Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

, Maurice Ravel,

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, Saint-Saëns and others.

Early life

Philippe Entremont was born in Reims to musical parents, his mother being a ''Grand Prix'' pianist and his father an operatic conductor. Philippe first received piano lessons from his mother at the age of six. His father introduced him to the world of chamber and orchestral music. He studied in Paris with

Marguerite Long Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. Life Early life: 1874–1900 Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoin ...

, and entered the

Conservatoire de Paris 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 ...

. He won prizes in

sight-reading In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descr ...

at age 12, chamber-music aged 14, and piano at 15. He became ''Laureat'' at the international Long-Thibaud Competition at the age of 16.

Career

He won a prize in the 1952

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in Brussels. The competition is named after Queen ...

and then began his career of serious concert-giving at the piano. Within five years he was hailed as a new and major voice in European pianism. He earned further recognition through tours of South America and the United States; organized by the National Music League and the Jeunesses Musicales International in 1953 and 1955.

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

auditioned him in 1954 and at once engaged him for his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, which took place in November 1956. His early Columbia recordings with Ormandy (c.1957–58), released in Europe by

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in ...

(e.g.

's ''

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini The ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', Op. 43, (russian: Рапсодия на тему Паганини, ''Rapsodiya na temu Paganini'') is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano ...

'') preserve the mood of exhilaration which attended his European debuts. His recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto with Leonard Bernstein on Columbia was considered an extraordinary reading at the time. He also recorded

's Piano Concerto No. 1, with the same forces. He recorded Rachmaninoff's First and Fourth Concertos with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Concertos Nos. 2 and 4 of Saint-Saëns with Ormandy are noteworthy as well. Entremont made a debut as both pianist and conductor (directing from the keyboard) in 1968 on a Columbia records release in which he played Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 13 and 17 and conducted the Collegium Musicum of Paris. He has also recorded many of Friedrich Kuhlau's songs. Entremont was Director of the New Orleans Symphony from 1980 to 1986. He served the

Denver Symphony Orchestra The Denver Symphony Orchestra, established in 1934 and dissolved in 1989, was a professional American orchestra in Denver, Colorado. Until 1978, when the Boettcher Concert Hall was built to house the symphony orchestra, it performed in a successio ...

as principal conductor from 1986 to 1988, and music director from 1988 to 1989. Entremont has also been chief conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and is now its Conductor Laureate. He also holds the same title with the

Israel Chamber Orchestra Israel Chamber Orchestra (abbreviation ICO, Hebrewהתזמורת הקאמרית הישראלית (''Hatizmoret hakamerit'') is an Israeli orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Primary funding comes from the Israel Ministry of Education and the Tel Aviv-Yafo ...

. He served on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 1990, 1995 and 2005. In 2010 and 2015, he was a juror at the

International Chopin Piano Competition The International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held ...

. He caused controversy at the XVII Chopin Competition when he gave Seong-Jin Cho, the winner of the competition, a score of just 1 in the final, the lowest possible score. This was a substantial deviation from the other jurors; 14 of the 17 jurors gave Cho 9 or more points, leading to speculation that Entremont had trouble with Cho's teacher Michel Béroff. Entremont founded the Biennial Santo Domingo Music Festival in 1997. Since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of China's Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. During the 2005–2006 Season, Entremont led the

Munich Symphony Orchestra The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich but active statewide in Bavaria. It gives subscription concerts at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater and, to a lesser degree, at the Philha ...

as both conductor and pianist for the orchestra's U.S. debut tour. In September 2007, Entremont returned to New Orleans as soloist to open the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra's second post- Katrina season with

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

Piano Concerto in G major Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, was composed between 1929 and 1931. The concerto is in three movements, with a total playing time of a little over 20 minutes. Ravel said that in this piece he was not aiming to be profound but to enterta ...

References

External links

Some programs, introduction and photos from his 3 acclaimed tours of Southern Africa, 1958-74

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110523162234/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,841364-3,00.html Short 1968 news article mentioning his first dual-role recordingbr>1988 English-language interview with Philippe Entremont
* Biography at allmusic.com
Interview with Philippe Entremont
October 15, 1997 {{DEFAULTSORT:Entremont, Philippe 1934 births Living people Musicians from Reims 20th-century French male classical pianists French male conductors (music) Conservatoire de Paris alumni Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 21st-century French conductors (music) 21st-century French male classical pianists