Jean Fassina

Jean Fassina (born 9 November 1936) is a French classical pianist born in Algiers.

A concertist, direct heir of the great Paderewski piano tradition, Fassina is a recognized teacher who counts a pleiad of French and foreign artists among his students.

Biography

Coming from a line of pianists, (his grandmother was a pianist and composer, his mother performed in concert and was his first teacher), he trained at a very young age at the Conservatoire de Paris.Pages 15-16 After winning his prizes there, Fassina felt the desire to go and study in Eastern European countries, where the results of the teaching given there worked wonders in international competitions: "When not one but twenty pianists dazzle you, there is something obvious about it".Page 17

He obtained a scholarship that allowed him to study in Poland. He completed his training as a pianist in Krakow, the high place of the Polish piano school, under the benevolent guidance of Henryk Sztompka, himself a former student of Paderewski and worthy heir of an instrumental and stylistic tradition going back to Chopin and Liszt.Page 13

In the first lesson, Sztompka told him "You are a musician, but you have to do everything over again...". Thus began four years of intensive work which Fassina himself describes as "the most extraordinary of his life".Page 19

After a short and intense concert career from 1961 to 1975, he devoted himself to what he considered his true vocation: teaching the piano. In about ten years, he trained a good number of artists and teachers of all nationalities, to whom he passed on the knowledge he received in Poland.

After forty years of teaching, Jean Fassina published a book
''Lettre à un jeune pianiste''
Fayard) in which he shares his pianistic knowledge and his pedagogical experience.

Pedagogy

Fassina teaches in many countries in Europe and Asia:
* Conservatoire de Strasbourg,
* Academies of Nice and Barèges (France),
* Académie de Haut Perfectionnement de Musique de Saluzzo (Italy),
* Conservatories of Sapporo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Okinawa (Japan),
* Central Conservatory of Music (China),
* Rencontres internationales d’Enghien,

Pupils

More than a hundred internationally known musicians have been students of Fassina such as:
* Jacques Rouvier,
* Michel Béroff,
* Olivier Gardon
* Jean-Rodolphe Kars,
* Jacqueline Bourges-Mounoury
* Jean-Louis Haguenauer,
* Beate Perrey,

Master classes

Fassina is the permanent guest of prestigious master classes:
* Institut Chopin de Varsovie,
* Rencontre internationale de musique d'Enghien,
* Institut supérieur de musique et de pédagogieInstitut supérieur de musique et de Pédagogie - IMEP
/ref> as well as the Higher Conservatories and Universities of Porto, Brussels, Bucharest, Beijing, Tokyo, Osaka.

Jury of international competitions

He also sits on the jury of numerous international competitions:
* Concours international P.T.N.A (Japan 2003)
* Concours international Frédéric Chopin de Moscou (Russia 2004)
* Concours international de Musique de Porto (Portugal 2002 and 2004)
* Concours international de Musique du Maroc (March 2013)
* Piano Campus International Competition (Pontoise, France, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011)

Sources

* ''Lettre à un jeune pianiste'' - Jean Fassina - Foreword by Jacques Rouvier - Éditions Fayard - III 2000

References

Bibliography

* ''Lettre à un jeune pianiste'' - Jean Fassina - Foreword by Jacques Rouvier - Éditions Fayard - III 2000

External links

Entretien avec Jean Fassina, Pianiste

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fassina, Jean
20th-century French male classical pianists
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
People from Algiers
1936 births
Living people
Piano pedagogues