BIOGRAPHY
                      

Jean Dubé (France, 1981)

Young pianist Jean DUBE, was born in Edmonton (Alberta), Canada, in December 1981 to a franco-canadian father and a mother of italo-greek origin descent.

Main qualities

• An “absolute understanding” of all musical styles
• “Absence of bad taste”
• An “astonishingly beautiful musicality”
• An “extraordinarily powerful orchestral sound”
• A “phenomenal piano technique ”
• A “refined elegance”
• “Fantasy, sense of humour”
• A “great enthusiasm in playing, easily transmitted to the audience”
  

Reputation
Internationallly appreciated , Jean Dubé has been qualified as” a prodigy”, “a great artist” “to whom nothing seems impossible”; (Muszika, Hungary), “one of the most exciting names in his field” (Hong Kong Morning Post), “one of the most important pianists of this new millennium” (Karjalainen, Finland), “a dazzling magician” (Nice-Matin, France) “a revelation whose powerful breath the audience will never forget” (Badisches Tagblatt, Germany). André Peyregne–Director of the National Conservatory of Nice- said about him that he represents “this kind of a prodigy you can find once every ten or twenty years in the Conservatories”, “this kind of a genious you happen to meet just once in one’s career, very different from all those students who can be very brilliant, very gifted but also very numerous” (Le Monde de la Musique) and the Mayor for Culture in the 11th District of Paris puts him at the same level as the greatest musician” like Horowitz, Rubinstein, Wilhelm Kempff, Claudio Arrau, Samson François, Yves Nat, and others among the most famous pianists, who are able to create an atmosphere and give us pure pusic”. In November 2001, his performance of Messiaen’s “Turangalîlâ Symphonie” was awarded “Best Show of the Year” in Riga (Latvia) and in February 2003, his performance of the Liszt Second Hungarian Rhapsody got the fastest replay time ever in the history of Chicago WFMT Radio station.

Studies
After receiving his first lessons at three years old from his maternal grandmother Francesca Ingoglia-Meli, he received, at five years old, his first scolarship from the italian Vice-Cosulate in Edmonton (Canada) during the “italian Women Society” Gala evening. When he was nine, he was invited to perform live on France-Musiques Radio Mozart n°5 Concerto with Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Frédéric Chaslin, and won a Steinway piano as a reward for his First Prize given unanimously in “ Young Prodigies Mozart in Paris” National Competition.At ten, he was the youngest graduate ever in the Regional Conservatory of Nice. At 14 years old, he graduated with Honours in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris in Jacques Rouvier’s class. He has also been studying since 1994 with Jacqueline Robin and in 2001 with John O’Conor in the “Royal Irish Academy of Music” in Dublin. He attended many master-classes (Françoise Chaffiaud, Oxana Yablonskaya, Elena Filonova, Dimitri Bashkirov, Lev Naoumov, Rudolph Buchbinder, Vladimir Krainev, Murray Perahia, Leslie Howard...). At only 22 years old, he was invited to participate as a member of the jury in International competitions (Pinerolo 2004), Since 2002, he has also been giving masterclasses (Finland, Hungary, Latin America, Ethiopia, South Africa).

Competitions
Winner of many prizes and awards, he received First Prize in Bucarest and Brive-la-Gaillarde Francis Poulenc International Competitions, Grand Prize in Messiaen International Competition as well as Edition Durand Prize (given for the best performance of the “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus”) and the Yvonne Loriod Prize (given to the candidate who was the closest to Olivier Messiaen’s spirit). In April 2002, he was also awarded the undisputed First Grand Prize as well as the Public Prize in Utrecht International Franz Liszt Competition.

Concerts:
Jean Dubé has been giving public performances since the age of four. He has been performing on the 5 continents for radio and television, in many of the most renowned international festivals (Busoni in Bolzano, Husum, in Germany, Kuhmo, in Finland, Grachtenfestival, in the netherlands, « Kiev Musicfest », « Festival International du jeune Soliste d’Antibes », « Pianoforte al chiaro di luna » in Rome, « Katia Popova Laureate Days » in Pleven, « Musical Olympus » in St Petersburg, « Dame Myra Hess Series » in Chicago, « Pure Gold » in Indianapolis …),, as a recitalist as well as with chamber music groups and with many Philharmonic Orchestras conducted by famous conductors (Hans Graf, John Storgårds, Paul Daniel, Thomas Dausgaard, András Ligeti, Peter Csaba, etc). He has played in famous Concert Halls like Salle Gaveau, Acropolis, Riga Opera, Nice Opera, Palais des Sports in Bordeaux, Concertgebouw, Casals Hall, Smetana Hall, Hermitage, Conway Hall, Vredenburg…
As comfortable in playing romantic music as in premiering contemporary works, or in performing baroque music, he particularly likes to associate other art expressions (painting, movies, theater, poetry...) to the music. In 2005, he created a visio acoustic show (produced by TV journalist Laurent Minier) on Jean Cras works for piano in the Great hall of the Ministry of Navy in Paris and got a huge success. His projects for 2008 include many concerts through Europe and performances in South Africa with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Radio and Television
His performances are often internationally broadcast on radio and television. He has been invited on a regular basis by french television for his performance of many concertos to be filmed live (Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns, Beethoven, Ravel, Grieg).
From 2005 to 2006 he appeared sometimes daily on cable Television Channel “Musique classique” performing Grieg concerto for piano filmed live in St John Cathedral in Lyon, France in 1999 with the Philharmonic Orchestra “Le Sinfonia de Lyon”. In 2008, French Television invited him to perform Ravel Concerto for the left hand and a Bach concerto for piano, and Radio station “France Musiques” will record him live in the “Cité de la Musique” in Paris performing some “Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus” and the “Fantasy for violin and piano” by Messiaen with a musician from the Petersen Quartet.

Recordings
Jean Dubé already recorded many compact discs, warmly praised by the critics- with Naxos (Liszt), Danacord (Ciurlionis), ILD records (Barber Sonata), Meyer Foundation/CNSMDP (XXth Century Piano Music), Utrecht Liszt Competition Foundation (Liszt works for piano solo and concerto n°2), Sophia antipolis Foundation (Fauré, Liszt ), Syrius (Sibelius, Franck, Cras, Bach in nomine, Grieg and Rachmaninov sonatas for Cello and Piano, “Toccatas” (awarded with the “Choc du Monde de la Musique” – the highest award given by the french musical magazine “Le Monde de la Musique”). He also recorded a compact disc with a poetry-piano music program on the theme of birds.

Conductors
Jean Dubé has performed with many distinguished conductors:
· Philippe Bender
. Marcus Bosch
· Gerald Brown
· Noël Cabrita dos Santos
· Frédéric Chaslin
· Sergiu Comissiona
· Peter Csaba
· Paul Daniel
· Thomas Dausgaard
· Frédéric Deloche
. Justin Doyle
· Lionel Fedrigo
· Hans Graf
. Jean-Yves Gaudin
. Bernhard Gueller
· Jean-Claude Guérinot
· Michael Hankinson
. Samuel Jean
. Jérôme Kaltenbach
· Christoph König
· András Ligeti
. Adrian Mc Donnell
· Ádám Medveczky
· Jacques Mercier
· Giorgio Notev
· Jonathan Nott
· André Peyregne
. Eric Reynaud
. Caspar Richter
· Pascal Rophé
· Normunds Šne
. Patrick Souillot
· Werner Stiefel
· John Storgårds
· Pascal Verrot
· Alfred Walter
· Klaus Weise
. Anatoly Zatin

Orchestras
Jean Dubé has worked with many of the world's finest orchestras:

· Baden-Badener Philharmonic
. Belgium National Orchestra
. Brno Philharmonic Orchestra
· Ensemble Orchestral de Paris
· Ensemble Orchestral du Centre
. Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de l'Ain
· Göthenburg Philharmonic Orchestra
· Györ Philharmonic Orchestra
· Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra
· Le Sinfonia de Lyon
· Le Sinfonietta
· London Philharmonia
· Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra
· Manchester Youth Orchestra
. Matáv Hungarian Symphony Orchestra
. Moldavia Chamber Orchestra
· Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
· Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra
· North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra
· North Netherlands Orchestra
· Orchestre du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris
. Orchestre des Coréades
· Orchestre des Jeunes de Marseille
· Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine
. Orchestre National de Lorraine
. Orchestre Philharmonique Alpes-Provence-Côte d'Azur
· Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France
· Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice
· Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional del Ecuador
. Orquesta Sinfonica de San Luis Potosí
· Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra
· Prague Chamber Symphony Orchestra
· Riga Chamber Orchestra
· Riga National Philharmonic Orchestra
· Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra
· St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra
· WDR Rundfunkorchester

Musicians
Jean Dubé has performed with many chamber musicians, including:
Barnabás Kelemen, Baiba Skride, Ching Yun Tu, Bo Kyung Lee, Amanda Favier, Liza Ferschtman, Antje Weithaas, Alexander Brussilowsky, Katariina Záborsky (violin), Adrien Frasse-Sombet (cello), Lucienne Lovano (viola), Aleksandar Madzar, Martyn van den Hoek, Giancarlo Crespeau, Péter Tóth (piano), Christianne Stotijn (alt-mezzo) (violin), Sylvia Sass (soprano), Karoly Fekete (tenor), Daniela Rada (soprano), Adeline Symko (soprano), as well as the Rubens Kwartet, the Jenufa Kwartet, the Ad Libitum Quartet, the Petersen Quartet, the Quatuor Jadéite and the Quatuor de Chartres. He has also perfomed with comedians like Anne Lefol, Antoinette Jean, Gaëlle Lebert and Maurice Antoni.