Julien Martineau & Vanessa Benelli Mosell
Biography Julien Martineau & Vanessa Benelli Mosell
Julien Martineau
is one of today's most notable and exciting mandolinists. The gaze that Julien Martineau rests on his mandolin is clear-eyed yet passionate, silencing all popular clichés about the instrument: while the mandolin may be known to the wider public for only a few well-known pieces, its repertoire is actually enormous, reaching from the baroque to the present day, and full of treasures for whoever has the will to explore it and liberate it from its family of plucked stringed instruments. Julien Martineau certainly has that spirit of adventure: his pioneering sense of enthusiasm and sharp-eared musicianly awareness make him embrace the uniqueness of his instrument and perceive its wide horizons. Invited to take part in the ‘Victoires de la musique classique’ ceremony in 2017, he made his solo debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in December 2018.
His concert appearances with – among others – the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Ensemble Pygmalion, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, and the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, have enabled him to highlight not only the virtuosity but also the delicacy of his instrument, as have his recitals at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse, the Victoria Hall at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the ‘Folle Journée’ in Nantes, Russia and Japan. Together with his chosen artistic partners, he has presented groundbreaking new ideas: for example, with pianist Bertrand Chamayou, a programme of mandolin sonatas from the 18th century to our own time. He has accompanied the singers Natalie Dessay, Sabine Devieilhe, Thomas Hampson, Florian Sempey and Laurent Naouri, and in 2016 he gave the premiere of the Mandolin Concerto dedicated to him by its composer, Karl Beffa. He has also recorded all of the Preludes by Raffaele Calace – the solo mandolin equivalent of the Caprices of Paganini – presenting them on Radio France 2 in a broadcast hosted by one of his regular collaborators, the pianist and composer Jean-François Zygel.
His fascination with the instrument extends to a keen interest in how it is made. For some years Julien Martineau has been working with Savarez, the world leader in guitar string manufacture, with the aim of developing new mandolin strings using the latest technological innovations: the instrument he plays was devised and built for him by one of the great stringed instrument makers of the present day, the Canadian Brian N. Dean.
At the age of nineteen Julien Martineau won the Giuseppe Anedda Prize at the 1998 Varazze International Competition in Italy; and in 2002 he gained a Diploma in Musicology (DEA) from the Paris- Sorbonne University. He cares greatly about the future of his instrument, and since 2005 he has taught the mandolin at the Toulouse Conservatoire. In 2013 The Languedoc Academy of Arts, Letters and Science awarded him its Déodat de Séverac Prize.
Vanessa Benelli Mosell
Italian pianist Vanessa Benelli Mosell is a rising star on the international music scene, continuously praised for her dazzling virtuosity, technical brilliance and the sensitivity of her musical insight that she brings to her piano playing , as well as to her conducting and directing from the keyboard. Benelli Mosell’s charismatic artistry and natural leadership are quickly establishing her as one of the most interesting personalities in the young conductor’s generation. Combining sheer power and boundless imagination, her electrifying musicality has been shaped significantly in mentorships with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Yuri Bashmet.
Vanessa is acclaimed for her passion, in equal measure, for the great classics of the repertory and her championing of the newest composers.
She has received universal praise for her recordings of Stockhausen for DECCA and for her concerto debut CD of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
She now has six releases for DECCA CLASSICS, most recently an album of Ravel, featuring the Concerto in G with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
The upcoming 19/20 season will see her making her debut with the Orchestre National de France under the baton of Sir George Benjamin, performances at the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut and with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela, among others.
18/19 saw her achieving new heights making her debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing Ravel’s jazz-inflected Concerto in G, concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre with the London Philharmonic Orchestra rejoining Southbank three months later for a performance during the 2019 Stockhausen Festival at the Royal Festival Hall. She revisited the Ravel Concerto in G at Al-Bustan Festival in Beirut and launched the 2019 Festival Presences at Auditorium de Radio France in Paris.
Later highlights include her debut at La Scala in Milan and Turin’s Teatro Regio at the MiTo Festival; solo recitals at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Seoul Arts Center; a portrait concert at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in Ireland for RTÉ with concerti by Rachmaninov and George Benjamin; chamber music making with the renowned Russian violinist Vadim Repin; an extensive tour of China making celebrated solo debuts at Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, Harbin Grand Theater and Chongqing Guotai Arts Center among other venues; praised performances at Salle Gaveau in Paris, performing Chopin First Piano Concerto with Orchestre Pasdeloup, and her Rachmaninov Album launch recital at Salle Cortot in Paris.
Further orchestral appearances include concerts with the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Münchner Symphoniker, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Flint Symphony, Israel Camerata, Jerusalem Symphony and the Moscow Soloists, with whom she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist.
Since making debuts at New York’s Lincoln Center, Tonhalle Zurich and London’s Wigmore Hall, Benelli Mosell has given concerts and solo recitals at Hamburgʼs Laeiszhalle, Berliner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, Auditorio de Saragoza, Palau de la Musica in Valencia, Auditorium de Radio France and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna, Sala Verdi in Milan, Dublin National Concert Hall, Haifa Auditorium, Seoul Arts Center, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Harbin Grand Theater, Beijing NCPA, London’s Royal Festival Hall and Kings Place, La Scala in Milano, Teatro Regio in Turin, Salle Poirel in Nancy, Corum in Montpellier, Théatre de la Criée in Marseille, Bavaria’s Schloss Elmau, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Usher Hall in Edinburgh. As conductor she led the Wiener Kammer Orchester making the Austrian Prémière of Incanto (2001) by the French Composer Eric Tanguy in Vienna. Additionally, she conducted the Divertimento Ensemble in Milano and the Berlin Sinfonia in Berlin among others.
Vanessa Benelli Mosell is internationally renowned for her performances of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke. Following her recording of Klavierstücke I-IV, she was invited by the composer to study under him, as he believed that she “has the power to let people appreciate my music”.
Vanessa worked closely with the composer and he remains an important influence on Vanessaʼs music making, encouraging her passion for contemporary music and her championing of composers of today as well as the great classics.
Since becoming a key figure in the music of Stockhausen Benelli Mosell has had collaborations with many leading contemporary composers including George Benjamin, Hugues Dufourt, Stefano Gervasoni, Martin Matalon and Marco Stroppa among others.
As a chamber music performer she collaborated with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Julian Rachlin, Vadim Repin, Massimo Quarta, Daishin Kashimoto, Radovan Vlatkovich and his frequent partner the French cellist Henri Demarquette, with whom she released the album “Echoes” for DECCA, a juxtaposition of works by Philip Glass and Sergey Rachmaninov for cello and piano.
Vanessa Benelli Mosell began playing the piano at the age of three, starting her comprehensive musical studies and giving her first public appearance at four years old.
At seven years old, she was exceptionally admitted at the International Piano Academy in Imola where she studied with Franco Scala. She gave her orchestral debut as soloist at the age of nine followed by her New York debut appearance at eleven years old with pianist Pascal Rogé, who described her as “the most natural musical talent I have encountered in my entire life”. In 2007 she was invited to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory to study with Mikhail Voskresensky before pursuing her studies with Dmitri Alexeev at the Royal College of Music in London, where she graduated in 2012, generously supported by the Russell Gander Award. In addition to her piano studies, she went on studying violin, singing, score reading, composition and conducting.
She has been supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust and in 2016 was appointed as a Steinway Artist.
