Profile

PASCAL DEVOYON biography A prizewinner in many of the top international competitions such as the Viotti, Busoni and Leeds competitions, it was through his achievement as Silver medallist in the 1978 Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, the highest award ever achieved by a French pianist in this prestigious competition, that Pascal Devoyon became known around the world. Pascal Devoyon has performed with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Rotterdam Philhamronic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony and Tokyo's NHK Symphony and has worked with many great conductors such as Bychkov, Dutoit, Krivine and Sanderling. Devoyon has given highly acclaimed recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Queen Elisabeth Hall, London. He is invited each season to Japan and performs there in the major halls. His repertoire is extensive and varied; he performs the complete Beethoven sonata cycle, major twentieth century works, such as Bartok and Messiaen and works by contemporary composers. Chamber music plays an important part in Devoyon's career and his skills are greatly appreciated by international musicians such as the violinists, Dong -Suk Kang and Philippe Graffin, and the cellists, Steven Isserlis, Young-Chang Cho, Tilmann Wick and Sung-Won Yang. Since 2006, he is playing regularly in piano-duo with his wife Rikako Murata. They have been invited in France, Germany, Japan, Mexico. Their first recording, including “les Visions de l’Amen” from Messiaen, “en blanc et noir” from Debussy and “Musiques pour deux pianos” from Merlet, was released in 2008. In the following years, they were recording the CD “Master of transcription” which won the “CD Art’s prize” and the Faust Symphony in the transcription of the composer celebrating the Liszt anniversary. Since 1999, he is with Dong-Suk Kang artistic director of the festival “MusicAlp” in the french Alpes. This festival is as well one of the biggest Academie in Europe with more than 700 students and 70 professors coming from the major schools of the world. In 1996 Pascal Devoyon was appointed Professor at the Berlin Universität der Künste following a five year appointment as Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire. From 2003 until 2011, he was teaching at the Geneva Conservatory. In 2001 he received a prestigious distinction in France and became “Chevalier” in “l’Ordre du mérite”.