Guillaume Coppola

'Un piano de soleil'
La Croix, Emmanuelle Giuliani

In 2009, Alain Lompech wrote in Diapason of ‘a young pianist who imposes an artist's presence and a first-rate sound [...] He sings like a perfect bel cantiste, with a sound, a sense of colour and line, and poetic flashes that are already more than just promise’. After seven original and unanimously acclaimed discs, Guillaume has now ‘confirmed the fine place he occupies within his generation’ (Diapason). And in 2021, Pierre Gervasoni wrote in Le Monde: ‘One thinks of the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and keeps silent, following the watchword of listening’.

Liszt Un portrait (2009), Granados Danzas españolas (2012), Poulenc Miroirs brûlants (2013, with baritone Marc Mauillon), Schubert Valses nobles et sentimentales (2014), Musiques du silence (2019), and two four-hand albums with Hervé Billaut, Wiener Rhapsodie (2016) and Rêves d'Espagne (2021): his eclectic and eloquent discography has received rave reviews from the international press, which awards him the highest prizes with each release:  Diapason d'or, ffff Télérama, Sélection Le Monde, Académie Charles Cros, 5 stars BBC Music Magazine, ‘Maestro’ in Pianiste, 5 stars Classica, 4 stars in Pianist...

To date, he has performed in some twenty countries, on prestigious European stages such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Philharmonie in Liège, the Philharmonie in Bratislava, the Liepaja International Piano Stars Festival, as well as in Asia and South America. And of course in France: Salle Pleyel, Salle Gaveau, Musée d'Orsay, La Roque d'Anthéron, Folle Journée de Nantes, Piano aux Jacobins, Festival Chopin à Paris, Solistes aux Serres d'Auteuil, Festival Radio France et Montpellier, Lille Piano(s) Festival, Festival de Nohant, Auditoriums of Lyon, Dijon, Bordeaux, Lisztomanias...

He has performed with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the ‘Victor Hugo’ Franche-Comté, the Saint-Etienne Symphony Orchestra, the Toulon Opera and the Massy Opera, and has worked with conductors including Enrique Mazzola, Arie van Beek, Laurent Campellone, Maxime Tortelier and Dominique Rouits. Forming a highly acclaimed piano duo with Hervé Billaut, he also shares the stage with cellist Raphaël Perraud, violists Arnaud Thorette and Lise Berthaud, violinists Régis Pasquier and Patrice Fontanarosa, and the Voce, Parisii, Debussy and Alfama quartets. A guest vocal recitalist with the baritone Marc Mauillon, he also performs with the Latvian National Choir, Spirito - Nicole Corti, and the Chœur de l'Opéra de Bordeaux.

A graduate of the Conservatoires du 12e arrondissement and du Centre de Paris, Guillaume is a generous musician who doesn't hesitate to play for disadvantaged audiences in prisons, hospitals and retirement homes. He has taken part in productions combining narrative and music with Marie-Christine Barrault, Didier Sandre, François Castang and Marie-Sophie Ferdane. Working with composers, he has premiered pieces by Marc Monnet, Gao Ping, Steven Stucky, Sylvain Griotto, as well as Florentine Mulsant and Isabel Pires, each of whom dedicated a work to him.

Marked at the age of 14 by a decisive encounter with France Clidat, who subsequently accompanied him for several years alongside his studies at the Besançon Conservatoire, he continued his training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Bruno Rigutto's class. After winning First Prizes in piano and chamber music, he went on to perfect his skills in numerous masterclasses in France and abroad: Pennetier, Bashkirov, Fleisher, etc. His debut was marked by invaluable support from France Musique's Génération Jeunes Interprètes programme, the Lion's Club, the Cziffra and Bourgeois Foundations, and internationally by the French Institute's Prix Déclic and the New Masters on Tour.

August 2024