Roger César Muraro (born 13 May 1959) is a French classical pianist, known especially for his recordings of the music of

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

Career

Muraro was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in 1959, to parents who came from the Venetia region of Northeast Italy. He grew up in a village in the Lyon region. Because there was no place for him in the local football club, his parents enrolled him in the local band, where he learned the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

. He entered the

Conservatoire de Lyon A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

at the age of 11, initially studying the saxophone. He began to teach himself the piano, and when this came to the attention of his saxophone professor, the latter enrolled him in the piano classes of Suzy Bossard. At 17, Muraro auditioned to enter the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as 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 ...

. Although unsuccessful, he caught the attention of

Yvonne Loriod Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen (; 20 January 1924 – 17 May 2010) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Biography Loriod ...

, wife and privileged interpreter of the composer

. He joined her class in 1978. He obtained first prizes in

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

in 1980 and in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

in 1981, and was a saxophone teacher at the music school of Mâcon in the early '80s. Muraro also studied with Éliane Richepin, who helped him prepare for the

Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

, where he took fourth prize in 1986. He was awarded

Victoire de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in the category of instrumental soloist.

Repertoire and recordings

Muraro achieved early recognition as an interpreter of Messiaen's piano works. Messiaen congratulated him personally after a performance of ''Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus'', praising «sa technique éblouissante, sa maîtrise, ses qualités sonores, son émotion, et j’oserai dire sa Foi !… » ("his dazzling technique, his mastery, the quality of his tone, his emotion and, I would dare to say, his faith"). He went on to record Messiaen's complete piano works. These recordings received numerous critics' awards, including 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 ...

and the highest critical ratings from ''

Le Monde de la musique ''Le Monde de la musique'' was a French monthly musical magazine published from 1978 to 2009 with a circulation of 20,000 copies in 2008. It was founded in 1978 by ''Le Monde'' and ''Télérama'' at the initiative of Jean-Michel Croissandeau, in c ...

'' and '' Telérama''. Muraro has also recorded the complete piano works of

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 ...

. These were among the many works plagiarised and issued under the name of

Joyce Hatto Joyce Hilda Hatto (5 September 1928 – 29 June 2006) was an English concert pianist and piano teacher. In 1956 she married William Barrington-Coupe, a record producer who was convicted of Purchase Tax evasion in 1966. Hatto became famous very ...

. Reviewing them in these plagiarised recordings, Jed Distler wrote ''"Time and again an unusually turned phrase, unexpected accent, or seemingly strange voicing sent me running to the score, only to discover that the alleged transgressions in fact correspond to Ravel's markings. And without violating the letter, Hatto somehow always manages to leave a fresh, individual imprint upon everything she touches."'' Muraro continues to record and give concerts around the world.

References

Sources

Muraro's website

Muraro's biography on Caecilia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muraro, Roger 1959 births Living people Musicians from Lyon French people of Italian descent 21st-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French male classical pianists Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres