Born in 1975, Raphaël Cendo studied piano and then composition at the Paris Music Teacher Training School, where he obtained his degree in 2000. He entered the Higher National Conservatoire in Paris in 2003 and worked on composition with Allain Gaussin, Brian Ferneyhough, Fausto Romitelli and Philippe Manoury. Raphaël Cendo has written compositions for internationally known ensembles such as L’Itinéraire, the National Orchestra of Île de France, the Inter-Contemporary Ensemble and the New Modern Ensemble, and his compositions have been conducted by such famous names as Pascal Rophé, Daniel Kawka, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Peter Rundel. Many of his compositions have been played during various events such as “Lille, European Capital of Culture” at the Opéra de Lille, the Tremplin Concerts at the Georges Pompidou centre, the Radio France festival in Montpellier, the New Voices festival at Royaumont, the Radio France “Presences” Festival, and the Musica Festival in Strasbourg. In 2005 he was commissioned by the IRCAM and the Inter-Contemporary Ensemble to write a piece for 25 musicians. He is currently on the annual composition and computerised music course at IRCAM.Like ten or so other composers, Raphaël Cendo has written for the CENTQUATRE a piece lasting precisely 104 seconds, a commission involving a fascinating combination of figures and constraints. These compositions will be accessible on line to enable you to discover different and distant universes in the field of contemporary music, all too often reserved for initiates only. They will then be performed in the CENTQUATRE after it opens.

Raphaël Cendo’s course is structured in three areas:
1. Study of instrumental saturation, its history, its recent developments, analysis some of his scores: Charge for seven musicians and electronics, Introduction aux ténèbres for bass voice solo, bass solo ensemble and electronics, In vivo for string quartet , Tract 8 for musicians, Rokh for four musicians.
2. Individual meeting with students to discuss their scores and presentation by students of some of their works within the masterclass.
3. Commented rehearsals (if possible): Faction for piano, guitar and percussion and a new work for contrabass flute, trumpet and guitar.