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Pianist, composer and conductor, Francois Weigel studied piano and composition at the Cologne Musikhochschule, conducting at the Ecole Normale de Paris, and analysis, piano and chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire where he won several first prizes. He had advanced piano studies with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen and Alexis Weissenberg.
Winner of several international competitions (Porto, Barcelona, Naples, the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation) he often performs throughout Europe, including in Vienna, Sazburg, in the Berlin Philharmonie, in Hamburg, Brussels, Oslo, Naples, Varsovie, Riga, Paris (Salle Gaveau, Chatelet Theatre, Salle Pleyel) and at international festivals such as Evian, Radio-France, Verone, Stresa, Flâneries de Reims, and La Roque d’Antheron.
As solo concert pianist, he has played with the Hamburg Philharmonic (Ingo Metzmacher), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Pinchas Steinberg), Philharmonique de Radio-France (Marek Janowsky), Orchestre National d'Ile de France, Orchestre National de Lorraine (Jacques Mercier), Philharmonique de Montpellier (Enrique Diemecke), Nouvel Orchestre de Saint-Etienne (Patrick Fournillier), Belgrade Philharmonic, National Czech Orchestra, Ankara Bilkent Symphonic (Emil Tabakov), Orchestre National de Lille (Paul Polivnick), and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Antoni Wit).
He has conducted the Chamber Orchestra from Bratislava, the Latvia Orchestra, the Ankara Bilkent Symphonic, and the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra with his own orchestra transcriptions.
His chamber music partners are the Belvedere Trio (members of the Wienner Philharmonic) and the Amarcord Quartet (soloists from the Berliner Philharmonic) and he also gives recitals with singers such as Inva Mula, Sophie Koch, Laurence Dale, Ferrucio Furlanetto.
A true original he can play the baroque style that he particularly loves, share the stage with DJ Doctor Bone (the darling of New York dance floor music) as well improvise live on radio France Musique to notes given by the public.
The Paris Bastille Opera has regularly invited him to conduct choirs, notably in contemporary productions of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho, Saint François d'Assise by Messiaen, and also the German repertoire (Wozzek, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau ohne Schatten). He gives yearly public conferences during the Dietrich-Fischer Dieskau masterclasses in Austria.
François Weigel appears regularly on radio and television across Europe (TF1 with Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, France 2 with Eve Ruggieri, LCI, France Inter with Frederic Lodeon and Stephane Bern) and has performed piano recitals on the Radio Suisse Romande, die Deutsche Rundfunk, the Norvegian National Radio, Radio Classique and France Musique.
His Messiaen’s Turangalila CD for Naxos with the Polish Radio National Orchestra has been universally acclaimed in the international press as the standard recording. It was highly praised by the Monde de la Musique (Choc) and Repertoire (10/10), and elected "best month’s CD" by Rondo, "Editor’s Choice "by Gramophone. It won the international "Classical Music Award" from the Midem.
"A splendid soloist, as tecnically secure and musically as any. An incredible delight."
"A smooth as silk playing, a spine tingling sensitivity, the soul's touch…"
"A complete artist, at once pianist, composer and conductor."
"Irresistible !"
