Born in 1965 and raised in Paris, France, Pierre de Bethmann began classical piano lessons at age 6, and soon discovered the world of jazz. He continued his musical and regular studies apace, graduated from ESCP in 1987 (major French graduate school of management), and studied one year at Berklee College of Music (Boston) in 1989. He started working as a management consultant for five years, before abandoning the desk to become a fulltime professional musician in 1995.
He first co-founded trio PRYSM with Christophe Wallemme and Benjamin Henocq. From 1995 to 2001, Prysm recorded four albums on Blue Note, performed over fifty concerts a year, including several tours in the U.S., Canada, Japan and the Middle East.
He then raised another project in 2001, under the code name ILIUM, exclusively based on original music, which recorded five albums in different combos, and lately a 10 to 12 piece MEDIUM ENSEMBLE, which has played in many French venues, and released its third album in January 2019.
In 2013, he started a new acoustic TRIO with Sylvain Romano and Tony Rabeson mainly focused on standards from many musical traditions, whose fourth album was released end 2020.
He created his own label ALEA in 2015, and has lead several artistic residencies in France, in Opéra de Lyon in 2006, in Théâtre de L"Onde à Vélizy between 2008 and 2010, in L'apostrophe, scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise, between 2012 and 2015, and Saint-Quentin en Yvelines between 2016 and 2018.
He has recorded twelve albums as a leader or co-leader, and has taught at the CNSMDP (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris) since 2008.
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Grand Prix Jazz of Académie Charles Cros 2016
Victoires du Jazz 2008 - French instrumental album of the year
Django Reinhardt Prize 2004 - French musician of the year
Django d'Or 1998 - French group of the year (Prysm)
1st prize at the Concours National de Jazz de La Défense in 1994
