Biography
Awards and honours
- Winner of the Marguerite-Long international competition (1965)
- Winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition (1966)
Pictures
Videos
Bruno Rigutto is a bold, contrasting personality, capable of subtle poetry and powerful lyricism. He admits that he received from Samson François, whom he studied with for ten years, ‘a sense of musical freedom, generosity, a need for imagination and, above all, a sense of touch’.
A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, he studied piano with Lucette Descaves, chamber music with Jean Hubeau, composition and conducting. On leaving the Conservatoire, he quickly won the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, presided over by Emil Gilels.
Bruno Rigutto soon embarked on an international career, invited by the greatest conductors: Carlo Maria Giulini, Georges Pretre, Lorin Maazel, Leonard Bernstein, Zdenek Macal, Serge Baudo, Kurt Masur, Marc Soustrot, Antonello Allemandi, Laurent Petitgirard. For over 60 years, he has performed in the most prestigious concert halls and festivals: Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London's Wigmore Hall, the Festival de La Roque d'Anthéron, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Palau de la musica in Valencia, not to mention his many tours of Russia, Japan, Korea and China.
He also devotes himself to chamber music, from which he draws the material necessary for his research. His partners have included Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Arto Noras, Yo Yo Ma, Barbara Hendricks, Michel Portal, Jean-Pierre Wallez, Patrice Fontanarosa, Brigitte Engerer, Laurent Korcia, Marc Coppey, Henri Demarquette, Dong Suk Kang, Alexander Kniazev, Augustin Dumay, Pierre Amoyal, and the Debussy and Modigliani Quartets.
His extensive discography has been widely acclaimed by the critics. He has made some fifty recordings for DECCA, EMI, FORLANE, DENON and LYRINX, and has won several major record awards and a Victoire de la musique. In 2014 he released a boxed set of most of his DECCA recordings, from Bach to Prokofiev. In 2020, he will record the complete Chopin Nocturnes for the APARTÉ label.
Teaching is an important part of Bruno Rigutto's life: he taught for twenty years at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he succeeded Aldo Ciccolini. He has helped to train many young soloists who are now pursuing international careers: Kotaro Fukuma, Romain Descharmes, Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt, Romain Hervé, Guillaume Coppola, Etsuko Hirose, Lise De La Salle, Claire-Marie Le Guay, François Dumont...
A regular guest at master-classes in Europe, China, Korea and Japan (TOHO, Gakuen College, Nagoya, etc.), he now teaches at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot and regularly gives interpretation classes at the Festival des Lisztomanias.
A conductor and composer, he has written numerous scores for theatre and film.
In 2007, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
2024-2025 Season
September 13, 2024
Les solistes à l’Orangerie d’Auteuil
Paris – France
October 6, 2024
Le Pavillon Bleu
Roquefort-les-Pins – France
October 7, 2025
Marseille Concerts – Pierre Barbizet Conservatory
Marseille – France
November 9, 2024
Würth Museum
Erstein – France
November 24, 2024
Musicales Gabriel Fauré
Annecy – France
November 30 - December 14, 2024
Université des Arts de Tokyo – Geidai
Japon
January 15-18, 2025
École de musique Vaud Valais
Fribourg – Suisse
February 22-28, 2025
Saline Royale
Arc-et-Senans – France
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