Simon Ghraichy

Young French piano talent Simon Ghraichy was born in Paris on September 26, 1985. His parents were of Lebanese and Mexican origin, and he traveled extensively before entering the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatoire at the age of sixteen. He showed a precocious talent for the piano and continued his musical training at the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris in 2004, then at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2008. Having won prizes at competitions in Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City, as well as the Prix de la Fondation Georges Cziffra, he went on to develop an international career, performing with several major orchestras. He performs at festivals such as Aix-en-Provence and the Baard Festival in New York, and makes his Carnegie Hall debut in October 2015, in a recital of Liszt and the Americas. Her repertoire, essentially Romantic in her early years, is recorded on the albums Always in Motion (2013), devoted to Liszt transcriptions, and Duels (2015), contrasting the Hungarian composer's Sonata in B minor with Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana. His contract with Deutsche Grammophon is inaugurated by the album Heritages (2017), showcasing his influences through compositions by Villa-Lobos, Debussy, Gottschalk, Isaac Albeniz, Manuel de Falla and Enrique Granados.