Jonathan Fournel

“Fournel is a tiger. He has its power, majesty, flexibility, velocity, ferocity and elegance.”
Bachtrack, August 2021

Jonathan Fournel rose to prominence on the international scene with brilliance in the spring of 2021, winning the much-coveted Grand Prix-Queen Mathilde Prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition. Marie-Aude Roux, writing in Le Monde, used the following words to describe Fournel’s playing: “a natural, musical and poetic playing in Mozart’s 18^th Concerto performed with majestic purity and lyricism as well as Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel led with intensity and an unquestionable sense of story-telling “. A few years earlier, Jonathan had won First Prizes at the Scottish International Piano Competition in Glasgow and the International Viotti Music Competition in Vercelli, both at the age of 20.

What is most striking in Fournel’s playing, besides his stunning technique and extraordinary spectrum of colours, is this balanced mix of exquisite refinement and wild instinct, his natural lyricism and the bright clarity of his interpretations shining light on details with a very mature understanding of the work.

Fournel is the guest of venues and festivals including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Konzerthaus Vienna, Kioi Hall Tokyo, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Hannover’s Funkhaus, Rheingau Musik Festival, Verbier Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Radio France Auditorium, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Piano aux Jacobins Festival, the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall, Bozar Brussels, Flagey, de Bijloke Gent, Louisiana Museum in Denmark, Kumho Art Hall Seoul, Tongyeong Concert Hall, Sala São Paulo, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, and Paris’ Louis Vuitton Foundation.

Jonathan Fournel credits to Marco Borggreve — Jonathan Fournel © Marco Borggreve

Jonathan plays under the baton of conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Jonathon Heyward, Thomas Dausgaard, Howard Griffiths, Sascha Goetzel, Pascal Rophé, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Roderick Cox, Joshua Weilerstein, Kirill Karabits, Lawrence Renes, Michael Schønwandt, Peter Oundjian, Lio Kuokman, Alexandre Bloch, Gábor Káli, Daniel Raiskin, Hugh Wolff, Fan Tao, with orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Brussels Philharmonic, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, European Union Youth Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, NOSPR Katowice, Slovak Philharmonic, Macao Orchestra, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National de Montpellier, and Croatian Radio and Television Orchestra.

Fournel is signed to the award-winning label Alpha. A Brahms album was released in October 2021 receiving rave reviews from major media internationally. In France, the album was awarded the much-coveted Diapason Découverte award and Telerama’s ffff. A Mozart album, featuring Concertos Nos. 18 and 21 with the Mozarteumorchester and Howard Griffiths, was then released in February 2024 to great critical acclaim. This album is part of the New Generation Mozart Soloists collection sponsored by Orpheum Stiftung with the complete Mozart concertos featuring several soloists. Jonathan’s second solo album on Alpha Classics, dedicated to Chopin and Szymanowski, was released in August 2024. The album was appointed Choc Classica in France and received rave reviews.

Jonathan started studying the piano at 7 in his hometown of Sarreguemines in the East of France before joining the Strasbourg Conservatoire. At 12, he was admitted to the Saarbrücken Musikhochschule in Germany in Prof. Robert Leonardy and Jean Micault’s studios. He was then admitted to the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique at 16 working with Brigitte Engerer, Bruno Rigutto, Claire Désert and Michel Dalberto and graduating with honors 5 years later. In September 2016, he joined Louis Lortie and Avo Kouyoumdjian’s studios at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth Brussels for another 5 years.

Chamber music has also always been an important part of his music-making, performing with such musicians as Gautier Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Simone Lamsma, Vassilena Serafimova, Lorenzo Gatto, Victor Julien-Laferrière.