Manu Comté
Bandoneon-Accordion
Biography
“Like a painful beauty close to human vocalizations,” sings the accordion of Manu Comté, author of interpretations of great virtuosity, full of life and intense dramatic moments.” Libertà, culture
“It possesses to the highest degree the swing and madness of these musics that sharpen the senses and pack the heart.” The World of Music
From a very young age, Manu Comté has carried the strength of a passion that has allowed him to break out of the mold to challenge contemporary music, whether classical, jazz or world!
Always looking to find a non-traditional way to make his instruments speak, the accordion or the bandoneon, his playing is characterized by an intense expressiveness and a touch of a felt lightness. It is those who write the beautiful pages of this popular instrument par excellence that is the accordion.
“Listening to the group Soledad, I was struck by their rare intensity. Combining intelligence, know-how and sex-appeal, they transported me into the mysterious and tragic world of tango.” – Martha Argerich –
His path is marked by the adventure of the group “Soledad” that he created in the 1990s and with which he travels the most beautiful stages of the world (The Santory Hall in Tokyo, the festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Jazz Palace in Paris and the Cannes Festival Montreal, the New Morning in Paris, the festivals of Beppu, Lugano, Pietrasanta, Toronto, Ottawa,…).
A beautiful road on which he received prestigious awards, sown many meetings with great artists such as Martha Argerich, Richard Galliano, Renaud Capuçon, Franck Braley, Philip Catherine, Tomás Gubitsch, Frédéric Devreese, Gerardo Jerez le Cam, Igle Porto, Alberto Michelas…
With more than a dozen recordings to his credit, Manu Comté is recording an album under his own name, entitled one of his compositions “Homilia”, accompanied by the string quintet B’Strings and the Argentine guitarist, Tomás Gubitsch.
Becoming a trio with Jean-Frédéric Molard, violin and Alexander Gurning, piano, Soledad is invited in 2016 as “artist in residence” at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium and records a new album for the Warner Music label in March 2017.
Regularly, Manu Comté plays with the ensembles of Gerardo Jerez Le Cam, in trio, quartet and quintet. Four recordings are born from this collaboration, “Mar Negro” in trio (2014), “Reflejos Migrantes” in quartet (2016), “Miniaturas lunares” in quintet with soprano Anne Magouët (2019), and finally in trio “Buenos Aires, Esquinas y Fugas” (2022).
Recently, he also associates with a French string quartet, the Varèse Quartet, for an eponymous program … the bandoneon and the strings … A musical journey through the contemporary music of Buenos Aires … A moving instrumental and musical alchemy …
Following his meeting in 2023 with Pablo Ziegler- the last pianist attributed to the master Astor Piazzolla- Manu Comté joins the Pablo Ziegler Quartet and begins his collaboration with a concert tour in Gstaad in May 2024.
Management: Worldwide
Press
Soledad’s new album marks the trio’s 20th anniversary. It opens on a cover – adaptation of Logical Song of the rock group Supertramp (album Breakfast In America, 1979), virtuoso tango style, mainly because of the accordion of Manu Comté. One can only admire this remake which is much more than a decal of the original. Even more daring and equally successful is the adaptation of the slow movement of Ravel’s Concerto in G. The sublime melody is entrusted to the accordion, while the piano of Alexander Gruning accompanies it, and the violin of Jean-Frédéric Molard takes care of the counterchangers. Dominique Lawalrée-Crescendo Mag
“The role of carrier of the ensemble is attributed to Manu Comté, a true virtuoso of the accordion that he mastered without fail. The young Belgian has received many awards in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium,…
A name to keep!”
M. Frost – CD Kritik (Allemagne)
These explorers of music are Belgian but they are everywhere, although we feel that Astor Piazzolla probably occupies the number 1 place of the screens of their masters to think …
That said, they must have known my passion for Brazilian music by offering to sing “Por toda a minha vida” “When the group “Soledad” expresses a strong interest in collaborating with you … it does not refuse!
… There will certainly be things to say but for my part, here is a project that I have taken very much to heart and that has given me infinite pleasure.”
Maurane
“When the group “Soledad” expresses a strong interest in collaborating with you … it does not refuse!
This song, I had heard, listened to under all the seams, to all the sauces, by the greatest artists.
