Raphaël Cendo (*1975) was born in Nice, after studying piano and composition at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, Cendo followed the composition curriculum of the Conservatoire de Paris (2000-2003), from which he graduated in composition, analysis and orchestration. He then entered the composition and computer music class of the IRCAM. (2003-2006). During his training, he will have received the lessons of Allain Gaussin, Marco Stroppa, Brian Ferneyhough, Fausto Romitelli and Philippe Manoury.

He has taught at the Conservatoire de Nanterre, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya of Barcelona (Catalonia College of Music), at the Darmstadt Summer School (2012-2014), at the “New Voices” composition sessions in Royaumont Abbey (2012-2016) and is regularly invited to give master classes and conferences in the United States, Russia and Europe. He is the director of the University of Altitude, a summer academy of composition that takes place every year in Saint-Martin-Vésubie.

From 2009 to 2011, he was a resident at the Villa Médicis of the French Academy in Rome. In 2007, Cendo received the Prix Espoir, awarded by the Francis and Mica Salabert Foundation, from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s International Composition Competition. In 2009, he received the Pierre Cardin Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts and in 2011 and 2015 the Hervé Dugardin and Georges Enesco Prize from SACEM. Cendo currently lives and works in Berlin.

Raphaël Cendo’s music tends towards excess and saturation. He sculpts from crude masses and extracts complex sounds. Energy from the performers themselves puts this sound matter into a state of tension through a blending of timbres and a contrast of forms.

His works are performed by internationally renowned musicians and ensembles such as the Klangforum Wien, the Tana Quartet, Linea, Dal Niente, Alternance, Cairn, Ictus, Intercontemporain, Itinéraire, musikFabrik, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Either/Or, Yarn/Wire, the Diotima Quartet, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and more.