ASD - Arts-Scène Diffusion

Claire-Marie Le Guay

PIANO

Living with Bach, music and words

With Erik Orsenna, from the Académie française

The Bach family's love of music would be an understatement. From the middle of the 16th century onwards, children and parents, men and women, were all singing, playing and composing.
But what is love if it is not embodied?
Two women, two wives, illuminated Johann Sebastian's life: Maria Barbara, his young cousin, and Anna Magdalena, his most fervent admirer.
But they were far from the only ones. For nearly three hundred years, how many of us have been living with Bach, dancing with Bach, praying with Bach, improvising with Bach, living together better thanks to Bach?
In music and words, Claire-Marie Le Guay and Erik Orsenna will give you the chance to hear the work that Bach gave to the world.
She's a pianist and author of two books; he's a writer and music fanatic, who took up the piano ten years ago.
What is art if it doesn't elevate life, and sometimes repair it?

BACH
Partitas, Italian Concerto, Chromatic Fantasy, Chorales and other works, excerpts

Press

Aude Giger, Lire Magazine, avril 2026

Dans un style très fluide et un dialogue qui fait écho à l’art du contrepoint du maître, tous deux rendent ce monument de la composition plus intime et familier. Un éloge de la musique et de l’amitié, à lire en écoutant l’enregistrement de 1977 par Alfred Brendel des œuvres de Bach, autour duquel Claire-Marie Le Guay a construit le « noyau dur » de son répertoire.

Discography

Que la joie demeure - Vivre avec Bach

Albin Michel, 2026

‘It might be a cantata or a chorale, on a Sunday, in a church or a synagogue. Or, heard somewhere on the radio, the dancing movement of a partita, a moving excerpt from a Passion. And just like that, Bach has entered your soul and will never leave you. A pianist and a writer, recounting Bach’s life, wonder how, day after day, he changed theirs. And what is this peace, this joy, that they owe to him. Once upon a time, over three hundred years ago, in the heart of Germany, there was the descendant of a baker. Once upon a time, there was this music that has never ceased to keep us in high and fraternal company. ” – Erik Orsenna

The writer Erik Orsenna, storyteller of Vivaldi and Beethoven, and the pianist Claire-Marie Le Guay take us on a journey through Bach’s world.