Claire Chevallier

French pianist Claire Chevallier  is much in demand across Europe for solo recitals, chamber music and concertos. Highly acclaimed for her concerts and award winning recordings, Claire specializes in period performance particularly from the classical to the French masters of the 20th Century. Claire also brings the unique sound world of her pianos to theatre productions.
As musician-researcher, she began her own collection of French-Russian historical keyboards, which has grown in the meantime to 6 instruments covering the time span 1842-1920.
 Claire combined the study of the piano at the musical academies of Nancy, Strasbourg (Hélène Boschi) and Paris (Bruno Rigutto) with her traditional studies in mathematics and physics.
She then continued her musical education at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and Guy Van Waas, where she was awarded first prize in piano and chamber music. She became fascinated with the fortepiano during her studies via a master class given by Jos van Immerseel. She began to concentrate on the historical background and the evolution in the “construction” of the fortepiano, and for a number of years studied the specific characteristics and maintenance requirements (tuning, strings, etc) of the instrument completely on her own. She thus developed extensive expertise in historical keyboards as fortepiano specialist and as pianist.
 In 1996, Claire Chevallier was invited by the renowned dance company Rosas to work with the Anima Eterna Brugge orchestra in presenting the music for a dance and music performance around concert arias by Mozart. This production played in all the major European venues including London’s Royal Festival Hall, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Dresden Staatsschauspiel.
Since then she has appeared regularly as soloist or chambriste in Cité de la Musique in Paris, Salle Pleyel, Opéra de Dijon, Académies musicales de Saintes, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vredenburg Utrecht,Netwerk Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Brühl Schloss Konzerte, Musikfestspiele Bremen, Salzburg Mozarteum, Kölner Fest für alte Musik… In Belgium, she was invited by among others BOZAR and Kaaitheater in Brussels, Concertgebouw Bruges, MA Festival Bruges, the Festival of Flanders Ghent, AMUZ and deSingel in Antwerp. 
In 2008-2009, Concertgebouw Brugge makes her ‘Friend in Music’, and from the end of 2009, she is in residence for three years by AMUZ Antwerp.
 Since 2004, she has been teaching fortepiano at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. She is also considered as a excellent tuner on historical keyboards.
For the 2007 and 2010 edition, she was member of the jury of the International Fortepiano Competition, organised by the Musica Antiqua Festival in Bruges. In 2014 she was member of the jury of the Liszt Competition Utrecht.
 Her solo recordings are dedicated to Satie ( Zig-Zag Outhere 2008), Liszt ( Dolce Volta, HM 2011) and Moussorgski ( Cyprès-records, Outhere 2016). In duo two piano’s with Jos van Immerseel, she recorded ‘ Pièces à deux pianos’ ( Saint-Saëns, Poulenc, Franck, Infante), ‘Suites’ by Rachmaninoff, Schubert works for four hands in the box ‘Schubertiade’ ( Alpha Outhere). As a soloist she recorded also the ‘Concerto pour ma main gauche’ by Ravel, and the ‘Concerto pour deux pianos’ by Poulenc, with Anima Eterna orchestra.
 
Her experience in and taste for interdisciplinary projects (dance, theatre, film) has led to various collaborations with fellow artists like Wayn Traub, Rudolph Mestdagh, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (Rosas), David Claerbout, Benoît Van Innis, Josse de Pauw, Jan Decorte, Claron Mac Fadden.
Since 2013, Claire is making some research on the Russian pianomusic and instruments. She plays Moussorgski’s solo works on a Becker piano ( 1875, St Petersburg).