The Beatitudes

"The Beatitudes" has been written in memory of the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015 harmonized for 4 mixed voices choir by Ritz Rakotomalala. Ritz W. Rakotomalala was born on 19 November 1981 in Madagascar. From a very young age he was surrounded by a very musical environment with a grandfather who was a violinist, a great-uncle who was an organist, an uncle who was a pianist and, in general, a family very much influenced by singing. This artistic universe is not limited to so-called "classical" music but extends to a wide variety of genres and styles ranging from baroque music to pop music, including jazz and so-called "modern" music. The fact, still today, of frequenting musicians from a wide variety of backgrounds, contributes greatly to the expansion of his artistic tastes. Ritz W. Rakotomalala has an initial training as a pianist. He is a fervent supporter of choral singing, which he has been practicing for a long time, and is (or has been) a member of numerous choirs of different aspiration and orientation, notably within the National Youth Choir or the O'Trente Choir. He is also a choir conductor, founder of ensembles such as the Wesley Choir or the Choeur d'hommes des Ombres of which he is currently the Musical Director. Composition practice If the discovery of a very wide choral repertoire in the choirs of which he is a member has largely contributed to his awareness of composition, he has followed most of his courses in composition and choral writing at the National School of Music in Evry with Thierry Machuel and the Swedish composer, David Lampel. He is fascinated by the splendours of the baroque spirit and the largesse of the classical and romantic periods. However, he remains very imbued with and envious of the liberating aspirations of these contemporary composers who, alongside the extreme extent of man's creative capacities, place themselves outside of time, such as Francis Poulenc or Claude Debussy. Works In addition to the Eccentric Mass which he has complete at the beginning of 2014, Ritz W. Rakotomalala is the composer of numerous choral works, including numerous poems. While he has a predilection for the English texts of Lord Bryon, Emily Dickinson and Cecil Spring Rice, he has also set to music texts by Victor Hugo, Paul Verlaine and Charles Baudelaire.