Hélène Grimaud

Hélène Grimaud – born in Aix-en-Provence, France on November 7, 1969 - is a classical pianist who now resides in Switzerland. During her childhood in Aix-en-Provence, she began learning the piano and, at the age of 13, was accepted into the Conservatoire de Paris under the tutelage of Jacques Rouvier. Three years later,  Hélène Grimaud won first prize at the Conservatory and a Grand Prix du Disque for her 1986 recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Sonata No. 2. She has an unusual style and is classified as a rubato artist, which is to say she has an expressive style whereby she doesn't adhere strictly to the score or the conductor's instructions and will introduce minor subtle variations on rhythm and tempo. It's a style of playing which is frequently used to describe Chopin's performances. Her professional career was launched in 1987 when at the age of 18 she gave a solo recital with the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Barenboim. Hélène Grimaud went on to enjoy a successful career as a classical recording artist with more than 25 albums on labels such as Denon, Erato, Teldec, Philips, and Deutsche Grammophon (since 2005). In 2018, she released her 18th studio album, Memory, which featured music composed by Chopin, Debussy, and Satie. She followed that with The Messenger (2020), Silvestrov: Silent Songs (2023), and For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms (2023).