Brigitte Engerer

‘She proved she is one of the finest pianists in the world.’ New York Times

Her first piano lessons at the age of five, her first public concert a year later – this is how Brigitte Engerer launched her musical career. She entered the Paris Conservatoire and at the age of fifteen was awarded a premier prix in piano by unanimous decision of the judges. At sixteen, she was a prizewinner at the Marguerite Long Competition, then accepted an invitation from the Moscow Conservatory to attend Stanislav Neuhaus’s postgraduate class for five years. She subsequently won prizes at the Tchaikovsky and Reine Elisabeth de Belgique Competitions. Brigitte Engerer’s international career reached a turning-point in 1980 when, after hearing her, Herbert von Karajan asked her to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic; Daniel Barenboim then invited her to play with the Orchestre de Paris, and Zubin Mehta with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in New York.

Thus she made brilliant and equally acclaimed debuts in Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and New York, where she enjoyed a triumph at Carnegie Hall. Since then, Brigitte Engerer has appeared all over the world in recital or with the leading orchestras, including the Orchestre de Paris, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, the Orchestre National de Belgique, and the Orchestre National de France, under such renowned conductors as Barenboim, Mehta, Kondrashin, Neumann, Bender, Krivine, Rostropovich, Casadesus, Bertini, Chailly, Rowicki, Leitner, Foster, and López Cobos.
Her infallible technique, even in the most redoubtable Romantic concertos, and her radiant presence do not conceal a more tormented, refined and sensitive side to her temperament. One need only hear her play with such chamber music partners as Olivier Charlier, Hélène Mercier, David Geringas, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Henri Demarquette, Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Kniaziev, Oleg Maisenberg or Gérard Caussé, and with Laurence Equilbey and the Accentus Chamber Choir, to take the measure of the delicacy and subtlety of her playing and the com- plicity she establishes with these musicians. Brigitte Engerer has made several recordings of solo piano pieces for Mirare (‘Rêve d’amour’, ‘Souvenirs d’enfance’, and ‘Hymne à la nuit’), as well as Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, and Rachmaninoff’s Suites for two pianos with Boris Berezovsky. For Harmonia Mundi she has recorded the complete Chopin Nocturnes, sonatas by Beethoven, and the violin sonatas of Grieg and Schumann with Olivier Charlier; and for Intrada, the complete chamber music of Chopin with the cellist Henri Demarquette. With the Accentus Chamber Choir and Laurence Equilbey she has recorded Liszt’s Via Crucis and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater.

Brigitte Engerer has been much praised for her maturity and rare sensibility, as well as the power and delicacy of her playing, and naturally takes her place among the great interpreters of her generation. She has taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris since 1992. The French government has appointed Brigitte Engerer Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur,Officier du Mérite, and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. She is also a corresponding member of the Institut de France, Académie des Beaux-Arts.