International Summer Academy of Music, Singing and Dance in Nice :: 69th edition

Masterclass of Amoyel Pascal


Masterclass image

Pascal AMOYEL


Conservatory of Rueil-Malmaison

This is a Workshop

Improvisation Workshop

Session #1 - From 20 Jul To 26 Jul

Teacher bio:

Pascal Amoyel is a French pianist and composer born on January 2, 1971, in Rozay-en-Brie (Seine-et-Marne). Pascal Amoyel demonstrated early aptitude for keyboard improvisation without having studied it yet.

At the age of 10, when he began his studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris (class of Marc André), he was quickly noticed by György Cziffra, whom he followed in France and Hungary.

At 17, after earning a scientific baccalaureate, he dedicated himself entirely to music. Alongside his studies, he performed improvising in cabarets in Montmartre. He earned a Concert License from the École Normale de Paris (class of Marc André), First Prizes in Piano and Chamber Music from the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (class of Jacques Rouvier and Pascal Devoyon), became a laureate of the Menuhin Foundation and the Cziffra Foundation, and won First Prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Paris. He also received guidance from Lazar Berman, Aldo Ciccolini, Vlado Perlemuter, Pierre Sancan, Maria Curcio, Daniel Blumenthal, Véra Gornostaeva, Dominique Merlet, Désiré N'Kaoua, Jacqueline Landowski, and Lev Naoumov.

His solo recordings and those with cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand have garnered the highest accolades: Gramophone, Cannes Classical Awards, ffff from Télérama, Diapason d’Or of the year, Choc from Le Monde de la Musique, 10/10 from Classica, and the Grand Prix of the German Critics’ Association.

As a composer, Pascal Amoyel is a laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation. He is notably the author of the cycle "Job, or God in the Tempest" and "Letter to the Beloved Woman on the Subject of Death" (based on poems by Jean-Pierre Siméon).

He is also committed to creating new forms of concerts. His musical show "Block 15, or Music in Resistance" (directed by Jean Piat) was described as "a very pure and touching exploration" by director Peter Brook and was adapted for France Télévisions. He has also written and created one-man shows such as "The Pianist with 50 Fingers, or the Incredible Destiny of György Cziffra," "The Day I Met Franz Liszt," and "Looking for Beethoven" (directed by Christian Fromont), which sold out at the Avignon Festival and played for several months at the Théâtre Le Ranelagh in Paris. He is also the author of the family-friendly show "A Little History of Great Music." As an actor, he has collaborated and shared the stage with Jean Piat, Francis Huster, and Brigitte Fossey.

A sought-after pedagogue, he is a piano and improvisation professor at the CRR de Rueil-Malmaison and teaches analysis and improvisation at Sciences-Po Paris. He regularly gives masterclasses, lectures, and courses in France (including the Paris CNSM), Russia (Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow), the United States, and South Korea. He founded the "Juniors Festival," where children—including those with disabilities—are the performers, as well as the "Notes d’Automne" festival, which he directs and for which he has commissioned over fifty music-literature creations (with Jean-Pierre Marielle, Barbara Hendricks, Natalie Dessay, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Anne Roumanoff, Raphaël Enthoven, Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Richard Bohringer, Patrick Bruel, and others). Author of the book "A Little History of Great Music" (published by Bleu Nuit Éditeur), he also produced a series of programs for France Culture titled "A History of Music."

Awarded the first Grand Prix Arts-Deux Magots for "a musician with qualities of openness and generosity," the Jean-Pierre-Bloch Prize from the Licra for "the relationship to human rights in his work," and the Gold Medal for Cultural Radiance from the French Renaissance, he is the patron of the APTE association, which provides music lessons to autistic children. He has been named a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters, a Knight in the Order of Academic Palms, and a Knight in the National Order of Merit.

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