Brigitte Engerer |

Brigitte Engerer

International fame came to Brigitte Angerer in 1982. Then the young pianist, who had already won laurels at several prestigious international competitions, received an invitation from Herbert von Karajan to take part in a concert cycle dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Angerer was the only French artist to receive such an invitation). Then Brigitte Angerer took the stage with such famous musicians as Mstislav Rostropovich, Seiji Ozawa, Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Alexis Weissenberg, as well as other young soloists: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Christian Zimerman.

Brigitte Angerer started playing music at the age of 4. At the age of 6, she performed with an orchestra for the first time. At the age of 11, she was already a student at the Paris Conservatory in the class of the famous Lucette Decav. At the age of 15, Angerer graduated from the conservatory, having received the first prize in piano according to the unanimous opinion of the jury (1968).

The following year, sixteen-year-old Bridget Angerer won the prestigious International Competition. Margarita Long, after which she was invited to continue her studies at the Moscow State Conservatory in the class of Stanislav Neuhaus, classes with whom forever left an imprint on the musical thinking of the pianist.

“Brigitte Engerer is one of the most brilliant and original pianists of her generation. Her game has an amazing artistic flair, a romantic spirit and scope, she has perfect technique, as well as a natural ability to contact the audience, ”the famous musician said about his student.

In 1974, Brigitte Angerer became a laureate of the V International Competition. P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow, in 1978 she was awarded the III Prize of the International Competition. Belgian Queen Elisabeth in Brussels.

After performances at the anniversary of the Berlin Philharmonic, which became a turning point in her artistic destiny, Angerer received an invitation from Daniel Barenboim to perform with the Orchester de Paris and from Zubin Mehta with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in New York. Then her solo debuts took place in Berlin, Paris, Vienna and New York, where the young pianist performed triumphantly at Carnegie Hall.

Today, Bridget Angerer has concerts at the most prestigious venues throughout Europe, Asia and the USA. She has collaborated with most of the leading orchestras in the world: the Royal Philharmonic of London and the London Symphony, the Orchester National de France and the Orchester de Paris, the Orchester National de Belgian and the Orchester Radio Luxembourg, the Orchester National de Madrid and the Orchester de Barcelona, ​​the Vienna Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit and Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestras, the Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the NHK Symphony Orchestra and others conducted by such conductors as Kirill Kondrashin, Vaclav Neumann, Philip Bender, Emmanuel Krivin , Jean-Claude Casadesus, Gary Bertini, Ricardo Chailly, Witold Rovitsky, Ferdinand Leitner, Lawrence Foster, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Alain Lombard, Michel Plasson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Günter Herbig, Ronald Solman, Charles Duthoit, Geoffrey Tate, Jay Ms Judd, Vladimir Fedoseev, Yuri Simonov, Dmitry Kitaenko, Yuri Temirkanov…

She takes part in such prestigious festivals as Vienna, Berlin, La Roque d’Anthéron, Aix-en-Provence, Colmar, Lockenhaus, Monte Carlo…

Bridget Angerer is also famous as a chamber music performer. Among her constant stage partners are: pianists Boris Berezovsky, Oleg Meizenberg, Helen Mercier and Elena Bashkirova, violinists Olivier Charlier and Dmitry Sitkovetsky, cellists Henri Demarquette, David Geringas and Alexander Knyazev, violist Gerard Cosse, Accentus Chamber Choir led by Laurence Ekilbe, with with which Brigitte Angerer performs, among other things, at the annual Pianoscope Festival in Beauvais she leads (since 2006).

Angerer’s stage partners also took part in her numerous recordings released by Philips, Denon & Warner, Mirare, Warner Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Naive, with compositions by L. van Beethoven, F. Chopin, Robert and Clara Schumann, E. Grieg, K .Debussy, M. Ravel, A. Duparc, J. Massenet, J. Noyon, M. Mussorgsky, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Rachmaninov. In 2004, Brigitte Engerer, together with Sandrine Pieu, Stéphane Degus, Boris Berezovsky and the Accentus Chamber Choir, conducted by Laurence Ekilbe, recorded Brahms’ German Requiem for two pianos and choir on the Naive label. The disc with the recording of “Carnival” and “Viennese Carnival” by R. Schuman, released by Philips, was awarded the highest French award in the field of sound recording – Grand Prix du Disque from the Academy of Charles Cros. Many of Angerer’s recordings have become the Editors’ Choice of the specialist magazine Monde de la Musique. Among the latest recordings of the pianist: Suites for two pianos by S. Rachmaninov with Boris Berezovsky, Compositions by C. Saint-Saens for piano and a CD with Russian music “Childhood Memories”, with text by Jan Keffelec (Mirare, 2008).

Brigitte Engerer teaches at the Paris Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Academy of Nice, regularly gives master classes in Berlin, Paris, Birmingham and Tokyo, participates in the jury at international competitions.

He is a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor, an Officer of the Order of Merit and a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (the highest degree of the order). Corresponding member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website