010 in the Bachfest Leipzig (de) with soloist Michael Schönheit, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly. On the same program, the Gewandhaus Choir and Orchestra performed a new work, Choral Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da komm'ich her, which the Gewandhaus had commissioned from Mettraux for the festival. This work had already received its premiere separately with the same forces on 16 June.

In 2006 Mettraux won a commission through competition from the New York's Foundation for Universal Sacred Music and wrote Plus près de toi que tu ne l'es toi-même for eight soloists and an eight-part choir à capella and using a text he wrote himself. This was first performed in November of that year. Other works in 2006 included Stimmungen for four cellos commissioned by the Liestal festival Viva Cello, a Suite for three flutes written for Les Chemins de Traverse, Serenata in chiaroscuro for solo organ commissioned by the Bümplizer Orgelserenaden for their 20th season and first performed by Erwin Messmer, Émergences for violin and accordion performed by Marianne Piketty and Pascal Contet at Les Musicales de l'Abbaye d'Aubérive that year.

Pro Helvetia returned with another commission in 2007, this time requesting a work for the Basel Sinfonietta, and Mettraux wrote for them a work entitled La Mort sur un cheval pâle which was given its first performance in May 2008.