Billy Eidi (born in 1955) is a French classical pianist of Lebanese background.
Biography
Born in Egypt, Eidi did his first musical studies at the Beirut Conservatory (in the classes of Zafer Dabaghi and Leila Aouad), where he graduated at fifteen.
After taking advanced training courses with
Hans Leygraf
Hans Leygraf (7 September 1920 – 12 February 2011) was a Swedish pianist, music educator, conductor and composer.
Life
Born in Stockholm, Leygraf studied piano with in Stockholm and Anna Hirzel-Langenhan in Switzerland. He was one of Swede ...
in Salzbourg and
Guido Agosti Guido Agosti (11 August 19012 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and piano teacher.
Agosti was born in Forlì in 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldi, earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterp ...
in Siena, he moved to Paris and worked with Jacques Coulaud at the (First prize and honorary prize), then with Jean Micault at the
École normale de musique de Paris
The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Engl ...
(graduated for concert in 1979, first nominated).
In 1981, he won second prize in the International Viotti-Valsesia Competition.
He is also a laureate of the Menuhin foundation, as well as of the "
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...
International Competition" (prize for melody with baritone Jean-François Gardeil).
In his concerts throughout the world (France, England, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Sweden, United States, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East), he particularly defends the romantic repertoire and the French music of the twentieth century, striving to discover unknown authors and repertoires.
Eidi has created pieces by
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
(''Sixième Nocturne''),
Henri Sauguet
Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer.
Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...
(''Ombres sur Venise'' which is dedicated to him),
Maurice Jaubert
Maurice Jaubert (3 January 1900 – 19 June 1940) was a French composer.Guy Sacre, ,
Karol Beffa
Karol Beffa, born on October 27, 1973 in Paris, is a French and Swiss composer and pianist.
Biography
Karol Beffa had a general education along with music studies, at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, consisting of history, English, phi ...
...
He is also a passionate of the French melody, who works tirelessly for a better knowledge and a renewal of the genre.
It is in this spirit that he founded the associations ''Contrechants'' (1991-1995, concerts ''"Piano au Palais-Royal"'', in collaboration with the
Bibliothèque nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
) and ''Les Donneurs de sérénades'' (1997-1998, melodic cycles at the ), and that he gives, with the composer Guy Sacre, concerts-conferences centred on musical and literary aesthetic themes, such as ''les musiques de la nuit'', ''la musique et les éléments'', and ''les masques et bergamasques'' which convene Fauré and
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
around
Verlaine
Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density
Population d ...
and
Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as ...
.
These tastes and these concerns are to be found in his records, to this day about fifteen, of which many premières: as well works for piano (Sauguet, Milhaud, Scriabine, Sacre, Satie, Poulenc, Séverac) as melodies (Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Auric, Honegger, Chausson, Delage, Sacre),
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...
Laurent Naouri
Laurent Naouri, Chevalier L.H. (born May 23, 1964) is a French bass-baritone. Initially beginning his education at the École Centrale de Lyon, Naouri decided to concentrate on opera in 1986 and continued his musical studies at the Guildhall S ...
Hugues Cuénod
Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod (; 26 June 19026 December 2010)
, is now a reference.
Among his latest records, his CD devoted to
Déodat de Séverac
Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer.
Life
Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Haute-Garonne. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical trad ...
's piano work was awarded a "
Diapason d'or
The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...
".
Eidi is an academic at the , the
Schola Cantorum de Paris
The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera.
History
La Schola was founded i ...
,Billy Eidi on the webwite of the Schola Cantorum de Paris as well as at the and Nancy.
He is regularly invited for
master class
A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...
es, both in France and abroad (notably in Spain, China, Japan and South Korea).
Discography
(selection)
*
Maurice Delage
Maurice Charles Delage (13 November 1879 – 19 or 21 September 1961) was a French composer and pianist.
Biography
Delage was born and died in Paris. He first worked as a clerk for a maritime agency in Paris, and later as a fishmonger in Boul ...
: ''mélodies'' with
Sandrine Piau
Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Debus ...
,
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
file:JP Fouchécourt 03900.jpg, 2015
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is a French people, French tenor, mostly as an opera singer. He was born on 30 August 1958 at Blanzy in the Bourgogne, Burgundy region. He is best known for singing French Baroque music, e ...
and Jean-François Gardeil
* Guy Sacre: ''Œuvres pour piano'' (Timpani)
*
Déodat de Séverac
Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer.
Life
Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Haute-Garonne. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical trad ...
: ''Baigneuses au soleil'', ''Cerdana'', ''Sous les lauriers roses'', ''Les Naïades'' and ''le Faune indiscret'' (Pionovox)
* Erik Satie: ''Socrate'' - ''6 Nocturnes'' - with Jean Belliard
* Guy Sacre - ''Mélodies'' with Florence Katz and Jean-François Gardeil
* Guy Sacre - ''24 Préludes'' for piano (Timpani)
* Ravel/Poulenc: ''Mélodies'' with Jean-François Gardeil
* Gabriel Fauré: ''Mélodies'' with Yann Beuron
*
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to ...
: ''Les Mélodies'' with
Brigitte Balleys
Brigitte Balleys (born 18 June 1959) is a Swiss mezzo-soprano in opera and concert.
Biography
Born in the canton of Vaud, Brigitte Balleys studied at Sion,
then at the Conservatory of Bern where she graduated from the singing class of Jakob St ...
and Jean-François Gardeil (Timpani)
*
Henri Sauguet
Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer.
Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...
: Mélodies with Jean-François Gardeil (Timpani)
*
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...
: ''Première Sonate''; ''Printemps''; ''L'Automne''; ''Quatre Sketches''; ''Sonatine''
* Claude Debussy / Albert Roussel: ''Les mélodies'' with Jean-François Gardeil (Adda)
* Gabriel Fauré: ''treize Barcarolles'' and the 3rd collection of melodies (with tenor Yann Beuron)
Awards
* 1981: Second Prize of the Concours international Viotti-Valsesia.
* 1985: Best Piano Singing Team Award at the "Francis Poulenc International Competition" (with baritone Jean-François Gardeil).
* Laureate of the Menuhin Foundation
* 1993: Grand Prix of the
Académie Charles-Cros
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
and Grand Prix of the "Nouvelle Académie du Disque français".
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...