Marc Laforet

Winner of the 2nd Prize and the Special Award of Polish Radio for the best performance of mazurkas at the 11th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

As a child, Marc Laforêt had the great honor and privilege of being personally taught by Maestro Arthur Rubinstein, who instilled in him a love for Chopin’s music and left a profound, indelible mark on his pianism. At the age of just eight, he made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The French pianist was awarded the Gold Medal of the György Cziffra Foundation. He is also a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and the First Prize for musical interpretation awarded by the Del Duca Foundation, in association with the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He has performed with the most renowned orchestras, such as the Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, La Scala in Milan, Monte Carlo Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Leipzig, Rotterdam, St. Petersburg, the National Orchestra of Belgium, and the National Orchestra of Lille.

He has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Antoni Wit, Georges Prêtre, Rudolf Barshai, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Klaus-Peter Flor, Vassili Sinaiski, Armin Jordan, and Serge Baudo.

He has recorded all of Fryderyk Chopin’s piano concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai, the 24 Preludes Op. 28 and the Third Sonata for Berlin Classics, as well as all of Chopin’s Waltzes for the Arion label. He has also released, on CD and DVD, two Chopin concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazimierz Kord.

Marc Laforêt is artistic advisor to the European Young Concert Artists Auditions in Paris and to the Cziffra Foundation in Senlis. Since 2003, he has directed the music festival Les Grands Crus Musicaux, held in castles around Bordeaux. He teaches piano at the École Normale de Musique de Paris–Alfred Cortot and regularly gives piano masterclasses in Europe and Asia.