Today, we are introducing the French pianist Lucas Debargue, who was born into a non-musical family.
In 1999 he settled in Compiègne, about 90km north of Paris and began his initial piano studies at the local music school at the age of 11. At 15 he ceased piano studies having found no musical mentor to help him share his passion with others and having become frustrated at playing solely for himself. He began to work, successfully for his Baccalaureate at a local college and joined a rock band. At 17 he relocated to Paris to study for a degree in Arts and Literature at Diderot University and, remarkably, ceased playing the piano altogether for three years.
In 2010 Lucas Debargue was asked to play at the Fête de la Musique festival in Compiègne, and this marked his return to the keyboard. Shortly after he was put in touch with his current mentor and guide, the celebrated Russian professor Rena Shereshevskaya, who is based at both the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory and the École Normale de Musique de Paris ‘Alfred Cortot’.
Only four years later he entered the Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015, and the world instantly took note of a startling and original new talent. Lucas Debargue became the most talked-about artist of the 15th International Tchaikovsky Competition. Despite being placed 4th, his muscular and intellectual playing, combined with an intensely poetic and lyrical gift for phrasing, earned him the coveted Moscow Music Critics’ Award as ”the pianist whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom have impressed the critics as well as the audience”.
Here is Mr. Debargue in the Piano Concerto #1 by Maurice Ravel:
