Johann Strauss II was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825, in the heart of a city where music set the pace for social life and the ball season. The son of Johann Strauss Sr., he grew up in the shadow of a dazzling but conflicted celebrity. His father strongly opposed his musical vocation, wanting a more secure future for him. However, supported by his mother and driven by fierce determination, the young Johann studied violin and composition in secret, ready to forge his own destiny.

From the outset, his success was dazzling. By founding his own orchestra, Strauss II established himself as his father's direct rival, dividing Vienna into two musical camps for a time. After his father's death, he brought together their legacies and took the Viennese waltz to a level of refinement and poetry that was unmatched. Nicknamed the Waltz King, he transformed dance music into an art form in its own right, capable of moving the soul as much as it made the body move. Works such as The Blue Danube and The Emperor Waltz became universal symbols of Viennese elegance.

Strauss II did not limit himself to the waltz. He also enjoyed immense success in operetta, a light and witty genre that captivated the whole of Europe. Die Fledermaus embodies the spirit of celebration, irony, and freedom of a society eager for escape. Yet his music, luminous and refined, conceals a deep, sometimes melancholic sensitivity, reflecting a personal life marked by difficult marriages and fragile health.

He died in Vienna in 1899, honored and admired, after embodying the musical soul of his hometown. Johann Strauss II left behind a body of work that transcends time and borders. Through his melodic genius and incomparable sense of rhythm, he gave the waltz a poetic and universal dimension, making Vienna not only a musical capital, but a dream shared by the whole world.

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