Bertrand Chamayou (born 23 March 1981) is a French

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Career

Born in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, Chamayou studied at the Conservatoire de Toulouse under the tutelage of Claudine Willoth, making his first forays into contemporary music and composition. At the age of 15, with the encouragement of pianist-conductor

Jean-François Heisser Jean-François Heisser (born 7 December 1950) is a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Saint-Étienne, Heisser studied piano first with Paul Simonnar in Saint-Étienne, then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Vlado Perlemuter. His vast r ...

, Chamayou continued his studies at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

. At the same time, he began to work with Maria Curcio in London, receiving advice from such mentors as

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

Dmitri 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 ...

and above all

Murray Perahia Murray David Perahia ( ; born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. ...

, who "has left a profound mark" on him. In 1998, he became laureat of the Kraïnev Piano Competition in Ukraine and was awarded 4th prize the International Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition at the age of 20. Chamayou has since performed in venues such as the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, the

Herkulessaal The Residenz (, ''Residence'') in central Munich is the former royal palace of the House of Wittelsbach, Wittelsbach List of rulers of Bavaria, monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors ...

Munich and London's

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

. He has appeared at major festivals including New York's Mostly Mozart Festival, the

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curr ...

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

, Beethovenfest Bonn and Klavier-Festival Ruhr. In the 2015/16 season, Bertrand Chamayou made his debuts with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin,

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its primary concert venue is Music Hall. In addition to its symphony concerts, the orchestra gives pops concerts as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cinc ...

, Wiener Symphoniker and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. He is the only artist to have received the French Victoire de la Musique Classique award three times, most recently in the category of Instrumental Soloist in 2016 (previously "Revelation of the Year, Solo Instrumentalist" in 2006, and "Recording of the Year" in 2012). In 2016, he released a double-album on

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...

of the complete works for solo piano of

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 ...

, recorded in his hometown of Toulouse and hailed in ''Gramophone'' magazine for "revelatory performances of breathtaking beauty". Chamayou is a regular chamber music performer, with partners including Renaud and

Gautier Capuçon Gautier Capuçon (born 3 September 1981) is a French cellist. He is the younger brother of violinist Renaud Capuçon. Biography Gautier Capuçon was born in Chambéry, Savoie, the youngest of three siblings. His brother is the violinist Rena ...

, Quatuor Ebène, Antoine Tamestit, Vilde Frang and Sol Gabetta, among others. He became a

Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant c ...

in 2015. In 2019, his album featuring Saint-Saëns's Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with the French National Orchestra and Emanuel Krivine won the Gramophone Recording of the Year.

Discography

* Cage², Warner Classics/Erato (2024) * Letter(s) To Erik Satie: Piano Works by Composers Erik Satie, John Cage & James Tenney, Warner Classics/Erato (2023) *

: Complete Works for Solo Piano, Erato (2016) *

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 ...

: The Chopin Album, Sol Gabetta (cello), Sony Classical (2015) *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

: Works for Solo Piano, Erato (2014) * Franz Liszt: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1. Bertrand Chamayou, Julien Chauvin (violin), Le Cercle de L'Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer * Franz Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage * Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Works, Naïve *

César Franck César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

: Prelude, Choral & Fugue, Bertrand Chamayou,

Olivier Latry Olivier Jean-Claude Latry (; born 22 February 1962) is a French organist, improviser, teacher and composer who has served as one of the four titular organists of Notre-Dame de Paris since 1985 and is a professor of organ in the Conservatoire de ...

, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stéphane Denève, Naïve * Henri Reber: Symphonie Nr.4 op.33, Berlioz: Reverie & Caprice for violin and orchestra op.8

Honours

* Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (2015)

References

External links

* at Warner Classics
Agent website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamayou, Bertrand 1981 births 21st-century French male classical pianists 21st-century French classical pianists Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Conservatoire de Paris alumni Living people Musicians from Toulouse Pupils of Maria Curcio Erato Records artists