Philippe Cassard Piano

Biography

Philippe Cassard studied with Dominique Merlet and Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 1982 he won first prizes in piano and chamber music. He continued his studies for two years at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, where he was a pupil of Nikita Magaloff. He was a finalist in the 1985 Clara Haskil Competition and won first prize in the 1988 Dublin International Piano Competition.

Since then, he has been invited by the leading European orchestras, playing under Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, Marek Janowski, Thomas Hengelbrock, Charles Dutoit, Pascal Tortelier, Armin Jordan and Jeffrey Tate. Since 1993, Philippe Cassard has presented the complete cycle of Debussy's piano works in one day and 4 recitals. His love of chamber music and his passion for singing have led him to perform with artists such as Christa Ludwig, Angelika Kirchschlager, Karine Deshayes, Wolfgang Holzmair, Cédric Pescia, Michel Portal, David Grimal, Anne Gastinel and the Ebène, Modigliani, Voce and Hermès quartets.

The duo he formed with Natalie Dessay in 2011 has performed at New York's Carnegie Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, London's Barbican, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall and Tokyo's Suntori Hall. Two albums of French melodies (Erato) and a programme of Schubert songs (Sony) mark their collaboration. Philippe Cassard has published two essays on Schubert and Debussy, a book of interviews on cinema and music, and a memoir. He founded the Estivales de Gerberoy (1997-2003) and was artistic director of the Nuits Romantiques du Lac du Bourget (1999-2008) and the Festival de Fontdouce (2014-2018). He has presented 430 episodes of 'Notes du Traducteur' on France Musique, which was awarded the SCAM prize for best recording in 2007. 'Portraits de famille' has been broadcast since September 2015 and he is also a columnist for L'OBS.

At the Opéra national de Paris: recital with Natalie Dessay, 2015