Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
Schola Cantorum de Paris
The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) 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
The Schola ...
in the specialized solfeggio class of Berthe Duru where she obtained a 1st medal. The same year, she won a 1st prize unanimously in Superior at the "Kingdom of Music". This prize offered her the opportunity to play at the
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by the acoustician Gustave Lyon together with the architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed i ...
in Paris as soloist with the orchestra of the ORTF, under the direction of .
The year she turned twelve, she was unanimously awarded the Prix d'honneur at the national competition and a few months later entered first nominated in the Conservatory's higher piano classes of Lucette Descaves. She also followed the teaching of Jean Hubeau in chamber music, Jacqueline Robin in deciphering, Françoise Rieunier in
musical analysis
Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to ans ...
harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
. In the following years, she played several times at the
in the framework of the "", in recital or with orchestra.
At sixteen, she won 1st prizes at the Conservatoire for piano and for chamber music.
At seventeen, she won the First Prize at the
Cleveland International Piano Competition
The Cleveland International Piano Competition is an American piano competition that takes place biennially in Cleveland, Ohio. The initial Competition in 1975 and the nine others that followed were sponsored jointly by the Robert Casadesus Society ...
(USA).
The same year she was received at the Conservatory in cycle of perfection of piano (class of Ventsislav Yankov, assistant Nadia Tagrine) and
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
(class of Jean Hubeau). Her young career was then enriched by numerous engagements in France and abroad (Europe, the United States, Japan) as well as broadcasts in various French and international radio and television stations.
While continuing to work with Nadia Tagrine, she enriched her repertoire through meetings with masters such as
György Sebők
György Sebők (November 2, 1922 – November 14, 1999) was a Hungarian-born American pianist and professor at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, United States.
He was known worldwide as a soloist with majo ...
,
Vlado Perlemuter
Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher.
Biography
Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in L ...
,
Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal (18 June 1904 – 5 June 2003) was a French composer and conductor who held leading positions with musical organizations in France and the United States. He was friends with many contemporary composers, and despite a considerab ...
,
Gaby Casadesus
Gaby Casadesus (August 9, 1901 – November 12, 1999) was a French classical pianist and teacher born in Marseille. She was married to the French pianist Robert Casadesus and their son Jean was also a notable pianist.
Biography
Born Gabrielle l ...
Dmitri Bashkirov
Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an international career as a soloist when he won the Marguerite Long Piano Co ...
Other awards will be added to her list of achievements:
* 1977 - Artist-soloist of
Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...
.
* 1979 - 2nd prize of the
Épinal International Piano Competition
The Épinal International Piano Competition is a biannual piano music competition, competition held in Épinal, France. Founded in 1970, it is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, WFIMC since 1979.Bruce Hungerford
Bruce Hungerford (24 November 192226 January 1977), known for the majority of his career as Leonard Hungerford, was an Australian pianist.
Biography
Born in Korumburra, Victoria, Bruce Hungerford was originally named Leonard Sinclair Hungerfo ...
at the ''Young Concert Artists'' in New York city - (USA)
* 1983 - 1st nominated at the
Clara Haskil International Piano Competition
The Clara Haskil Piano Competition (French: Concours international de piano Clara Haskil) was founded in 1963 in order to honour and perpetuate the memory the Romanian-Swiss pianist Clara Haskil.
The competition is a member of the World Federat ...
(
Montreux
Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...
-
Vevey
Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used.
It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...
)
* 1983 - 3rd grand prix of the Chopin competition of
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
(Spain)
Married since 1979 to Bertrand Mercier, a Polytechnician engineer and Doctor of Science, she spent 25 years as an international concert performer, mother of four children and teacher.
She is the soloist for major orchestras such as the
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in t ...
,
Jean-Claude Casadesus
Jean-Claude Probst (born 7 December 1935), known professionally as Jean-Claude Casadesus, is a French Conducting, conductor.
Biography
Casadesus was born in Paris on 7 December 1935, the son of actress Gisèle Casadesus and her husband Lucien Pa ...
Sylvain Cambreling
Sylvain Cambreling (born 2 July 1948 in Amiens, France) is a French conductor.
Biography
Trained as a trombone player, Cambreling studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l' Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon (OSL) as a trombonist in 1971. In 197 ...
, Paul Staicu and .
Her chamber music partners are flutists
Jean-Pierre Rampal
Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. Rampal popularised the flute in the post–World War II years, recovering flute compositions from the Baroque era, and spurring contemporary composers, ...
Montreux
Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...
. In 1979, her performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes left the audience with an extraordinary impression of technical quality, combined with surprising intelligence, authority and depth. Four years later, it is still with Beethoven that she conquered Montreux. In the 1st concerto this time, she supported its formal density and emotional richness from the first to the last bar. It emanates from her play a kind of ardent and controlled jubilation at the same time."
Gaspard de la nuit
''Gaspard de la nuit'' (subtitled ''Trois poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand''), M. 55 is a suite of piano pieces by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem or ''fantaisie'' from the collection '' ...