MICHEL DALBERTO

Michel Dalberto first came to prominence when, in three years time, he won the 1^st Mozart Competition in Salzburg, the Clara-Haskil Prize in Vevey and the Leeds International Piano Competition (where previous prize-winners include Lupu, Orozco or Perahia).

Born in Paris in a family which take roots in Dauphiné and Italian Piemonte, he began the piano at the age of three and a half. When he was twelve, he was introduced to Vlado Perlemuter, a favourite pupil of the late Alfred Cortot, and entered his class at the Paris Conservatoire where he completed his studies during nine years.

He has since performed under the baton of conductors such as Leinsdorf/Orchestre de Paris, Sawallisch/OSR, Masur and Gatti/ONF, Dutoit/Montreal Symphony, C. Davis/Amsterdam Concertgebouw, A. Davis/London Philharmonia, Inbal/Wiener Symph. and RSO Frankfurt, Temirkanov/Roma Santa-Cecilia, Dausgaard/Oslo Philh..

He has also been guest of Festivals such as Lucerne (Gielen/Festival Orch and Järvi/Detroit Symph.), Florence (Barschaï/Maggio Musicale), Aix-en-Provence (Janowski/Radio-France Philharm.), Vienna (Inbal/Wiener Symph.), Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, Grange de Meslay and La Roque d’Antheron.

From the beginning of his career, Michel Dalberto has been acknowledged as one of the foremost interpreter of Schubert and Mozart music. Liszt, Debussy, Fauré, Schumann and Ravel are also among his favourite musicians.

Very active in the recording field, he is the only living pianist to have recorded the complete piano works by Schubert (14 Cd for Denon reissued on Brilliant Classics). Among other publications, he did the Grieg Concerto and Strauss Burlesque with the London Philharmonia and Pommier, a “live” recording of the Schumann Concerto at the Vienna Festival with the Wiener Symphoniker and Inbal, Songs by Chausson with Jessye Norman and two recitals with Barbara Hendricks. Since 1997, he has recorded for the Sony/BMG label the 1^st Book of Preludes and Images by Debussy and Mozart Concerti n°20 and 22 with the EOP and Nelson. In June 2004 BMG released a programme of Liszt Paraphrases on Verdi and Wagner’s operas which received an oustanding reception from both critics (Gramophone, Classic FM, Diapason etc..) and the public (Top sale of the classic recordings during the summer). In March 2008 he records with the french cellist Henri Demarquette the complete Brahms Sonata (Warner Classic).

An outstanding chamber musician since his beginning, he played the ten Beethoven Sonatas with the late Henryk Szeryng and two-pianos recitals with the late Nikita Magaloff. More recently he has appeared with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Lynn Harrell or with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. He also played Duet with Boris Belkin, Vadim Repin, Nikolaj Znaider, Yuri Bashmet or Truls Mork as well as with the baritone Stephan Genz. With Henri Demarquette he made a live recording in DVD of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas for Armide.

Recently he has appeared with the Amsterdam Radio-Philharmonie and Netherland Philharmonic Orchestras at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, in Brussels for three all-Schubert recitals, with Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, in Lisboa with Teatro Saô-Carlo Orchestra, at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Paris Ensemble Orchestral, Shanghai and Guang-Zhou Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, St-Petersburg Philharmonic. He was the principal guest at the 2006 Newport Festival (US) which was doing a “Mostly Schubert” programme.

He was offered the position of “Artist in Residence” at the Orchestre de Bretagne during the 06/07 and 07/08 seasons. It includes various appearances all over Brittany region with the orchestra, in solo recitals as well as chamber music, masterclasses ant a tour in France and Germany together with Arvo Volmer.

Michel Dalberto was for fifteen years Artistic Adviser of Les Arcs Academy-Festival in Savoy, a position he resigned in 2005.

Since 1991 he serves as Chairman of the Jury of the Clara Haskil Competition which takes place in Vevey (Switzerland) every two years.

Although he was for many years reluctant to take a permanent teaching position mostly for lack of time, he accepted in 2006 the invitation from the Accademia Pianistica “Incontro col Maestro” in Imola to meet every month a selected number of outstanding students.

A keen sportsman, he does regularly ski in Savoy and Switzerland (where he lives). He is also an expert in scuba-diving and a devoted fan of Formula 1.

He has been awarded the Knight of the Ordre National du Mérite by the French Government in 1996.