Jump to content

Michel Tabachnik

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michel Tabachnik
Background information
Born (1942-11-10) 10 November 1942 (age 82)
Geneva, Switzerland
Occupation(s)Conductor, composer, writer
Websitetabachnik.org

Michel Tabachnik (born November 10, 1942) is a Swiss conductor and composer with an international career. A promoter of contemporary music, he has premiered a dozen works by Iannis Xenakis, among others. He is also the author of essays on music and novels. In 1995, he was implicated in the case regarding the mass murder-suicides of the Order of the Solar Temple, from which he was acquitted by the courts.

Early life

[edit]

Tabachnik was born in Geneva, where he studied piano, composition and conducting. As a young conductor he was a protégé of Igor Markevitch, Herbert von Karajan and Pierre Boulez, acting as the latter's assistant for four years, mainly with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London. This led him to become closely involved with conducting and to perform many world premieres, particularly those of Iannis Xenakis.[1]

Early career

[edit]

He was Artistic Director of l'Orchestre des Jeunes du Québec (1985–1989) and, over a twelve-year period, l'Orchestre des jeunes de la Méditerranée [fr] which he founded in 1984.[2] He has held the position of Chief Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the Orchestre national de Lorraine [fr], the Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris and the Northern Netherlands Orchestra (Groningen).[2]

In addition to his work as a conductor, Tabachnik is also a composer. He has been honored with many commissions including "La Légende de Haïsha" for the anniversary of the Bicentenary of the French Revolution, "Le Cri de Mohim" for the 700th Year of Switzerland, and "Le Pacte des Onze" for I.R.C.A.M. Paris.[3]

Tabachnik records for Erato and Lyrinx, with whom he has been associated since 1991. His discography includes Beethoven, Wagner, Honegger and Iannis Xenakis. His recording of the Schumann Piano Concerto (with Catherine Collard as soloist) was voted Best Performance of the work by the international jury at the Radio Suisse Romande.[2] In 1995, Tabachnik was named Artist of the Year by the Italian "Centro Internazionale di Arte e Cultura" in Rome.[4]

Solar Temple

[edit]
Main articles: Order of the Solar Temple and Trial of Michel Tabachnik

Passionate about philosophy, esotericism and spirituality,[5] Michel Tabachnik met in 1977 Joseph Di Mambro, one of the two future leaders of the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS). In 1981, he became the president of the Golden Way Foundation that Di Mambro had created three years earlier in Geneva.[6] Within the framework of the OTS, Tabachnik wrote the Archées, esoteric texts that circulated within the OTS.[7][8] Prior to the 1994 mass suicide, which included the group's leaders, he had announced the end of the OTS.[9]

Between 1994 and 2006, following the mass suicides that occurred within the OTS, he was prosecuted in France for "participation in an association of criminals" on the basis of his writings. On June 25, 2001, he was acquitted by the Grenoble criminal court. The public prosecutor's office having appealed, he was acquitted a second time in December 2006.[10] The public prosecutor had considered that Tabachnik was not an important member of the OTS and that there was no proof that he had knowingly participated in the crimes the OTS committed, and that his writings were "esoteric gibberish".[10][11] The Swiss justice system dismissed the cases of the October 1994 tragedies in Salvan and Cheiry, Switzerland.[12][11]

Later career

[edit]

Since September 2005, Tabachnik is chief-conductor of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (NNO).[13] From 2008 until 2015, Tabachnik was the music director and chief-conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic.[14][15][16][17]

Speaking on his involvement with the OTS, Tabachnik appeared in two 2022 documentary series on the case, Temple Solaire: l'enquête impossible and La Fraternité. It took two years to convince Tabachnik to be interviewed for La Fraternité; director Pierre Morath described him as "traumatized" by the whole affair and that it was "almost a miracle" he had agreed, with a fear that people would distort his words as had happened before.[18][19] Temple Solaire: l'enquête impossible also featured Bouleau and Bédat, both who had accused of him of being involved in the massacre.[20][21] His appearance in the documentary took many weeks of convincing by the production team.[22] Bédat described their meeting, noting that Tabachnik "agreed to an interview, yelled at me for two hours and then it was over. We became friends".[23] During an interview for the promotion of the series, Bédat stated he had changed his mind and no longer believed that Tabachnik had planned the deaths, and that him being away in concert had perhaps stopped him from being killed as well.[23]

Publications

[edit]
  • Bouc émissaire: Dans le piège du Temple Solaire
  • Il était une fois un enfant, novel, publisher de l'Aire, 1999.
  • De la Musique avant toute chose, essay, préface by Régis Debray, Essai, éd. Buchet/Chastel, 2008.
  • L’Homme sauvage, novel, publisher Ring, 2013.
  • Ma Rhapsodie, essay, publisher Buchet/Chastel, 2016.
  • Le Libraire de Saint-Sulpice, novel, publisher Otago 2017.
  • L’Enlèvement au Sinaï, novel, publisher Otago, 2019.
  • Demain au Marmara Taskim, novel, publisher L'Harmattan, 2022.
  • La Pierre de Siloé, novel, publisher L'Harmattan, 2022.

