Francois Pantillon (b.1928) comes from a prominent
family of musicians from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland,
and received his initial training in violin from his
father. After his diploma he joined the Royal Conservatory
in Brussels, where he graduatesd with highest honours
and was awarded the Van Hall Prize for violin. He 
hen
turned to conducting skills, working with Paul van Kempen
at the Academia Chigi di Siena, with Franco Ferrara
in Hilversum, and with Herbert von Karajan at the Lucerne
Festival. After engaging him as leader of the Festival
Orchestra, von Karajan soon encouraged him to conduct.
From 1972 to 1997 he was the conductor and artistic
manager of the Thuner Stadtorchester, with whom he performed
more than 200 concerts. In 1965 he founded the professional
chamber orchestra Capella Bernensis with whom he toured
Switzerland and other European countries on several
occasions.
The multi-faceted artist is frequently invited abroad
as guest conductor, having toured France, Italy, Spain,
England, Holland, Belgium and Poland, where he was invited
to conduct various Philharmonic Orchestras every year
from 1973 to 1988. In London he celebrated successes
with the New Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Spezializing in the direction of oratorios, he is recognized
as an outstanding interpreter of classic and romantic
literature, but is equally devoted to modern composers,
having performed Swiss and Polish premieres of Arthur
Honegger, Frank Martin and Heinrich Sutermeister works
in particular.
Pantillon is also a noted composer. His first oratorio,
Clameurs du Monde (Clamors of the World), written in
1986, was very warmly received and noted immediately
in the musical encyclopedia, Oratorien der Welt (Oratorios
of the World), by Prof. Dr. Kurt Pahlen of Vienna. It
was presented on Swiss television and performed by Barbara
Hendricks and the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted
by Oliver Donanyi throughout the major cities of Switzerland
in 1991 as part of a national celebration commemorating
the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation. For
the same jubilee the city of Bern produced for 
the
first time his opera, Die Richterin (the Lady Judge),
with numerous performances.
Soon thereafter he turned to composing chamber music,
notably a sextet Gaudium and the Trio 1029 for violin,
cello and piano, a song cycle Instants…, a brilliant
cantata for chamber choir and piano, entitled Daphne,
a Missa Brevis di San Pedro, and a Sinfonietta for orchestra.
His greatest success, however, came with his Christmas
oratorio, Bethlehem, which debuted in Bern in 1995,
and was subsequently performed in Rome and in many Swiss
cities, including Geneva. For the Millenium, his Te
Deum 2000 premiered at Bern Cathedral as part of a Three
Te Deum concert that also presented Haendel’s
Dettinger Te Deum and Bruckner’s Te Deum.
The same year, his sinfonietta Imaginaire Couleur
de Ciel was performed by the Bern Symphonic Orchestra
with the famous Russian conductor Dmitrij Kitajenko.
Two years later, his Ouverture 303 a work that was commissioned
by Maestro Kitajenko, was heard for the first time at
an Open Air Concert. In December 2002 his symphonic
poem Horeb premiered at the Philharmony of St-Petersburg
by the St-Petersburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Alexander Dmitriev. On this occasion, he was commissioned
to compose an organ concerto.
In 2006, his violin concerto La Clairière was
performed for the first time by the Thuner Stadtorchester
and the violinist Alexandre Dubach, conducted by the
composer. It was a great success and the work was presented
eight more times in several Swiss cities by the same
soloist and the Bienne Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore,
it will be performed in Neuchatel and Berne by the Neuchatel
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Theo Loosli in December
2007 and May 2008.
The style of Francois Pantillon lies in the convergence
of tonality with polytonality. He pursues expressiveness
in modernism through a spectrum of color in which the
avant-gard mixes with post-impressionist harmonies.
His melodies are polished and his orchestration refined.
Pantillon himself says, " Mon souhait est d'atteindre
le coeur de l'auditeur en le remplissant d'ombre et
de lumière. Pour moi, la composition est un acte
de réflexion et d'amour, qui tend la main à
l'humanité. " (My wish is to reach the heart
of the listener in filling it with shadow and light.
For me, composition is an act of reflection and of love,
which stretches out its hand to humanity.)
