Hervé Corre de Valmalete

Born in 1960 into a family of great musical tradition, Hervé Corre de Valmalète learned his trade as impresario while studying law, along the likes of Henryk Szeryng, Claudio Arrau, Nikita Magaloff, Maria Joao Pires, and Brigitte Engerer.
Asked by Mtislav Rostropovitch and Antoine Riboud in 1987 to direct the Rencontres Musicales d’ Evian, his personal view of this trade materialized as a result of the contact with these two exceptional men: to reposition classical music as part of the current cultural space, to create an adventure, an emotion, a new opening for the public, to be the link between tradition and innovation, to go where the others do not.
He has brought together on stage young talents with renowned artists (Jean-Pierre Rampal, Lorin Maazel, Isaac Stern…)
He encouraged the mingling of young talents with confirmed artists by presenting classical music with other musical currents, when appointed artistic director of the MIDEM in Cannes in 1990.
He has made possible encounters between Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Michel Petrucciani, Stephan Grapelli, Herbie Hancock, Placido Domingo, John McLaughlin, Montserrat Caballé, Slash, Henri Dutilleux, Gérard Depardieu and many others.
In 1991, he opened an office in London and in 1995, took over the Flâneries Musicales de Reims festival with a general idea: the majority of the concerts would be free (more than 1500 to date) and young artists would be patronized by their most prestigious elders (Alexandre Lagoya, Jordi Savall, Jean-Claude Malgoire…), an idea intended to draw a broad audience.
After having organized an unforgettable concert in 1997 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées for Mtislav Rostropovich’s 70th birthday, he created in 1999 the Transclassiques festival which he “relocated” at the Cigale hall, boulevard Rochechouart in Paris, always conscious of gaining a new public and resolving apparent contradictions.
He has been in charge of the artistic programming of several televised concerts and cultural broadcasts (Victoires de la Musique Classique, Grand Echiquier with Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern and Nigel Kennedy).
It was the audacious project with pianist Georges Pludermacher – recording live the Beethoven’s complete sonatas - which incited him to create his own label: Transart Live. The adventure is launched and soon recognized by the music world.
The audacity, the rarity of such an initiative combined with the spontaneity, the concert-hall’s authenticity and the quality of the musicians all inspire Hervé Corre de Valmalète’s artistic choices, who always thought there was a place for a musical label that combined the best recording techniques with the intensity, the risk and the communication with a live audience.
These recordings often bring the opportunity for young artists to release their first CD.
Passionately involving himself with the music of today, he has commissioned Eric Tanguy in 1999 to compose his Cello Concerto n°2, premiered by Mtislav Rostropovich in Reims and played again in 2002 in Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa.
In 2007, he presented in Reims a work for cello and violin - In Terra Pace, again by Eric Tanguy – opening the festival with Anne Gastinel and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France directed by Michel Plasson, dedicated to Mtislav Rostropovich.
Hervé Corre de Valmalète has been elected at the board of directors of the European Association of the Artistic agents in 2001. He was president of the EAAA from 2006 to 2010.
In 2009, he has celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Concerts de Valmalète, the 15th edition of the Flâneries Musicales de Reims and the ten-year anniversary of TransArt Live.
Hervé Corre de Valmalète is  “Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” since 2004.

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