François-Frédéric Guy

François-Frédéric Guy is widely regarded first and foremost as an outstanding interpreter of the German Romantics and their forebears. The way he creates musical structure in sound is unrivalled, especially evident in his interpretations of Beethoven, with whom he has a particularly intensive musical relationship.

The pianist also has a special affinity with the music of Bartók, Brahms, Liszt, and Prokofiev and a strong commitment to contemporary music. He has close links to composers such as Ivan Fedele, Marc Monnet, Gérard Pesson, Bruno Mantovani and Hugues Dufourt. He has also given the premiere of works including Mantovani’s Double Concerto (2012), which he performed with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 he gave the South Korean premiere of Tristan Murail’s Le Désenchantement du monde with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the current season, François-Frédéric Guy will continue his focus on Beethoven while also giving numerous appearances in the dual role of soloist and conductor. His acclaimed performances of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, with guest appearances in Washington, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Monte Carlo, Norwich, Metz and Buenos Aires, take him to Tokyo and Seoul this season.

As conductor from behind the piano, François-Frédéric Guy will lead the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Limoges with works by Mozart, Beethoven and the world premiere of the piano concerto Écoumène by Aurélien Dumont, which was composed especially for him. In collaboration with the Sinfonia Varsovia, François-Frédéric Guy expands his play-conduct repertoire with Chopin's Second Piano Concerto and, as conductor, dives into Beethoven's symphonic works. In January 2020, François-Frédéric Guy and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris will ring in the Paris celebrations for the Beethoven Year together, with the complete cycle of piano concertos at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

In addition, François-Frédéric Guy, as a Beethoven specialist, will focus on chamber music in the jubilee year 2020 and, together with musicians such as Tedi Papavrami and Xavier Phillips, will be performing all of the Beethoven trios at the Arsenal de Metz. At the Maison de la Radio Paris, he will perform the first of a series of eight concerts presenting the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas, each played under the auspices of Guy by a young French pianist with their own interpretation of the great composer. Numerous solo recitals will be taking François-Frédéric Guy to the Opéra de Dijon, the Musashino Civic Hall Tokyo, the Kumho Art Hall Seoul as well as the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest and La Folle Journée in Nantes.

The pianist has been a guest of orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich. He has collaborated with world-famous conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kazushi Ono, Marc Albrecht, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Harding, Neeme Järvi, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Kent Nagano. In recital he has performed at the major concert halls in cities such as London, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Moscow, Paris, Vienna and Washington, and at festivals including the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, the Festival La Roque d’Anthéron, Beethovenfest Bonn, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, and the Cheltenham Festival.

At the heart of his discography is the complete recording of Beethoven's sonatas, released in 2013 on the Zig-Zag Territoires label, which had already released his highly acclaimed Liszt album, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. The complete recording of Beethoven's piano concertos with the Sinfonia Varsovia under François-Frédéric Guy's direction will be released to mark the start of the ‘Beethoven year’ 2020. Together with his chamber music partners Xavier Phillips and Tedi Papavrami he has already released highly acclaimed recordings of Beethoven's cello and violin sonatas. A joint CD with the piano trios is planned for the end of 2020. Evidence Classics also released his new Brahms album with the three piano sonatas in 2017.

2019/20 season

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