





Jean-Yves Thibaudet
“Sophistication and suavity, both clarity and freedom”
(The New York Times)
Artist-in-Residence: Colburn School
Through elegant musicality and an insightful approach to both contemporary and established repertoire, Jean-Yves Thibaudet has earned a reputation as one of the world’s finest pianists. He is especially known for his diverse interests beyond the classical world; in addition to his many forays into jazz and opera — including works which he transcribed himself for the piano — Thibaudet has forged profound friendships around the globe, leading to fruitful collaborations in film, fashion, and visual art. He is a devoted educator and the first-ever Artist-in-Residence at the Colburn School, which awards several scholarships in his name.
Thibaudet opens the 2025 – 26 season with Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and in Bucharest; he later brings the piece to the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Houston Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He performs the Saint-Saëns, alongside Guillaume Connesson’s The Shining One—composed specifically for Thibaudet — with the Bern Symphony Orchestra. A major contemporary champion of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, which he recently recorded for Decca, Thibaudet performs the piece with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic in November.
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In January, Thibaudet bookends the LA Phil’s Body and Sound festival with two multisensory works — Scriabin’s Prometheus, the Poem of Fire and Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie—before joining the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for the world premiere of a new piano concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis. He journeys to Australia to perform Qigang Chen’s Er Huang and Gershwin’s Variations on “I Got Rhythm” with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, followed by Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra — a piece he later brings to the Gothenburg Symphony. He joins the New World Symphony for Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety” before closing his 2025 – 26 season with the piece at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his orchestral dates, Thibaudet joins violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon on a fall trio tour, with stops throughout western Europe; Thibaudet and Capuçon reunite in the spring for a duo recital in California. He also continues his multi-season focus on Debussy’s Préludes, performing both books in their entirety at recitals around the world.
A prolific recording artist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet has appeared on more than 70 albums and six film scores; his extensive catalog has received two GRAMMY® nominations, two ECHO Awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d’Or, the CHOC du Monde de la Musique, the Edison Prize, and Gramophone awards. Thibaudet’s recent recordings include Khachaturian, a celebration of the Armenian composer from his Piano Concerto to his cinematic solo piano works; Gershwin Rhapsody, a collection of Gershwin pieces recorded with Michael Feinstein, including four newly-discovered ones; Night After Night, a celebration of James Newton Howard’s scores for the films of M. Night Shyamalan; and Carte Blanche, a collection of deeply personal solo piano pieces never before recorded by the pianist, including a specially-commissioned suite of music from Dario Marianelli’s Pride & Prejudice score arranged by the composer himself.
Thibaudet has also had an impact on the worlds of film, fashion, and philanthropy. His first foray into film work was a pair of Schubert’s Impromptus, Op. 89, recorded for Jane Campion’s 1996 film The Portrait of a Lady. Pride & Prejudice — recently reissued in a special 20th-anniversary edition, and certified Gold by the RIAA in 2025 — marked his first performance as soloist on an original score; he would collaborate again with Marianelli on his Academy Award®-winning 2007 score for Atonement. Thibaudet can also be heard on Alexandre Desplat’s scores for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) and The French Dispatch (2021) and Aaron Zigman’s score for Wakefield (2016). He also had a cameo in Bruce Beresford’s film on Alma Mahler, Bride of the Wind, and his playing is showcased throughout. His concert wardrobe is designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood, with whom he shared a close friendship; among her final projects was a custom packaging for a limited vinyl reissue of Thibaudet’s recording of Debussy’s Préludes.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, where he began his piano studies at age five and made his first public appearance at age seven. He was educated at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied with Aldo Ciccolini and Lucette Descaves, a friend and collaborator of Ravel. Among his numerous commendations is the Victoire d’Honneur, a lifetime career achievement award and the highest honor given by France’s Victoires de la Musique. In 2010 the Hollywood Bowl honored Thibaudet for his musical achievements by inducting him into its Hall of Fame. Previously a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Thibaudet was awarded the title Officier by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012. In 2020, he was named Special Representative for the promotion of French Creative and Cultural Industries in Romania, and in 2025 he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre de la Légion d’honneur by the French government. He is a co-artistic advisor with Gautier Capuçon of the Festival Musique & Vin au Clos Vougeot in Burgundy.
Contacts
Nina Apollonov Associate Director, Artist Management
worldwide general management
Nina Apollonov Associate Director, Artist Management
Nina Apollonov Associate Director, Artist Management
worldwide general management
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“he delivered a performance that would make you think he has sold his soul to the devil”
“Thibaudet’s Debussy Preludes were dramatic and exciting, and all the impressions created by each Prelude linked together seemed to tell one story.”
