Lucas DEBARGUE, Piano – Koerner Hall Solo Debut

“This pianist is not like any other” sums up why French pianist Lucas Debargue was the most talked-about artist at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Of all the candidates, he was chosen unanimously to receive the coveted Moscow Music Critics’ Prize. The world instantly took note of this startling and original new talent. Immediately after the Competition, Debargue was invited to play solo and with leading orchestras in the most prestigious concert halls in the world.

“There hasn’t been a foreign pianist who has caused such a stir since Glenn Gould’s arrival in Moscow in the midst of the Cold War, or Van Cliburn’s victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition.” – Huffington Post

Lucas Debargue first appeared in Toronto and Montreal under the auspices of Show One in 2017. He played Toronto’s Koerner Hall in a dual piano concert with a fellow Tchaikovsky Competition winner. He returned there again in a high-profile chamber ensemble with celebrated violinist Janine Jansen. “Like a young Rimbaud, his touch is poetic and full of dazzling musical imagery — slightly dangerous even.” – Michael Vincent, Toronto Star and Musical Toronto

In a later solo recital in Montreal, he left the audience and critics mesmerized.

A performer of fierce integrity and dazzling communicative power, Lucas Debargue is a unique phenomenon.  He spent years studying on his own while working on a degree in literature, and his interpretations incorporate influences from literature and other wide-ranging interests, among them painting, cinema and jazz. His professional level piano lessons began only at age 20, less than 10 years ago, when celebrated teacher Rena Shereshevskaya invited him into her class at the École Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot”.

The program Debargue has chosen for his solo recital tour lets us penetrate his intimate and profound world, enabling us to capture the essence of his unique music making. We will share his fascination for one of the most illustrious and prolific composers of the Baroque period – Domenico Scarlatti – and marvel at 10 of his miniature sonatas. We will all discover Nicolai Medtner’s Sonata in G minor, which he had brought to the attention of the Russian public at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Further, the program brings us to Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit, which has become Debargue’s signature piece; and concludes with Franz Liszt’s spectacular Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata inspired by The Divine Comedy.

We are about to share an extraordinary experience with pianist Lucas Debargue and his eclectic program, the mirror of his immense talent.