Bertrand Chamayou

Bertrand Chamayou is one of today’s most strikingly brilliant pianists, recognised for his revelatory performances at once powerfully virtuosic, imaginative and breathtakingly beautiful. A leading interpreter of French music, his vast repertoire includes major bodies of work such as the complete piano works of Ravel, Liszt’s Etudes and Années de pèlerinage, and Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus. At the same time the French pianist possesses a deep passion for new music, having worked with composers including Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtág, Thomas Adès, Bryce Dessner and Michael Jarrell. 

Chamayou performs at the highest level, appearing regularly at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, from Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, to Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival, New York’s Mostly Mozart and Suntory Hall Tokyo. He has performed with the world’s finest orchestras, including New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle Orchestre Zurich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and has shared the stage with Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Philippe Herreweghe, François-Xavier Roth, Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Antonio Pappano and Elim Chan. 

This season sees Chamayou appear as ‘Artist Portrait’ with London Symphony Orchestra, involving two major London concerts, four LSO St. Luke’s recitals plus a European tour. 

He will also release his anticipated next album on Warner Classics, Satie-Cage, an homage to Eric Satie through the eyes of John Cage. 

He performs regularly with fellow musicians including cellist Sol Gabetta and is creating a Messiaen project with soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan.

In June 2022 saw Chamayou released his recording of Messiaen’s masterpiece, Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (Erato), which he performed as a complete cycle including at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and la Roque d’Anthéron. The album was met with widespread critical acclaim, and was awarded a 2022 CHOC de l’année.

Chamayou’s multi award-winning discography also includes Ravel’s complete works for piano, which won the 2016 ECHO Klassik Award, and Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage, which won Album of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. In 2019 Bertrand Chamayou won the Gramophone Award for Recording of the Year for his album of Saint-Saëns on Erato, for whom he is an exclusive recording artist. He is the only artist to have received a prestigious Victoires de la Musique Classique award on five separate occasions, most recently in 2022.

Since 2021, Chamayou has been co-Artistic Director of Festival Ravel, the major new international festival celebrating Maurice Ravel, situated in France’s Basque country.