Christian Schittenhelm – Composer

Christian Schittenhelm studied the piano from the age of 6. Already six years later, aged 12, he composed his first orchestra works and began his musical studies with Maestro Maurice Moerlen, who was then in charge of the great organs of the Strasbourg cathedral. At 21, he signed his first contract with Philips as a pop singer, author and composer, and soon received the SACEM Academic Price from the French Author Society (1984).

In 1989, he recorded a pop song album with EMI, featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1996, he composed Rhapsody Khronos and Khaos, the two symphonic poems acclaimed by Maestro Marcel Landowski, then Chancellor of the Institut de France.

In 1998, at the request of the prominent French TV news journalist Yves Mourousi, he composed L’Hymne Paris 2000 for the city of Paris, performed by the Orchestre Colonne.

He composed Da Vinci, an opera with the support of Mr Pierre Rosenberg, president of the Grand Louvre, and the curator Mr Guy Nicot. He adapted it into a musical Da Vinci, The Wings of Light. Presented in 1999 in Tokyo for Fuji TV as a preview of its Parisian production, the musical was performed in the summer 2000 at the Casino de Paris 52 times. (Recorded for Sony music with the Prague Symphonic Orchestra)

From 2000 to 2010, his several musicals were given in over 800 performances in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, also appearing in Paris theaters Le Theâtre de Paris, Théâtre Déjazet, Théâtre Princess Grace in Monaco, 9 Zenith Halls in France, EuroDisney to name a few…

He also composed several symphonic poems, including DAWN, BANG, ALSATICA, and four piano concertos: BLEU, WILD, AIR, and the triple piano concerto LUX.

Anastasia Belina, Musicologist and Writer

In 2020-2021, the Swedish concert pianist Peter JABLONSKI , recorded at Palladium Concert Hall in Malmö a piano solo album of Christian’s music works : « Back home with the Moon ».

In January 2022, he discovered the concert pianist Svetlana ANDREEVA, born in the south of Ukraine. She recorded his second solo piano album, « Synesthesia » at Studio Telefunken Decca in Berlin.

21 Novembre 2022 – Svetlana Andreeva presented “Synesthesia”, a World Premiere Concert at Salle Cortot in Paris.

January 2023, the Royal National Orchestra of Scotland invites Svetlana Andreeva and her husband the german conductor Sergey Neller for the recording of « AIR » piano concerto N°4 and “DAWN” the symphonic poem by Christian Schittenhelm.