Alexandre Collard & Nicolas Royez
Biographie Alexandre Collard & Nicolas Royez
Alexandre Collard
First Prize winner at the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2018 - along with the prize for best interpretation of the contemporary piece, the International Horn Society Prize, the Radio Free Europe Prize and a further nine awards, Second Prize winner at the Città di Porcia International Competition in 2013 and laureate of the Autumn Music Festival Competition (FMAJI) in 2011, Alexandre Collard has been among the elite musicians of his generation since his studies, first with Guy Mouy in Douai and then with André Cazalet at the Paris Conservatory.
A lover of the great symphonic repertory, Alexandre joined the Lille National Orchestra as solo horn at the age of 21, and has also played with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Philharmonique de Radio France and Dissonances, as well as performing solo concertos.
He is regularly invited to prestigious international chamber music festivals (Juventus, Deauville, Prague, Ticino etc.), and has played there together with artists such as Alena Baeva, Alissa Margulis, Graf Mourja, David Petrlik, Julian Steckel, Marie Hallynck and Jonas Vitaud.
His desire to explore the chamber music repertory led him to create the Ensemble Polygones together with his cellist wife, Natacha Colmez. This group mixes winds, strings and piano in a flexible, geometrically variable manner that allows them to interpret a great variety of works ranging from the very famous to lesser known treasures, contemporary pieces and spectacles for young audiences. The group has a particularly close collaboration with the composer Camille Pépin, and recently recorded a CD of her chamber music. He also plays sonata with the pianist Nicolas Royez, their first disc Aquarelles is to be released in autumn 2020.
Renowned pedagogue, he teaches in Douai, his hometown's conservatory.
Alexandre plays Paxman's 20M Centenary double horn.
