Cecile Lartigau is one of today’s rare ondes Martenot players, internationally recognized for her multifaceted career as a soloist, improviser and performer involved in performing arts. She is fascinated by the John Cage’s philosophy which opens a way toward an emancipation of the performer. Her dedication to creation drives her to collaborate with the most creative artists such as Teodor Currentzis, Romeo Castellucci, Heiner Goebbels.
A leading interpreter, her vast repertoire includes works from solo to sextet, by Bussotti, Parmegiani, Murail, Cage and Messiaen in particular, and she regularly premieres new works. Lartigau’s deep passion for chamber music has recently led her to recreate the striking trio piano, ondes Martenot and percussions in collaboration with the Gohier brothers, with whom she shares an attachment to creation and improvisation. At the same time, her researches on lost works have pushed her to rediscover the first music for ondes Martenot and orchestra, composed by Dimitrios Levidis in 1928.
Since 2018, Cecile has been touring, as an improviser, in Everything that happened and would happen, the last music theatre production of Goebbels. She is a member of two improvised experimental music quintets : The Mayfield, the band of Goebbels, and Poulp', a quintet with electric guitar, Cristal Baschet, percussions, voice and ondes Martenot. She is currently creating her first scenic performance with music, light design and video projection on Candide ou l'Optimisme of the French philosopher Voltaire.
Her numerous activities have drived her performing worldwide (Europe, USA, Russia and Colombia) with leading conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Teodor Currentzis, Michael Wendeberg, Maxime Pascal, Ryan Wigglesworth notably, and pianists Bertrand Chamayou and Yuja Wang. She has performed with Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Slovenian Philharmonic, MusicAeterna, E-Mex Ensemble, Le Balcon and has appeared at prestigious festivals and concert halls as Elbphilharmonie, Salzburg Festival (Grosses Festspielhaus), Lucerne Festival (KKL), Festival Messiaen, RuhrTriennale (Jahrhunderthalle), Diaghilev Festival among many others.
Firstly a violinist, Cecile Lartigau started studying the ondes Martenot in 2010 with Valérie Hartmann-Claverie. She is then awarded a master's degree in ondes Martenot, a second one in musicology and an Artist Diploma Creations from Paris and Lyon’s Conservatoires. As a musicologist, her researches focus on the indeterminacy and graphic notation in John Cage and Sylvano Bussotti’s music. Thanks to her extensive skills and her rigour, she affirms a powerful and recognizable artistic identity.
In the season 2023-2024, she will make her debut at La Scala di Milano with Maestro Zubin Mehta.
Cecile plays an onde Jean-Loup Dierstein and a palme Leo Maurel.