Philippe Cassard
Philippe Cassard has established an international reputation as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician since giving a joint recital with Christa Ludwig in Paris in 1985. That same year, he was a finalist at the Clara Haskil Competition, and in 1988, he won First Prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition.
His concerto appearances include performances with the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre National de France, and the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra. He has collaborated with many renowned conductors, including Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Sir Roger Norrington, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Charles Dutoit, Armin Jordan, Marek Janowski, Thomas Hengelbrock, and Vladimir Fedoseyev.
His performance of the complete piano works of Debussy (four recitals in a single day) received widespread critical acclaim and extensive media coverage. He has presented the cycle in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, as well as in Dublin, Paris, Lisbon, Sydney, Vancouver, Singapore, and Tokyo. He also regularly performs in China, Australia, South America, and Canada.
Philippe plays an extensive repertoire of chamber music and has appeared with artists such as Wolfgang Holzmair, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Karine Deshayes, Donna Brown, Paul Meyer, Jörg Widmann, Matt Haimovitz, Isabelle Faust, and the Ébène, Takács, Vanbrugh, Danish, and Chilingirian string quartets.
In 2012, Philippe became soprano Natalie Dessay’s exclusive pianist. Together, they have performed more than 120 concerts in France, England (including London’s Barbican and Wigmore Hall), Ireland, Japan, Russia, Austria (Musikverein in Vienna), Canada, and the United States (including Carnegie Hall in New York). The duo has recorded Debussy Songs, a French Mélodies album (Erato), and a program of Schubert Lieder (Sony Classical).
Philippe Cassard was the artistic director of the festival Nuits Romantiques du Lac du Bourget from 1999 to 2008. Since 2005, he has presented over 700 live weekly programs on France Musique Radio dedicated to piano interpretation, which earned him the Prix SCAM in 2007 for “Best Radio Programme.”
His recent CD releases include Beethoven’s Trios with David Grimal and Anne Gastinel (awarded the Diapason d’Or and Choc de Classica) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Liszt’s transcription for two pianos, with Cédric Pescia.