Profile
©Guy Vivien
Jacques ROUVIER(France)
Jury Vice-Chairperson, Piano Section
Father horn player, mother singer, brother jazzman rehearsing home with his band, Music, in these diverse aspects, became familiar quite early to my ears.
Marseille 1954: in my home town, Wilhelm Kempf definitely showed the way with his magic sound in Beethoven piano concerti No 4th and 5th.
Following, studies in Paris CNSM with Vlado Perlemuter, Pierre Sancan, Jean Hubeau and among others, Pierre Barbizet and Jean Fassina, creative artists and wonderful friends. Harmony and Conducting completed this education.
Came competition time, punctuated by some International Prizes (Maria Canals and Viotti 1967, Marguerite Long 1971, UE radio competition 1975), and creation in 1970 of Rouvier-Kantorow-Muller trio who gave concerts for 35 years all over the world.
Participated in Prades, Spoleto, Victoria, Kuhmo, Aix en Provence….. festivals, Mendelssohn Leipzig, Hamamatsu, Holland Music Session, Salzburg ……academy, International Master Classes (one of the last in collaboration with M Maisky and M Vengerov at Musica Mundi festival in Belgium).
Jury member in prestigious piano competitions: Tchaikovsky, Leeds, Santander, Dublin, Montreal, Marguerite Long, Geneva (chairman), Beethoven Bonn, Seoul, Hamamatsu, Sendai, invited for Chopin, Rubinstein….
Recordings of complete Ravel piano music (Calliope) and sonatas for violin and piano by Debussy and Ravel with JJ Kantorow (Erato) won the « Grand Prix du Disque », with a large discography including a complete Debussy (Denon).
Recently, 2 CDs (Schubert 4 hands, Bach concerti) with David Fray have been produced by Warner.
David Fray, like Arkadi Volodos and Helene Grimaud, among the most famous, crossed my teaching way in Paris CNSM, where I taught piano for 33 years.
After 10 years as guest professor in Berlin UDK, I am now teaching in Salzburg Mozarteum since 2012 and Musica Mundi Belgium since 2018.