“On paper, this was a fine balance of classical precision and cabaret flair. In performance, it was an even deeper and richer mix of Thibaudet’s way of playing that felt spontaneous and Feinstein’s urbane and multi-hued delivery.”
“The quicksilver, keyboard-spanning runs and arpeggios of the first movement flowed with rippling liquidity. The Andante’s colorful potpourri of Egyptian references was redolently atmospheric.”
“There was plenty of Mr. Thibaudet’s trademark refinement in his playing of lacy, ruminative, lyrical passages. He dispatched bursts of arpeggios and spiraling figures with virtuosic élan. Yet I especially liked the way he tore into vehement episodes: He tossed off bursts of double octaves with steely fortissimo sound, and brought earthy rawness to the driving left-hand chords and crunchy theme that opens the finale…”
“Having Jean-Yves Thibaudet as solo protagonist in Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand proved luxury casting indeed. Few keyboard artists embody Ravel’s blend of supple elegance and unbridled bravura so naturally and effortlessly. The French pianist’s limpid refinement in the lyrical sections was as neat and idiomatic as his explosive bursts were exciting. Thibaudet’s five-fingered virtuosity handled the leaping notes with such ease and fluency, one would swear that two hands were playing.”
“No easier to let go of will be Jean-Yves Thibaudet in Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Simply put, he was a titanic force, turning what might be perceived as a limitation into an expressive and technical opportunity…the pianist also a proved a digital wizard, voicing lines in his one hand the way Baroque masters play fugues with two. He did it all with obvious joy and seeming ease, too, unfurling melodies with the heavenly smoothness of a golden spinning wheel.”
“But there was a firecracker in the middle of the evening: Franz Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto. Forsaking virtuosity for its own sake, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and de Waart laid out an Olympian conception of a work that is a study in contrasts and contradictions… (they) knew what they wanted to say and how to say it together, in a performance at once impassioned and restrained, with a firecracker’s punch and a candle’s glow.”
“star performers were welcomed, and they included … no less than Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Yuja Wang as the two-piano team in the (Mozart) double concerto. Thibaudet set a supremely suave tone. Wang’s responses were more adamant… This is an irresistible piano duo in the making.”
“Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings a genuine Jazz feeling to this piece [Gershwin Piano Concerto in F] somewhere between a classical piano concerto and sparkling improvisation….the cadenzas were sensitive and expressive…[and] the rhythmic explosion of the “Agitato” finale was stunning.”
“The fusion of traditional form and American Jazz was performed by the star pianist Jean-Yves Thibuadet, who played not only with flawless technique but also with French elegance.”
“From the first delicate notes, his attitude was clear: no pianistic affectation. Instead — simple, yet with crystal clear touch”
“…one of the most formidable 20th-century works: Messiaen’s mystical, ecstatic, 75-minute “Turangalila-symphonie.” The superb pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet played the daunting piano part commandingly.”
“Jean-Yves Thibaudet played the extensive piano part with extraordinary dexterity and riveting forcefulness, as well as with enthusiasm and captivating wit.”
“Thibaudet played the jazzy, mercurial G Major Piano Concerto of Ravel…proving again the brilliance of his technique and his stylistic mastery of this repertoire. The piano, technically a percussion instrument, has seldom sounded less percussive. It’s hard to imagine this music emerging with more loving finesse and more exquisite detail.”
“the prodigious Jean-Yves Thibaudet … was spectacular, lending French panache to the proceedings in an account that was both technically formidable and charged with energy and passion”
“Thibaudet returned for an impeccable rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 5 in E flat major … In his natural flair and joyful engagement, Thibaudet appeared to play with pure spontaneity. Something wondrous occurred in the Adagio un poco mosso… a highlight of the evening. With the swelling of the strings, Beethoven’s resonating theme emerged. Then Thibaudet emerged, his notes transparent like sparkling stars on a cloudless night.”
“…a scintillating Age of Anxiety…has the poetic Jean-Yves Thibaudet as protagonist…Never be deceived by his flamboyance. He is the most soulful of players.”
“The piano score was rendered with flair by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who brought an energetic touch to the rollicking sections and a poetic limpidity to the moments of gossamer filigree.”
“A complete triumph”
“He’s a master colorist and a great communicator, able to reduce a large concert hall to an intimate chamber of intent listeners.”
“The performance was so exuberant and inspired it was impossible not to be swept up in the work.”