Claire Désert

Regularly featured in prestigious festivals in France (such as the Festival de la Roque-d'Anthéron, Piano aux Ja-cobins, Lille Piano Festival, Festival de Radio France Montpellier, etc.), Claire Désert also performs on internatio-nal stages (Wigmore Hall in London, Kennedy Center in New York, Japan, Brazil, Germany, etc.) and performs as a soloist with major symphonic ensembles such as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de chambre de Prague, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, orchestras in Japan, among others. She has performed under the direction of conductors such as Marek Janowski, Jiří Bělohlávek, and Lawrence Foster.

Entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of 14, Claire Désert won first prize unanimously in the piano class of Ventsislav Yankoff, as well as first prize in chamber music in the class of Jean Hubeau. She was then admitted to the advanced studies program in both disciplines (chamber music class with Roland Pidoux). Noticed by the pianist and pedagogue Evgeny Malinin, he invited her to continue her studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

Claire Désert is an exceptional chamber musician. Her preferred collaborators include Emmanuel Strosser, Anne Gastinel, Gary Hoffman, Philippe Graffin, Régis Pasquier, the Quatuor Sine Nomine, and the Quintette Moraguès.

Her extensive discography includes, among others, a CD of Schumann's Novelettes (awarded a "10" by Réper-toire), a recording of Scriabin and Dvořák Concertos with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, which re-ceived a Victoire de la Musique award in 1997, and several recordings made with Emmanuel Strosser, Anne Gas-tinel, and Gary Hoffman. Three other discs dedicated to Schumann have also been released by Mirare. The latest was awarded a rating of ffff by Télérama as well as a Choc by Classica magazine.

Claire Désert is a piano and chamber music professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and received the Interpretation Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2020.