Eric Montalbetti was born in 1968 and lives and works in Paris.
After composing for many years as if writing a diary, Eric Montalbetti is now delighted to hear many of his scores come to life and touch listeners thanks to some wonderful performers. On violin, Christian Tetzlaff premiered a Duo pour violon et piano with pianist Alexander Vorontsov at the 2019 Spannungen Festival, and performed the Sonate pour violon seul, which was also played in France by David Grimal and Tedi Papavrami. Other works for strings have been performed by cellists Marc Coppey, Alejandro Viana, and Henri Demarquette, as well as by the Les Dissonances quartet and soloists from the Ensemble Intercontemporain Hae Sun Kang, Eric-Maria Couturier, and Hidéki Nagano. In recent years, new concert pieces have been created in by cellists Tanja Tetzlaff, Truls Mørk, and Alban Gerhardt, pianist Beatrice Rana, clarinetist Pierre Génisson, and mezzo-soprano Christina Daletska with conductors Pierre Bleuse in Denmark, Lionel Bringuier in Liège, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider in Lyon, Matthias Pintscher with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris, Jakub Hrůša with the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Wilson Hermanto with the Cameristi della Scala in Vevey, and Renaud Capuçon for the premiere of a piece for string orchestra with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.
On piano, François-Frédéric Guy gave the world premiere of Etudes après Kandinsky at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw in 2018, which he recorded and performed again in Korea in 2019. The same work was performed in Germany by Kiveli Doerken. Among the wind instruments, Emmanuel Pahud gave the premiere of the concerto Memento Vivere in Geneva, Lugano, and Paris (La Seine Musicale) in 2019 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott. He is also the dedicate of a new solo piece in 2020. Other pieces have already been performed by oboists Jean-Louis Capezzali and Viola Wilmsen, horn player David Guerrier, and clarinetists Nicolas Baldeyrou and Pierre Génisson.
With orchestra or instrumental ensemble, Vaste champ temporel à vivre joyeusement was first conducted in 2015 by Pascal Rophé with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, then in Japan by Yasuaki Itakura and the Tokyo Sinfonietta, then in Toulouse in 2018 under the baton of Pierre Bleuse, and at the Enesco Festival in 2019 by the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra. Kazuki Yamada and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the symphonic fantasy Eclair physionomique, inspired by Paul Klee. In 2020, Pierre Bleuse and the Lemanic Modern Ensemble, followed by Yasuaki Itakura and the Tokyo Sinfonietta, premiered Fenêtres simultanées sur la ville (Simultaneous Windows on the City) in Europe and Japan, a sinfonietta for 18 musicians composed in homage to Sonia & Robert Delaunay. The Ouverture Philharmonique was premiered in 2021 at the Philharmonie de Paris by Mikko Franck and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, then in Cologne by the Gürzenich Orchester Köln conducted by Duncan Ward.
Eric Montalbetti has been composing since the age of 11, alongside studying piano and organ. As a teenager and then a student, he attended Pierre Boulez's classes at the Collège de France and Ircam, and studied composition with Alain Bancquart, George Benjamin, Michael Levinas, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury, Paul Méfano, and Tristan Murail. Artistic director of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra from 1996 to 2014, he continued to compose but did not release his first works until 2015. His music is now published by Durand. In agreement with Durand, other pieces published by Allegretto are available on BabelScores.
Following the release of his first album, Solos – a personal diary in music, Alpha Classics released a new album in April 2020, Musique de chambre – Harmonieuses Dissonances, featuring pieces composed for Christian Tetzlaff & Alexander Vorontsov, Delphine Haidan & Pierre Génisson, the soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Les Dissonances quartet. In 2025, the same label released the album Orchestral Music, which includes the flute concerto Memento Vivere by Emmanuel Pahud, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott, the Ouverture Philharmonique by the Gürzenich Orchester Köln and Duncan Ward, and L'Eclair Physionomique by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and Kazuki Yamada.