André Campra (1660–1744) was one of the great architects of French musical renewal at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. A composer of operas and sacred music and a master of French taste, he occupies an essential place between the legacy of Lully and the rise of the galant sensibility.

Born on December 4, 1660, in Aix-en-Provence to a family of Italian origin, Campra received a solid musical education as a choirboy at Saint-Sauveur Cathedral. Ordained as a priest, he initially pursued an ecclesiastical career, while developing a remarkable musical career as choirmaster in Arles, Toulouse, and then Notre-Dame de Paris.

Attracted by lyric theater, Campra also composed secular works, sometimes under a pseudonym so as not to compromise his religious position. His opera-ballet L'Europe galante (1697) marked a decisive turning point: he introduced more flexibility, sensuality, and Italian influences into French opera, while respecting the balance and clarity inherited from Lully.

Campra excelled in the opera-ballet genre, which he helped to popularize with works such as Le Carnaval de Venise and Les Fêtes vénitiennes. His music is distinguished by its elegant melodies, rich dances, and keen sense of theater. At the same time, he composed sacred music of great nobility, notably requiems, motets, and masses, in which religious fervor is combined with measured expressiveness.

In 1723, Campra was appointed assistant master of the Royal Chapel at Versailles, official recognition of his importance in the musical life of the kingdom. He ended his career respected and admired, embodying a harmonious transition between French classical music and the new tastes of the 18th century.

André Campra died in Versailles on June 29, 1744. His work, both refined and accessible, demonstrates an art of balance: between the sacred and the profane, tradition and modernity, France and Italy. He remains one of the most elegant and representative composers of his time.

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).

He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).

Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, as well as his own arrangements for clarinet and harp of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes with the great French harpist Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, and for clarinet, piano, and string orchestra of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.

Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of light music pieces played around the world and a considerable number of arrangements of all styles and for all instruments, acclaimed by many personalities in the music world, including Michèle Auric, Jean Françaix, Adrian Gershwin, Wynton Marsalis, Yehudi Menuhin, Madeleine Milhaud, Manuel Rosenthal, Gabriel Tacchino, and Ornella Volta.

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation