George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family of Russian origin. Coming from a modest background, he grew up in a vibrant neighborhood in the heart of a city bursting with cultural energy. From an early age, he showed exceptional talent for piano and composition, absorbing both the popular music of his environment—ragtime, jazz, musicals—and European classical influences. This dual musical culture would become the hallmark of his work.

Gershwin began his career as a “song plugger,” working as a pianist and arranger for music publishers on Broadway. His talent for creating catchy melodies and innovative harmonies quickly earned him recognition. He composed popular songs that were hugely successful, while nurturing a broader ambition: to bring American popular music closer to the European classical tradition. His music reflects this creative tension between sophistication and immediacy, between art and entertainment.

Among his major works are “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924), which combines jazz and classical forms, and “An American in Paris” (1928), with its brilliant orchestration that captures the cosmopolitan spirit of the era. Gershwin also wrote for theater and film, with musicals that have become iconic, such as Funny Face and Of Thee I Sing. His piano music, orchestrations, and songs demonstrate a unique sense of rhythm, color, and melody, while exploring new harmonies inspired by jazz and blues.

His career, though brief, was extremely prolific. George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, in Los Angeles, at the age of only 38, leaving behind a musical legacy that has had a lasting influence on American and world music. Today, he is recognized as one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century, a creator capable of fusing jazz, popular music, and classical music into a rich and original musical literature, where the energy of New York meets the depth and structure of classicism.

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