Emmanuel Chabrier was born on January 18, 1841, in Ambert, Auvergne, into a bourgeois family that did not envision an artistic career for him. However, he received a solid musical education at an early age, while also studying law. Settling in Paris, he led a double life for many years: civil servant at the Ministry of the Interior by day, passionate musician by night. This unique situation shaped his independent, curious, and profoundly free personality, distanced from strict academicism without ignoring it entirely.

Largely self-taught, Chabrier developed an original style marked by boundless imagination, a taste for color, and remarkable harmonic audacity. An admirer of Wagner, whom he discovered during a trip to Germany, he assimilated certain innovations without ever renouncing his French identity. His music is distinguished by a lively rhythmic energy, inventive orchestration, and a sometimes mischievous sense of humor, which breaks with the seriousness often associated with 19th-century art music.

His most famous work, “España” (1883), is a rhapsody for orchestra inspired by a trip to Spain. This vibrant and colorful piece was an immediate success and revealed Chabrier's orchestral genius to the public. But his talent was not limited to symphonic music: he also composed operas, such as L'Étoile, which combine fantasy, irony, and musical invention, as well as highly modern piano pieces, later admired by Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc.

In the last years of his life, Chabrier devoted himself entirely to music, leaving the civil service for good. However, his health gradually deteriorated, casting a shadow over the end of his career. He died in Paris on September 13, 1894, leaving behind a relatively small body of work, but one of major importance due to its influence.

Today, Emmanuel Chabrier is considered one of the precursors of modern French music. His art, both spontaneous and skillfully constructed, constitutes a veritable sound literature, where joy, color, and audacity pave the way for musical impressionism. Through his free spirit and fertile imagination, Chabrier breathed new life into French music, which is still evident in the works of those who succeeded him.

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