Claire Désert

At the age of fourteen she entered the Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she was awarded a premier prix in chamber music in the class of Jean Hubeau, and the premier prix in piano by unanimous decision of the jury (Special Prize for the 1985 examination) in the class of Vensislav Yankoff. She was admitted to the postgraduate course in piano in the same year, then won a French Government scholarship for a year’s study in Evgeny Malinin’s class at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. On her return to Paris she entered the postgraduate course in chamber music, in the class of Roland Pidoux.

Claire Désert is a peerless chamber musician of rare artistry. Her partners of choice include the pianist Emmanuel Strosser, the cellist Anne Gastinel, the violinists Nemanja Radulovic, Philippe Graffin and Régis Pasquier, the Parisii and Sine Nomine Quartets, and the Moraguès Wind Quintet.

Her extensive discography includes a Schumann CD (her first recording, which won a ’10 de Répertoire’), a disc of the Scriabin and Dvorák Concertos with the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg which was awarded a Victoire de la Musique in 1997, and two recordings with Anne Gastinel, one devoted to Schumann, the other to Schubert. Her two most recent releases have been on Mirare: a Schumann programme including the Davidsbündlertänze and Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances for piano duet with Emmanuel Strosser.

Claire Désert teaches piano and chamber music at the Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique de Paris and was awarded the Prix d’interprétation de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2020.