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Artist
André Chini
12+ albums
contemporary classicalswedish
about
Born on May 18th, 1945, in Romengoux (southern France) to a family of architects for whom the French resistance and concentration camps during the Second World War were manifest realities. Chini allied himself with the left early on, and took an active part in the Paris student revolts of 1968. He studied the oboe, first in Toulouse and later at the conservatory in Paris, as well as conducting with Franco Ferrara and composition with among others André Jolivet in Paris. He moved to Sweden in 1975 together with the Swedish dancer and choreographer Ann-Cathrine Byström (who has choreographed his scenic works), where he has since been active as a conductor, musician, and composer. Together with the violinist Lars Fresk, he founded the chamber orchestra Euterpe in 1976, with which he conducted many premieres of Swedish works. The key to Chini’s music can be found in his sensual, emotional, and engaged way of experiencing the world more than in any compositional techniques or aesthetic theories. He writes densely and complexly, sometimes grotesquely, sometimes lyrically, with a rough palette, microtonal harmonies, and associations to both Schönberg and Richard Strauss. His tonal world is built on practical experience and experimentation, and presupposes dedicated and virtuoso musicians who are prepared to patiently explore the hidden characteristics of their instruments. Chini’s ideas often spring from visual or visualized thoughts, with political, nature-lyrical, or personall
