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The French pianist, Jonathan Bénichou, was born into a family with a diverse cultural heritage. He quickly found his own path, when at the age of 6 he began piano studies at the Conservatory of his native town Nice. Quickly noticed by his exceptional gifts, he gave concerts at the age of 10 years as a soloist or with orchestra. At 12, he received the First Prize in the class of Odile Poisson at the Conservatory of his city. At the age of 14, he joined the class of Jacques Rouvier at the Paris National Superior Conservatory. In 2000, he obtained the First Prize at the Conservatory and graduates with an advanced studies degree. He then left for New York where for two years, he worked on perfecting his skills at the prestigious Mannes College of New York in the class of Pavlina Dokovska. He was also invited by the Rostropovich Foundation to attend the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, where in 2005 he benefited from the teachings of Vera Gornostaeva. He continued to perfect himself with Grigory Gruzman in Hamburg, Germany and Rena Scherechevskaia in France. He received guidance from such maestros as Aldo Ciccolini, Misha Katz, Pnina Salzman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Vladimir Feltsman, Misha Katz...
Jonathan Jonathan Bénichou was noticed in Festivals and international competitions: Young Concert Artists (2002) New York, Cleveland (2004), Texas USA, Clara Haskil (2004), Switzerland, Tour International Music (1994) Italy, Top Round Festival (2007). Other foundations also reward the Fondation de France, the Natexis Banque Populaire in Paris, Drouet Bourgeois, Gould (USA).
Sensitive spirit of great wealth, Jonathan Bénichou is impregnated throughout his musical career to the legacy of piano schools, French and Russian which he draws a personal synthesis, in the image of its origins, multiple cultures. Jonathan has been invited to perform at the renowned Festivals in France: such as the Radio France Festival, the Deauville Music Festival, the Festival of Young Virtuoso in Antibes, the Menton, the Festival of Auvers sur Oise, the International Music Festival in Strasbourg, the Puteaux Music Festival, Bagatelles Paris… as well as renowned places like the Louvre Auditorium, the Senate, the Salle Gaveau, Theatre Athénée Louis Jouvet, the Polignac Foundation, the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, the Opera Nice, Metz Arsenal, and the Pin Galant in Mérignac. Abroad, he has given successful performances in many countries: Germany, Italy, Israel, Romania, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Brazil, the United States, Moldova, and Colombia among others.
Among Jonathan Bénichou'as rather vast repertoire, which he continues to develop, he is particularly passionate about the works of J.S. Bach, who as Greif and Scriabine, takes him on the demanding musical and spiritual path. Questioned by the search for new languages, he composed the soundtrack of three short films in collaboration with the filmmakers Nicolas Ganter and Yohan Attal and continues to explore new sound ideas related to various audiovisual projects.
In chamber music Jonathan Bénichou plays regularly with musicians in several formations. Always passionate about the music of his time, Jonathan has created piano pieces for Marc-Olivier Dupin, the Quatuor for clarinet, chords and piano pieces for Court Studies of Thomas Ades, as well as the sonata Le Reve du monde for Olivier Greif, which for his own edition he collaborated with the Symétrie publishing house. He has been also invited to perform in Thierry Escaich’s Fantasy concertante for piano and orchestra.
In France, Jonathan Bénichou has participated in radio shows on France Music, RFI, as well as on television channels, such as ARTE, MEZZO, Fr2, Fr3… Released in 2003 under the Triton label, his first record featuring the Trio of Dmitri Shostakovich and the Trio of Olivier Greif received high accolades from the musical press, 5 Diapason awards and was selected as “favorite” by the Piano magazine. In 2009, he devoted his first solo CD recording to the composer Alexander Scriabine, which also brought him 5 Diapason awards and 5 “favorite” selections by FNAC. He currently lives in Paris, France. |
