Bernard Ringeissen (15 May 1934 – 4 April 2025) was a French classical pianist.

Biography

Ringeissen was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 15 May 1934.Bach Cantatas
/ref> His first teacher, at age 7, was Georges de Lausnay. He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1947, aged 12, and won the Premier Prix when he was sixteen.Naxos
/ref> He had further study with

Marguerite Long Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. Life Early life: 1874–1900 Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoin ...

and

Jacques Février Jacques Février (; 26 July 1900 – 2 September 1979) was a French pianist and teacher. Life and career Jacques Février was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the son of the composer Henry Février and grandson of architect Jules Février. He stu ...

. In 1953, he temporarily retired from public performance, to focus on music competition. In 1954, he won equal 2nd Prize with Sergio Scopelliti at the

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

Competition in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He also won the International Music Performance Competition in Geneva that year. In 1955, he won 4th prize at the

V International Chopin Piano Competition The V International Chopin Piano Competition () was held from 21 February to 20 March 1955 in Warsaw. The competition was won by Adam Harasiewicz of Poland. The competition was held in the rebuilt National Philharmonic, the date having been mo ...

in Warsaw; then equal 2nd Prize with

Dimitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an international career as a soloist when he won the Marguerite Long Piano Co ...

at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition (no 1st Prize was awarded that year). In 1962, he won 1st Prize at the Rio de Janeiro International Competition and the

Villa-Lobos Villa-Lobos is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Dado Villa-Lobos (born 1965), Belgian-born Brazilian musician *Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959), Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist **Villa-Lobos Museu ...

Special Prize for his interpretation of Brazilian music. He had performed widely and served on competition juries in many countries. He taught in Rueil-Malmaison, and gave master-classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the International Summer Seminar in Weimar. Ringeissen died in

Gisors Gisors () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Eure, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, France. It is located northwest from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Gisors, together with the ...

on 4 April 2025, at the age of 90.Bernard Ringeissen s’est éteint dans sa 90e année

Discography

His recordings include the complete piano works by

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

(3 LP Adès-7090),

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

(5 LP Adès-7069) and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

(4 LP Adès-7074), by

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, amon ...

Sonatina / Zorcico / Scherzo / Nocturne / Gigue / Marche / Barcarolle / Saltarelle (LP Harmonia Mundi France – HMA 190927), Symphonie / Ouverture / Etudes, Op.39 (CD Marco Polo – 8.223285) and 12 Études, Op. 35 / Le Festin d'Esope / Scherzo Diabolico (CD Marco Polo – 8.223351), by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

Etude Op.25/11 / Mazurka Op.30/2 (78rpm Muza – 2687), Etudes Op.10 ,10/ Etudes Op.25 ,6,11,12/ Ballade No.1 Op.23 / Scherzo No.3 Op.39 (LP Erato – EFM 42080), Berceuse Op.57 / Fantaisie-Impromptu Op.66 (EP Barclay – 79.015 M), Ballade No.4 Op.52 / Etude Op.10/4 / Nocturne Op.62/2 / Scherzo No.3 Op.39 (LP Polskie Nagrania Muza – L 0061), 24 Preludes Op.28 (LP Wifon–040), Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Op.22 / Barcarolle Op.60 / Écossaises Op.72 / Fantaisie Op.49 / Scherzo No.4 Op.54 / Berceuse Op.57 (LP Ades-14.012), selected piano works by Józef Wieniawski (MC Wifon-0186), selected piano works by Aminollah Hossein (LP Edici – ED 52724), a collection of 'Famous Studies for Piano' by

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; ; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works an ...

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...

Moritz Moszkowski Moritz Moszkowski (23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German-Polish composer, pianist, and teacher.Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, scientific transliteration: ''Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin''; also transliterated variously as Skriabin, Skryabin, and (in French) Scriabine. The composer himselused the French spelling "Scriabine" which was a ...

(LP Columbia – SMC 95048), by Louis Abbiate Piano Sonatas Nos. 4, 5, 6 (LP Calliope – CAL 1873) and the 2 Cello Sonatas with

Dimitry Markevitch Dimitry Markevitch (1923–2002) was a Swiss-born American cellist, researcher, teacher, and musicologist. He studied under Gregor Piatigorsky and founded the Institut de Hautes Etudes Musicales (IHEM) in Switzerland. His brother, Igor Markevit ...

, cello (LP Calliope – CAL 1862),

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

's Gaspard de la nuit (LP Polskie Nagrania Muza – L 0061), the music for Two Pianos and Piano 4 hands by

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

with Noël Lee (2 LP Valois MB 1411-1412), a box with Russian music by the "Groupe des cinq" -

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ( , ; ,BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian, BGN/PCGN romanization: ; ALA-LC romanization of Russian, ALA-LC system: ; ISO 9, ISO 9 system: . ; – )Russia was still using Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in E ...

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name Reforms of Russian orthography, was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN Romanization of Russian, transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ...

César Cui César Antonovich Cui (; ; ; 26 March 1918) was a Russian composer and music critic, member of the Belyayev circle and The Five – a group of composers combined by the idea of creating a specifically Russian type of music. As an officer o ...

and

Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...

- (3 LP Adès-7081); together with Baritone Jean-Christophe Benoit 4 Song Cycles by

(LP Adès-10.002), 5 Piano Pieces and 19 Mélodies by

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born ...

(LP Adès-14.003), and 16 Chansons by

Joseph Kosma Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian composer who immigrated to France. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative wa ...

(LP Adès-14.001). Among others, his chamber music recordings include a 1957 Cello Sonatas disc with Leslie Parnas, cello (LP Pathé – ASTX 123), by

Franz Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

12 Trios for piano (3 LP French Decca 7.317/319) and 8 Sonatas for violin and piano (3 LP French Decca 7.236/239) with Jacques-Francis Manzone, violin and

Frédéric Lodéon Frédéric Lodéon (born 26 January 1952 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris) is a contemporary French cellist, conductor and radio personality. Biography In 1960, his father, André Lodéon, was appointed director of the School of Music of S ...

, cello, by

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a building contractor who made his fortune assisting Ba ...

'Concert' for Violin Piano and String Quartet with Jean-Pierre Wallez, violin (LP Adès-14.043). He also recorded Poulenc's Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra, with

Gabriel Tacchino Gabriel Tacchino (; 4 August 1934 – 29 January 2023) was a French classical pianist and teacher. Life and career Tacchino was born in Cannes on 4 August 1934. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire from 1947 to 1953, whe ...

and the

Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (, OPMC) is an orchestra based in the Principality of Monaco. The orchestra gives concerts primarily in the Auditorium Rainier III, but also performs at the Salle des Princes in the Grimaldi Forum. History T ...

under

Georges Prêtre Georges Prêtre (; 14 August 1924 – 4 January 2017) was a French orchestral and opera conductor. Biography Prêtre was born in Waziers ( Nord), and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conduct ...

(LP EMI Pathé Marconi – 7473692).

References

External Links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ringeissen, Bernard 1934 births 2025 deaths Musicians from Paris 21st-century French male classical pianists 21st-century French classical pianists 20th-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists Conservatoire de Paris alumni Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners