Philippe Cassard
Philippe Cassard (born 12 September 1962) is a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Besançon, Cassard was trained at the Conservatoire de Paris where he won two first prizes, for piano (Dominique Merlet's class) and for chamber music (Geneviève Joy's class) in 1982. He then spent two years (1983–85), at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Hans Graf's and Erik Werba's classes). After perfecting his skills with Nikita Magaloff, he was awarded the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, then in 1988 he won the Dublin International Competition. He made his concert debut in Paris in 1985 with mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig. His international career takes him to Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, South America, Russia. He plays with the major British orchestras (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber, Hallé and BBC Manchester, Ulster Orchestra) and under the direction of Neville Marriner, Alexander Gibson, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Armin Jordan, Thierry Fischer, Charles Dutoit, Emmanuel Krivine, Rico Saccani, Alexander Anisimov, etc. He is regularly invited to the Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, the Irish Great Houses, Kuhmo, Lincoln, Pharos Trust, West Cork, Besançon International Music Festival, La Folle Journée. He practices chamber music with Natalie