EARLY YEARS
Knight on a mission…
“ Alain Lefèvre has just finished tackling his last chords in the midst of total silence. Suddenly, applaud breaks out, then the yells of bravos and encores, and, as if bewildered, the young pianist, still full of his music, stands up, and bows to the standing audience. For all the music lovers present, the pianist is the hero.
Hero for one night. Wreathed, lifted, exalted. The sounds, the magic, the divine, the alchemy have worked their magic. Alain Lefèvre lowers his head: like Lord Byron among the rebels, d’Artagnan assaulting a castle, Lancelot du Lac, a knight on a mission.
The young man bows and if his music has made people happy, he is glad. The audience will carry a part of his talent with them for a long time, the subliminal fragrances of Beethoven or Mozart, in the deepest part of their souls.”
“ Alain Lefèvre has just finished tackling his last chords in the midst of total silence. Suddenly, applaud breaks out, then the yells of bravos and encores, and, as if bewildered, the young pianist, still full of his music, stands up, and bows to the standing audience. For all the music lovers present, the pianist is the hero.
Hero for one night. Wreathed, lifted, exalted. The sounds, the magic, the divine, the alchemy have worked their magic. Alain Lefèvre lowers his head: like Lord Byron among the rebels, d’Artagnan assaulting a castle, Lancelot du Lac, a knight on a mission.
The young man bows and if his music has made people happy, he is glad. The audience will carry a part of his talent with them for a long time, the subliminal fragrances of Beethoven or Mozart, in the deepest part of their souls.”
La Presse
Pianist and composer Alain Lefèvre was born in Poitiers, France on July 23rd 1962 and was introduced to piano at only four years old by his father, a clarinetist. He moved to Canada with his family in 1967, obtaining his Canadian citizenship in 1971, to later become one of the country’s most outstanding pianists and was named Officer to the Order of Canada. He was five years old when he took his first lessons in Montreal, at the College Marguerite-Bourgeoys and soon, he revealed himself to be a young virtuoso. At the age of six, he won the 1st Prize at the Canadian Music Competition and gave his first recital at the Grand Theatre in Quebec city. At nine, he won the 1st Prize at the Heintzman Piano Competition, already making the headlines of the Montreal Star newspaper, describing him as the “Star of tomorrow”, followed by his very first television interview on Radio-Canada. Over the years, he won the 1st Prize at the Canadian Music Competition eight more times. At fourteen, he took Master Classes with Jeanne-Marie Darré and Lucette Descaves in France and at seventeen he returned to his French roots, to complete his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, in the class of the highly esteemed Pierre Sancan, who saw in Alain Lefèvre one of his “most brilliant disciples”. His other teachers were Pierre Max Dubois in composition and Geneviève Joy. In the course of his studies there, the great violinist Christian Ferras, impressed by his talent, invited him to play with him, after having heard Lefèvre perform live on air at Radio-France. Soon after, they gave a recital of Bach Sonatas at Salle Gaveau in Paris. Sadly, the sudden death of Ferras interrupted their upcoming tour in Spain. He then joined Isaac Stern and Ivry Gitlis on stage at the Châtelet for a moving tribute to the late virtuoso. At the Conservatoire, he was awarded first prizes in both piano and chamber music and won the Grand Prix at the Alfred Cortot International Piano Competition, giving his first recital in Milan, at the Piccola Scala. Following a remarkable debut at Salle Pleyel in Paris, in a stunning performance of the Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Lefèvre was immediately invited to a return performance, and those concerts marked the debuts of his sparkling international career.
To find out more extensively on his life...
Biography by Georges Nicholson
Released October 17, 2012 - French version available only
