Bertrand Chamayou

Bertrand Chamayou is one of today’s most strikingly brilliant pianists, recognised for his revelatory performances at once powerfully virtuosic, imaginative and breathtakingly beautiful. A leading interpreter of French music, his vast repertoire includes major bodies of work such as the complete piano works of Ravel, Liszt’s Etudes and Années de pèlerinage, and Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus. At the same time the French pianist possesses a deep passion for new music, having worked with composers including Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtág, Thomas Adès, Bryce Dessner and Michael Jarrell.

Chamayou performs at the highest level, appearing regularly at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, from Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, to Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival, New York’s Mostly Mozart and Suntory Hall Tokyo. He has performed with the world’s finest orchestras, including New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle Orchestre Zurich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and has shared the stage with Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Philippe Herreweghe, François-Xavier Roth, Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Antonio Pappano and Elim Chan.

This season sees him appear with the London Symphony Orchestra in Gstaad and La-Côte-Saint-André, play a chamber music evening at Wigmore Hall, perform with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Les Siècles Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Belgian National Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A tour with Barbara Hannigan will take the two musicians to Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, La Jolla, Rochester, Philadelphia, New York, Ottawa, Washington and Paris with duo recitals. Duo recitals with Sol Gabetta will take place at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Gewandhaus Leipzig, De Doelen Rotterdam, Trieste and Bologna. This season, Bertrand Chamayou gives solo recitals in Clermont-Ferrand, Metz, Bordeaux, Poitiers, Perth, Paris, Dijon, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse, Lille and Oeiras. 

Bertrand Chamayou has published a large number of highly successful recordings, including a Naïve CD of music by César Franck, which was awarded several accolades. For his recording of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concertos Nos.2 and 5, he was awarded the Gramophone Recording of the Year Award 2019. The only artist to win France’s prestigious Victoires de la Musique on five occasions, he has an exclusive recording contract with Warner/​Erato and was awarded the 2016 ECHO Klassik for his recording of Ravel’s complete works for solo piano. Bertrand Chamayou was born in Toulouse; his musical talent was quickly noted by pianist Jean-François Heisser, who later became his professor at the Paris Conservatoire. He completed his training with Maria Curcio in London. Since 2021, Chamayou has been Co-Artistic Director of Festival Ravel, the major new international festival celebrating Maurice Ravel, situated in France’s Basque country.