Benjamin Attahir is a composer, violinist and conductor, trained in Toulouse. From childhood he entered the Conservatoire in choral singing then violin. A passion encouraged by his mother, a former student at the Beaux-Arts in Beirut. At 15, he turned to composition, taking writing and analysis classes with Jean-François Zygel and Édith Canat de Chizy. Later, his teachers included other major figures such as Marc-André Dalbavie, Gérard Pesson and Pierre Boulez.
Early commissions
His first commission came from Radio France in 2009, for whom he composed Nzah, a five-movement piece for orchestra with two soloists, recorder and electric guitar, inspired by Le Badinage by Marin Marais. This composition is the perfect illustration of the quality of his musical writing, which, like his origins, draws inspiration midway between East and West.
A musical writing drawing its inspiration midway between East and West.XXI Music Publishing
Distinctions & residencies
Resident composer at the Villa Médicis in 2016-2017, he is the laureate of numerous competitions and distinctions including the USA IHC of Bloomington, the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, and several prizes from the Sacem and SACD.
His works are performed by various ensembles and orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Orchestre National de France, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Tokyo Sinfonietta, Les Éléments, Musicatreize, the Maîtrise de Radio France, the Trio Zadig...
He has been composer-in-residence at the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, the Gulbenkian in Lisbon, and at numerous festivals (Aix-en-Provence, Gstaad, Les Arcs, Messiaen, Lucerne Festival...).
Opera and concerto
In 2019, he conducted the Orchestra of La Monnaie in his third operatic work: Le Silence des Ombres, on a libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck. Among his recent works are a Violin Concerto entitled Layal, premiered by Renaud Capuçon and Daniel Barenboim, and his Stabat Mater, performed at the opening of the 2023/2024 season of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France.