Compositions

[edit]
  • Supernovae, 1967
  • Frise, 1968
  • Fresque, 1969
  • Invention à 16 voix, 1972
  • Mondes, 1972
  • Sillages, 1972
  • D'autres Sillages, 1972
  • Movimenti, 1973
  • Éclipses, 1974
  • Argile, 1974
  • Trois Impressions, 1975
  • Les Perséïdes, 1981
  • Cosmogonie, 1981
  • l'Arch, 1982
  • 7 Rituels Atlantes, 1984
  • Pacte des onze (Évangile selon Thomas), 1985
  • Élévation, 1990
  • Prélude à la Légende, 1989
  • Le Cri de Mohim, 1991
  • Évocation, 1994
  • La Légende de Haïsha, 1989
  • Concerto pour piano et orchestre de chambre, 2003
  • Nord pour orchestre, 2006
  • Diptyque-écho, Concerto pour violon et orchestre, 2008
  • Genèse, pour violon solo et orchestre, 2010
  • Lumières fossiles, pour orchestre, 2011
  • Benjamin, dernière nuit, opéra, 2012
  • Le livre de Job, 2013
  • Benjamin, dernière nuit, drame lyrique en quatorze scènes, 2016
  • "Sumer", concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre, 2019
  • "Genèse II", concerto pour violon et orchestre, 2021

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "TABACHNIK Michel (1942)". Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Biography of Michel Tabachnik". Michel Tabachnik. February 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  3. ^ Bataille, Stéphanie (4 February 2009). "Michel Tabachnik: Autour du Sacre du printemps (Stravinsky) Paris, Cité de la musique. Jeudi 26 février 2009 à 20h". ClassiqueNews. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Profile". Tivoli & Crescendi Artists. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  5. ^ "TABACHNIK Michel (1942)". Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  6. ^ Pueyo, Serge (25 October 2006). "Ordre du Temple solaire : les larmes de Tabachnik" [Order of the Solar Temple: Tabachnik's tears]. Le Figaro (in French). Archived from the original on 9 November 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  7. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (25 October 2006). "Conductor on trial over cult killings in France, Switzerland and Canada". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  8. ^ Borloz, Emmanuel (9 July 2022). "Rencontre avec Michel Tabachnik – "Je rêve qu'on me parle de musique mais on en revient toujours au Temple Solaire"" [Interview with Michel Tabachnik – "I dream that I get approached about music but it's always about the Solar Temple"]. Tribune de Genève (in Swiss French). Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  9. ^ "L'Ordre du Temple Solaire" [The Order of the Solar Temple]. La Croix (in French). 17 April 2001. ISSN 0242-6056. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Conductor cleared of cult deaths". BBC News. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Ordre du Temple solaire : la relaxe de Michel Tabachnik confirmée en appel" [Order of the Solar Temple: Michel Tabachnik's acquittal upheld on appeal]. Le Monde (in French). AFP. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Swiss conductor acquitted of sect killings". SWI swissinfo. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  13. ^ "Welcome to the NNO: Past Conductors". Noord Nederlands Orkest. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  14. ^ "Michel Tabachnik: Music Director". brussels philharmonic. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  15. ^ Macassar, Gilles (23 April 2011). "La Mer, Nocturnes...Claude Debussy - Brussels Philharmonic, dir. Michel Tabachnik". Telerama (in French). Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  16. ^ "Quelle est la meilleure version de La Mer de Claude Debussy ?" [What's the best version of Claude Debussy's La Mer?]. Radio France (in French). 19 March 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  17. ^ "La Mer de Debussy : l'écoute en aveugle" [Debussy's La Mer: blind listening]. Radio Classique (in French). 12 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  18. ^ Dufour, Nicolas (21 January 2023). ""La Fraternité", l'horreur de l'Ordre du Temple solaire par des survivants" ["La Fraternité", the horror of the Order of the Solar Temple by the survivors]. Le Temps (in Swiss French). ISSN 1423-3967. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  19. ^ Papaux, Sven (8 February 2023). "Le pire massacre sectaire de Suisse au cœur d'un docu RTS" [Switzerland's worst cult massacre at the heart of an RTS documentary]. Watson (in Swiss French). Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  20. ^ Vermelin, Jérôme (17 June 2022). ""Temple Solaire, l'enquête impossible" : Gilles Bouleau raconte l'affaire qui a bouleversé sa carrière" ["Temple Solaire, l'enquête impossible": Gilles Bouleau recounts the case that turned his career upside down]. TF1 INFO (in French). Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  21. ^ Teynier, Marc (17 June 2022). "«Temple Solaire : l'enquête impossible» : Gilles Bouleau raconte «l'horreur indicible» sur TMC" ["Temple Solaire: l'enquête impossible": Gilles Bouleau recounts the "unspeakable horror" on TMC]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  22. ^ Dupreuilh, Fabrice (17 June 2022). "Secte de l'ordre du Temple solaire : TMC déterre le dossier" [Solar Temple cult: TMC digs up the file]. Le Point (in French). Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  23. ^ a b Schnarrenberger, Adrien (17 June 2022). ""C'est le documentaire ultime sur l'Ordre du Temple solaire"" ["This is the ultimate documentary on the Order of the Solar Temple"]. Blick (in Swiss French). Retrieved 24 July 2024.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michel_Tabachnik&oldid=1262021680"