The gaze that Julien Martineau rests on his mandolin is clear-eyed yet passionate, silencing all popular clichés about the instrument: while the mandolin may be known to the wider public for only a few well-known pieces, its repertoire is actually enormous, reaching from the baroque to the present day, and full of treasures for whoever has the will to explore it and liberate it from its family of plucked stringed instruments. Julien Martineau certainly has that spirit of adventure: his pioneering sense of enthusiasm and sharp-eared musicianly awareness make him embrace the uniqueness of his instrument and perceive its wide horizons. Invited to take part in the ‘Victoires de la musique classique’ ceremony in 2017, he will be making his solo debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in December 2018.

His concert appearances with – among others – the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Ensemble Pygmalion, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, and the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, have enabled him to highlight not only the virtuosity but also the delicacy of his instrument, as have his recitals at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse, the Victoria Hall at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the ‘Folle Journée’ in Nantes, Russia and Japan. Together with his chosen artistic partners, he has presented groundbreaking new ideas: for example, with pianist Bertrand Chamayou, a programme of mandolin sonatas from the 18th century to our own time. He has accompanied the singers Natalie Dessay, Sabine Devieilhe, Thomas Hampson, Florian Sempey and Laurent Naouri, and in 2016 he gave the premiere of the Mandolin Concerto dedicated to him by its composer, Karl Beffa. He has also recorded all of the Preludes by Raffaele Calace – the solo mandolin equivalent of the Caprices of Paganini – presenting them on Radio France 2 in a broadcast hosted by one of his regular collaborators, the pianist and composer Jean-François Zygel.

His fascination with the instrument extends to a keen interest in how it is made. For some years Julien Martineau has been working with Savarez, the world leader in guitar string manufacture, with the aim of developing new mandolin strings using the latest technological innovations: the instrument he plays was devised and built for him by one of the great stringed instrument makers of the present day, the Canadian Brian N. Dean.

At the age of nineteen Julien Martineau won the Giuseppe Anedda Prize at the 1998 Varazze International Competition in Italy; and in 2002 he gained a Diploma in Musicology (DEA) from the Paris- Sorbonne University. He cares greatly about the future of his instrument, and since 2005 he has taught the mandolin at the Toulouse Conservatoire. In 2013 The Languedoc Academy of Arts, Letters and Science awarded him its Déodat de Séverac Prize.