Cécile Chaminade was born in Paris on August 8, 1857, into a cultured family who recognized her musical talent early on, but remained reluctant to the idea of a professional career for a woman. Educated privately, she received a solid musical education, particularly in piano and composition, developing remarkable ease in writing and performance from childhood. This rigorous yet sheltered training forged a personal style that was sensitive and immediately communicative.

By the end of the 19th century, Cécile Chaminade had established herself as one of the most frequently performed composers of her time. A brilliant pianist, she pursued an international career, giving concerts in Europe and the United States, where her music was immensely successful. Her musical language, rooted in late Romanticism, is distinguished by elegant melodies, fluid piano writing, and great formal clarity. She composed numerous pieces for piano, melodies, chamber music, and orchestral works, always seeking a balance between expressiveness and accessibility.

Her most famous work, Concertino for Flute (1902), remains an essential part of the repertoire to this day. It reveals her refined sense of instrumental color and lyrical writing that highlights virtuosity without ever sacrificing poetry. This ability to appeal to a wide audience while maintaining high artistic standards was one of the major strengths of her art. Despite persistent prejudice against female composers, Chaminade managed to establish herself with quiet authority and official recognition, becoming the first female composer to be awarded the Legion of Honor in 1913.

The end of her life was more discreet, marked by rapidly changing musical tastes and the emergence of more daring musical languages. Nevertheless, she continued to compose and defend an aesthetic based on the beauty of the melodic line and the sincerity of expression. She died on April 13, 1944, in Monte Carlo, leaving behind a prolific and long-underrated body of work.

Today, Cécile Chaminade is being rediscovered as an essential figure in French music. Her delicate and luminous output constitutes a veritable musical literature of intimacy, in which romantic sensibility is expressed with elegance and clarity. Through her perseverance and talent, she paved the way for wider recognition of women composers, asserting a personal and enduring voice in the history of music.

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