“Shock of the year 2002 of the magazine “Le Monde de la Musique”: “Pathetic and intoxicating universe, hammered with ivory, in the after-thoughts of Argentina, the twelve titles of this tango album constitute a breathless race that fascinates, in a repertoire of Astor Pizo Astor, Pizo Astor passing by Daniel Capelletti, Michel Lysight and Igor Stravinsky. To pull off this masterstroke, it took virtuosos. The virtuosos, it’s the group Soledad… “
Georges Gad – Le Monde de la Musique
“Sublunary, cracking and tearing…”
Martine Dumont-Mergeay – La Libre Belgique
“The swing, the rage, the emotion, the sound: Soledad … Finally a group of wonderful musicians who play the music of Astor Piazzolla as it should be played … with passion. I am sure that if Astor Piazzolla were still among us he would say, as he often said to me collaborations: “You have done a good job!” I have to congratulate Soledad for the version of Tango for Claude Magnifique!
“Rhythm, fury, emotion, sonority : Soledad… At last a group of marvelous musicians who play the music of Astor Piazzolla as it should be played… with passion. Magnificent ! A stunning disc.”
Musicalement votre, Richard Galliano
“Like a painful beauty close to human vocalizations, here is how the accordion sings Manu Comté, author of interpretations of great virtuosity, full of life and intense dramatic moments.”
Liberta, culture…(Italie)
“The accordionist and bandone player Manu Comté possesses to the highest degree the swing and madness of these musics that sharpen the senses and pack the heart.”
François Lafon – Le Monde de la Musique (France)
“His accordion plunges into curiously delightful abysses of despair. A stimulating melancholy. Contradictory sensations that evoke Petrarch’s oxymoron: joyful sadness, pleasure of opposite loves, jubilant fragments of pain. the Manu County game.”
Le blog de Stéphane Dado (Belgique)
“It is necessary to mention this very rare Belgian accordionist to come out of the mold musette to challenge contemporary music (jazz, classical or world) – when it wants to compose for him. That said, he also takes care of himself. He founded in 1995 the ensemble Soledad, which gave the name Today he participates in many concerts and festivals as a chambrist and soloist around the world, in eclectic repertoires ranging from Tango Nuevo to contemporary music through Jazz and French Song. popular par excellence that is the accordion.”
Journal “Le Soir”, Encyclopédie sur les Musiques (Belgique)
“Remarkable Parisian debuts of the group Soledad, opportunity to discover Manu Comté, an accordionist of great talent!”
Le Monde de la Musique – Flash-back ! (France)
“The technique may be flawless, that’s not enough. Something else is needed. But what? It’s hard to say and yet it’s undeniable: what I’m given to see gives me chicken meat or not. I’m excited or not. Immediately, without reason. Well, Manu Comté or Richard Galliano are two accordionists who “transmit”. But how to say this experience, what words to translate it, otherwise “presence” is present, which imposes its presence on the rest of the world. environment.”
L’autre bistrot des accordéons”, Michel Rebinguet (France)
“Some candidates-beacons, truly remarkable, come out of the lot, it is necessary to mention in the first place, for the first cycle Emmanuel Comté (accordionist) who obtains no less than the First Prize with the Greatest Distinction is 100% of the points; musician who develops an almost unimaginable palette of sonic nuances and colors on this instrument, both in the vibrant nostalgic warmth of Argentine tango and in the more austere contemporary repertoire for accordion and string quartet that have no more secrets for him than the most classic accordion duo…”
La province (Belgique)
“Initially dedicated to the “tango nuevo”, but without exclusive, the Soledad ensemble is equipped with a clean sound, style and atmosphere; whatever the composers – but precisely, they are never any – the music played by Soledad sounds and vibrates “Soledad” A new demonstration – dazzling – was held on Friday night, at studio 4 (full) of Flagey, during a concert essentially dedicated to the music of Devreese, where the quintet also performed sextuor, joined in the second part by Philippe Catherine, his own contemporary tango, “”” jazz, with even some improvisational passages (to six!).
Martine Dumont – Mergeay – La Libre Belgique
“Listening to the group Soledad, I have been struck by their rare intensity. Combining intelligence, know-how and sex-appeal, they have transported me into the mysterious, tragic world of tango.”
Martha Argerich