Yvan Cassar is one of the most renowned composers, arrangers, artistic directors and conductors of his generation in France.
Born in 1966, Yvan Cassar studied at the Conservatoires of Rennes and Nantes and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.
Yvan Cassar soon became an atypical artist, a passionate man who drew his originality from the diversity of his projects.
As a result, he became the musical designer for major events such as the opening of the World Athletics Championships in Athens in 1997 with the composer Vangelis, the great concert at the Pyramids in Cairo with Jean-Michel Jarre and the great musical shows of artists such as Mylène Farmer and Johnny Hallyday.
In 2000, he met Michel Plasson and collaborated with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the beginning of a deep and respectful relationship between them.
2005 was a milestone in his career: he created a work for voice and symphony orchestra, which he performed at the Palais des Congrès in Paris and at the Shanghai Opera. In the same concert, he conducted Carl Orff's famous Carmina Burana.
That same year, tenor Roberto Alagna commissioned him to write all the arrangements for the first album they recorded together for Deutsche Grammophon. It was the start of an artistic partnership that would continue through five successive albums and numerous concerts around the world.
Yvan Cassar arranges and produces two albums by violinist Nemanja Radulovic for Deutsche Grammophon.
His recording work for a number of prestigious French artists has not kept him from conducting major international orchestras such as the Greek National Symphony Orchestra in Athens, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, as well as some of France's finest orchestras, including the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre National des Pays de Loire, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, the Orchestre de l'Opéra Rouen Normandie, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.
Since 2015, Yvan Cassar has been artistic and musical director of classical music shows for France Télévisions (Les Concerts des Etoiles: Verdi, Mozart, Hommage Pavarotti, Maria Callas, une vie d'opéra, Concert de Noel, Roberto Alagna à l'Opéra de Versailles...).
His career has led him to conduct and collaborate with prestigious opera artists including : Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, Montserrat Caballe, Aleksandra Kurzak, Ludovic Tézier, Natalie Dessay, Karine Deshayes, Patricia Petibon, Olga Peretyatko, Joseph Calleja and Charles Castronovo, Michael Spyres, Pretty Yendé, Sabine Devieilhe, Julie Fuchs, Marianne Crebassa, Jessica Pratt, Julien Behr, Florian Sempey, Enea Scala, Beatrice Uria-Monzon, Marina Rebeka, Ekaterina Semenchuk...
In 2017, he gave an orchestral and personal vision of Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, accompanied by Françis Cabrel, Laurent Voulzy, -M-, Imany, Christophe Willem, Louis Chedid, Natalie Dessay, Roni Alter, Hugh Coltman...
For several years now, Yvan Cassar has presented themed concerts at Violon sur le Sable, showcasing his personal vision of selected repertoires.
In 2019, he conducted the first edition of "L'Olympia Symphonique" as part of the Paris Festival, with Philippe Jaroussky, Cyrille Dubois, Catherine Trottmann, Camille Thomas, Avi Avital, Christian-Pierre La Marca...
He has produced several albums, including "Johnny symphonique", "Sur l'écran noir de mes nuits blanches", a tribute by Natalie Dessay to Claude Nougaro, and "Caruso 1873", a tribute by Roberto Alagna to the great Neapolitan tenor, with the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France.
Language spoken: french
Photo credit: Audoin Desforges