Jean-Baptiste

Doulcet

Klaver

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1992, the versatile French pianist, Jean-Baptiste Doulcet is also an accomplished improviser and composer. This season, Jean-Baptiste Doulcet will be performing Stravinsky’s Petroushka with Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä at the Paris Philharmonie, for both the BBC PROMS and Granada festivals.

He has also been invited to play recitals and concertos at La Folle Journée in both Nantes and Tokyo, in Iasi (Romania), Paris (Salle Cortot with musicians from the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris), Festivals de Nohant and ‘Les Etoiles du Classique’, as well as part of festivals such as La Roque d'Anthéron, Lisztomanias, Piano en Valois and Piano aux Jacobins.

Abroad, he regularly appears in Denmark (Aarhus Kammermuzik Festival and Copenhagen Summer Music festival), Sweden (Glafsfjordens Festival), Germany (Beethoven House), to name but a few. Having being awarded both Fourth Prize and the Audience Award at the Marguerite Long Competition, chaired by Martha Argerich, followed by the Modern Times Award at the Clara Haskil Piano Competition, both in 2019, the French pianist is also the recipient of the Second Prize of the 8th Nordic piano competition and laureate of the Charles Oulmont Foundation.

One of the Rising Stars of the young generation of French pianists according to the Classica Magazine, he released his first CD in 2017 with a Beethoven/Schumann programme, which was recorded live together with some improvisations (Les Spiriades label).


In 2022, his new album, featuring works by Schumann, Liszt and one of his own compositions, was released under the title of Un Monde Fantastique for the Mirare label, with which he has also now recorded a beautiful set of Scandinavian solo piano music (to be released in the autumn).


Chamber music is also very much part of his growing career; he enjoys performing with the Oistrakh String Quartet, Augustin Dumay, Alexandre Kantorow, Marc Coppey, Quatuor Hermès, Quatuor Arod, Fédor Roudine, Quatuor Hanson, Aurélien Pascal and Raphaël Sévère. Jean-Baptiste Doulcet graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris under Claire Désert (piano and chamber music), Thierry Escaich and Jean-François Zygel (improvisation).

He also benefited from the guidance of pianists such as Emile Naoumoff, Dmitri Bashkirov, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Epifanio Comis, Alexey Lebedev...

He is also a very prolific composer, with no less than twenty works in his catalogue comprising music for solo instruments, chamber music groups and ensembles.

MORE ABOUT ME

What are your interests besides music?

I am also very much passionated by cinema… a second passion, but also work as I am writing cinema critics for professional reviews!


Who are your biggest inspirations and why? 

I’m inspired by artists that has the capacity to see beyond their own production or talent ; the artists who has a voice of their own, touching greater things than an artwork in itself. Virginia Woolf, Victor Hugo, Abbas Kiarostami… the way they see the world makes me feel even more thankful about it, because they show us a path of infinite empathy beyond the good and the evil, beyond personal or universal tragedies ; there is space for all humanity with such artists and I think it is inspiring, and extremely moving.


Your top 3 favourite pieces of music

Among (at least) 1000 others :

Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Duke Ellington’s Fleurette Africaine

Schumann’s Ich grolle nicht


What do you like about playing chamber music?

Chamber music is the only place in our work where we meet people ; you talk, you have breaks together, you eat together, but mainly, you have a very deep access to someone’s inner musical world by talking about musical ideas, phrasing, feelings, building a structure together.  It is also very psychological. This is something you never forget behind you ; and you meet these people again, maybe once, maybe every two months, and this is a magical connexion to make the music together and discover so many different personalities, so many talents.


Tell us a fun fact about you

The first year I came to Aarhus kammermusik festival, I met a girl seating in the board and administration of the festival, and now... she is my wife. So, I f****** love this festival !