Sélim Mazari

Chamber music, Symphony Music, Récital

Sélim Mazari

The « Victoires de la Musique Classique » awards have placed the young pianist Sélim Mazari, who was very much influenced by the teaching of the great Brigitte Engerer, on the list of « revelations of the year ». His parents had a neighbour who was a pupil of the virtuoso, and who gave him his first lessons at the age of five. His progress was meteoric and led to his admission to the Paris Conservatoire. Just before entering the Conservatoire, he took part in the Nice Summer Academy where he met Brigitte Engerer, whose charisma and maternal and generous nature had a profound influence on the young musician. He was then unanimously admitted to her class at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he followed her teaching until her untimely death in 2012. He then joined the class of Claire Désert with whom he prepared his Master’s degree, which he obtained brilliantly, also receiving advice from Jean-Claude Pennetier at the Académie de Villecroze, Michel Dalberto and Rena Shereshevskaya.

Eager for new musical and human experiences, and wishing to perfect his training abroad, he packed his bags and moved to London, where he embarked on a second Master’s degree at the Royal College of Music, in the class of Dmitri Alexeev. London was also the starting point of a new career adventure, marked by his meeting with Avedis Kouyoumdjian, an exemplary pedagogue and friend of Brigitte Engerer, a former pupil of Dieter Weber and Stanislav Neuhaus, who invited him to work with him in Vienna, at the University of Music and Performing Arts. With his new mentor, he explored the great classical repertoire, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and blossomed fully in a musical capital where he took advantage of an intense artistic activity and assiduously attended the opera, his other passion.

Winner of the Concours International d’Ile de France, of Piano Campus 2013, of the Concours International de Collioure, the young pianist has also been given an award by the Société des Arts de Genève. An appreciated chamber musician, he has collaborated with the cellists Yo-yo Ma, Henri Demarquette and Victor Julien-Laferrière, the violinists Augustin Dumay and Raphaëlle Moreau (a splendid recital at the Saint-Denis Festival), the flautists Juliette Hurel and Joséphine Olech with whom he recorded the album Souvenirs de Hongrie (collection 1001 Notes), the Quatuor Hermès, Modigliani and Diotima, … He also performs in duo with Michel Dalberto and Tanguy de Williencourt. With the latter he has explored the repertoire for four hands and two pianos. Sélim Mazari was recently invited to the Festivals of Saint-Denis, Chopin à Nohant, Piano en Valois, les solistes à Bagatelle, les Piano Folies du Touquet; but also to Piano à Lyon, the Sommets musicaux de Gstaad, the Folles journées à Nantes, La Fondation Vuitton, La Sinfonia season in Périgueux, Les Fêtes musicales en Touraine, La Roque d’Anthéron, Le Festival de Radio-France à Montpellier, etc.

In January 2020 he released his first solo CD dedicated to Beethoven’s Variations (including the formidable Eroica), which marks the beginning of a collaboration with the Mirare label. This disc has received numerous awards, including a DIAPASON D’OR selection by ARTE and rave reviews (Pianiste, Classica, Concertclassic.com, etc.). An album of duets with Sophie Dervaux, principal bassoon of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and another with the flautist Joséphine Olech, Reconnect, complete his discography. Sélim Mazari is also the preferred partner of the Arnold Trio, with whom he will soon be recording Mendelssohn’s Piano Quartets. In November 2020, he was invited by Daniel Barenboim to participate in his Masterclasses on Beethoven’s Sonatas, recorded at the Boulez Saal in Berlin.

BACK TO THE LIST OF ARTISTS