Raymond Alessandrini
Member of the jury, 2025
Born in 1948 in Koblenz, Germany, Raymond Alessandrini began playing the piano at the age of five. His training was that of most classical musicians, culminating in a first prize in piano in 1966 under Pierre Sancan and in chamber music in 1967 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, to which were added in-depth studies in musical composition. In 1969, he met Michel Magne and became his orchestrator. From then on, the doors of the Paris studios opened and he was soon in demand as a pianist for various film music composers: Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, Georges Delerue and Alfred Newman. It was through Georges Delerue that he obtained his first engagement for a television film, Les Joies de la famille Pinelli, which he himself was unable to honour as he had just moved to Los Angeles. He composed the music for the films Chobizenesse and Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ by Jean Yanne, and later wrote most of the music for films by Jean-Charles Tacchella, Travelling avant, Escalier C, L'homme de ma vie, Tous les jours dimanche, Dames Galantes and around twenty films for other directors such as Georges Lautner.
As a highly talented concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, Raymond Alessandrini has also written music for films, documentaries and short films for television. He was also commissioned by the Cinémathèque française to write two scores to accompany two very fine silent films, Un chapeau de paille d'Italie and L'Hirondelle et la Mésange, both of which were a huge public success. Now living in Uzès, Raymond Alessandrini continues to play, orchestrate and compose, and above all to produce adaptations of major works for 2 pianos, choir, percussion and vocal soloists, such as Beethoven's 9th and the Requiems by Mozart, Dvorak and Brahms.