MARIE-ANGE NGUCI “EN MIROIR”
Both César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns and Thierry Escaich represent emblematic personalities of a tradition of composers, united by the common characteristic of having counted among the greatest organists and improvisers of their time. This program is designed to introduce a multiple portrait of their piano works, highlighting the strong imprint that this vocation marked on their pianistic creation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
A remarkably precocious pianist, Marie-Ange Nguci had already completed her Master’s degree in Piano performance with first class honours by unanimity and distinction of the jury at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) in 2014, at the age of 16, before receiving the highly selective Artist Diploma of Piano Performance in June 2016.
Endlessly curious both musically and intellectually, she is currently pursuing her studies in Doctorate of Music (PhD), as well as in Master’s degree of Musical Analysis and Musicology, at the CNSMDP and the Paris-Sorbonne University. A year spent at Vienna’s famed Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst allowed her to study orchestra conducting. She is also holding the Diploma of Ondes Martenot, as well as a Master’s degree in music pedagogy and the Certificate of Aptitude of Professor, conferred by the CNSMDP.

Marie-Ange’s talents were recognized early on since she won her first competition, with the First Prize at the Lagny-sur-Marne International Piano Competition (France), in 2011. More recently, in august 2015, she has been awarded First Prize at the MacKenzie Awards International Piano Competition in New York.She is also recipient of grants from the Foundation L’Or du Rhin, the ADAMI and the Meyer Foundations, the French American Piano Society, the International Academy of Music in the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Yamaha Music Foundation. She receives the Charles Oulmont 2016 Award for Music, and is laureate of the “l’Europe du Piano” project.

Her repertoire is very extended, ranging from the baroque, classical and romantic until the contemporary. Particularly attentive to the music of our time, Marie-Ange has the opportunity with composers such as Thierry Escaich, Bruno Mantovani, Graciane Finzi, Pascal Zavaro, Alain Abbott, or Michèle Foison, to prepare the interpretation of their works.

Marie-Ange’s performances, as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician have taken her to leading concert venues such as the Cité de la Musique – the Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées or the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Palais de l’Athénée in Geneva, or the Royal Albert Hall in London.

She takes part in numerous festivals among which the Festival de piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée de Nantes, La Folle Journée du Japon, the Festival Piano aux Jacobins, the Festival Les Solistes à Bagatelle, the Festival Chopin de Bagatelle, the Chopin Festival in Nohant, the Festival Les Musicales d’Arradon, the Festival L’Esprit du Piano in Bordeaux, the Festival Piano en Valois, the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, the Kissinger Sommer in Bad Kissingen, the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, the Klavierfestival Essen, the Klaviersommer Wesel, the Festival It’s all about piano in London, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, the Merkin Concert Hall, or the Elebash Recital Hallin New York.

Marie-Ange’s recording realized under the Mirare label in November 2017 and dedicated to a crossed portrait of piano works by French composers Franck, Saint-Saëns, and Thierry Escaich, has received great praise by the critics, and has been awarded the prestigious “Choc de Classica”.