Honorary committee
Claire Désert
She is a frequent guest at such leading international festivals as Radio France-Montpellier, La Roque d'Anthéron, L'Orangerie de Sceaux, Piano aux Jacobins, Lille Piano(s) Festival, Festival International de Colmar, Consonances, and the La Folles Journées of Nantes, Bilbao, and Tokyo, where she performs each year. She also appears regularly with orchestra, notably with the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National d'lle de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Lille, and Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
At the age of fourteen she entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she was awarded a premier prix in chamber music in the class of Jean Hubeau, and the premier prix in piano by unanimous decision of the jury (Special Prize for the 1985 examination) in the class of Vensislav Yankoff. She was admitted to the postgraduate course in piano in the same year, then won a French Government scholarship for a year's study in Evgeny Malinin's class at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. On her return to Paris she entered the postgraduate course in chamber music, in the class of Roland Pidoux.
Claire Désert is a peerless chamber musician of rare artistry. Her partners of choice include the pianist Emmanuel Strosser, the cellist Anne Gastinel, the violinists Nemanja Radulovic, Philippe Graffin and Régis Pasquier, the Parisii and Sine Nomine Quartets, and the Moragues Wind Quintet.
Her extensive discography includes a Schumann CD (her first recording, which won a '10 de Répertoire'), a disc of the Scriabin and Dvorák Concertos with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg which was awarded a Victoire de la Musique in 1997, and two recordings with Anne Gastinel, one devoted to Schumann, the other to Schubert. Her two most recent releases have been on Mirare: a Schumann programme including the Davidsbündlertänze and Dvorák's Slavonic Dances for piano duet with Emmanuel Strosser.
Claire Désert teaches piano and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and was awarded the Prix d'interprétation de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2020.
©Marie Rolland
Thierry
Escaich
Thierry Escaich is a unique figure in contemporary music. One of the foremost composers of his generation, he is also a world-renowned organist and one of the major ambassadors of the great French school of improvisation. These three elements of his artistry being inseparable, this captivating musician weaves them together at the highest level in his performances. Thierry Escaich was appointed titular organist at Notre-Dame de Paris in 2024.
As a composer, Escaich embraces a wide range of genres and forms in a relentless quest for new sonic horizons. His catalogue includes over a hundred works that attract a wide audience thanks to a deeply personal universe: drawing from the French line of composition of Ravel, Messiaen and Dutilleux, while also incorporating elements of popular music and sacred inspiration, his sonic world is defined by incandescent lyricism, obsessive rhythmic drive, and powerful structures.
Escaich’s works are performed by leading orchestras in the world and by musicians such as Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Andris Nelsons, Alain Altinoglu, Louis Langrée, Semyon Bychkov, Paavo Järvi, Alan Gilbert, Olivier Latry and Paul Meyer.
As an organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich is a guest at major concert halls and festivals, such as Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris, Müpa Budapest, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Madrid Auditorio, Auditorium de Radio France, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Lotte Concert Hall, Mariinsky Theater, Moscow Philharmonie, Helsinki Musiikkitalo, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bremen Festival, BBC Proms.
During the 2024/25 season Escaich is Composer in Residence at the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Besides several other concerts, his new work Ballade, for big band and orchestra, receives its world premiere at the Alte Oper Frankfurt. One of the major highlights of this residency and of the season is the world premiere of Escaich’s Te Deum pour Notre-Dame in June, composed to celebrate the reopening of the cathedral. It will be performed, among others, by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony conducted by Alain Altinoglu.
His artistic versatility is featured in a highly praised discography, partly published on Universal Music. His album Les Nuits hallucinées was crowned with many distinctions, including a ‘Choc de l’année’ from Classica magazine as an outstanding release of the year. The premiere of Claude, his first opera, was released on DVD by BelAir Classics. Other releases include Baroque Song on Sony Classical, Aria with Richard Galliano, Fusion with the Ellipsos Saxophone Quartet, Vocalise with Romai Leleu and Cris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Escaich received five ‘Victoires de la Musique’ awards (2003, 2006, 2011, 2017 and 2022), and in 2018 he took the prestigious role of Featured Composer at the Radio France Présences festival.
In 2013 he received the honour of being appointed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He teaches composition and improvisation at Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMD), where he himself studied and earned eight first prizes.
Rodolphe
Bruneau-Boulmier
Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier has worked at France Musique since 2006. He has produced several series of programs (Musique à la nrf, Les dames du piano, Les matinales d’été, Les vendredis du Philhar’, Dépêches notes, etc.). In 2013, he presented Le Jour d’Avant, a magazine dedicated to musical creation, and since 2014, En Pistes! in duet with Emilie Munera.
Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier is also a composer. He holds several First Prizes from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and has given numerous lectures (Folle Journée de Nantes, Abbaye de Fontevraud, Festival d’Automne, etc.). His works have premiered at the Radio France and Montpellier Festival, the Serres d’Auteuil, Solistes à Bagatelles, Cabaret contemporain, and have been played by pianists Claire-Marie Le Guay, Momo Kodama, Sébastien Vichard, and David Violi, among others.
In 2015, Geoffroy Couteau and François-Frédéric Guy recorded the complete works of his piano music for the Odradek label.
Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier was awarded the 2015 Fondation Banque Populaire Prize.
Simon
Proust
At the helm of first-rate orchestras and ensembles, Simon Proust stands out as part of a new generation of French conductors—open-minded, eclectic, and approaching a wide repertoire with both passion and exacting standards. He was awarded a “Classical Music Victory” as Orchestra Conductor Revelation in 2025.
Over the past ten years, Simon Proust has performed the symphonic repertoire in France with the Orchestre National des Pays-de-la-Loire, the Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, the Orchestre national de Metz, the Orchestre national de Lille, the Orchestre d’Auvergne, and the Orchestre Symphonique Région-Centre-Tours-Val-de-Loire. He has also served as assistant to Thomas Dausgaard with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2018.
In the 2024-2025 season, he makes his debut in the orchestra pit of the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Opéra de Reims, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Les Frivolités Parisiennes in the participatory opera “Un élixir d’amour” by Donizetti. He conducts at the Philharmonie de Paris, and during the season also returns to the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestre National des Pays-de-la-Loire, the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, and Les Siècles in spring 2025.
Passionate about outreach and education, he is the music director of the Orchestre des Jeunes du Centre and of Ensemble Cartésixte, which he founded in 2011, bringing symphonic music to a priority neighborhood in the city of Tours as part of an initiative to foster openness and sharing. He is also deeply committed to promoting amateur music-making and teaches conducting at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Levallois-Perret.
Simon Proust was named an “Adami Talent 2016” and a member of “Génération Spedidam 2022–2024.”