Description
André Charbonneau, a guitarist and melodist: an original path, marked with momentous crushes, in constant evolution. Movie music, flamenco and song are the spheres where he progressively developed the mottled range of his musical personality before favouring writing for the guitar, an activity to which he now devotes himself. André Charbonneau is born in Angers (France), in 1961. From an early age, movie music and its inspiring themes thrill him and it is through François de Roubaix that he falls in love head over heels with the guitar. Then, he makes acquaintance with flamenco: a brilliant and passionate relationship that will prompt him to leave everything behind to go live in Andalusia, in 1982, on a grant from the Spanish Department of External Affairs (whose jury included Paco Peña and John Williams). There, André Charbonneau meets Vicente Amigo and many other exceptional artists. He becomes a soloist with a very personal style that earns him unanimous recognition. Winner of the Fondation de France in 1989 and sponsored by the Sacem in 1992, he records the CD Guadalquivir, instrumental flamenco (Playasound), acclaimed both by French and Spanish medias. Along with his exploration of other musical fields, Charbonneau sometimes comes back to his first love, movie music, knowing well that his melodic qualities are particularly well suited to the image world. He joins the composer Patrice Mestral's class at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and writes the music of many short films and institutional films. In 1994, one of his works for two guitars wins an award at the Festival du Film Européen de la Baule, whose jury is chaired by Philippe Sarde. Faithful to his absorption with song, he is granted in 1994 the Albert Willemetz composition prize from the hands of Mireille. André Charbonneau now publishes his works for the guitar. Alternately sentimental and rhythmical but always serene, these compositions attest both his musical eclecticism and his intense experience of the instrument.
