Among the most exciting interpretations of the contemporary keyboard repertoire
Michel Debrocq, Le Soir
Stephane Ginsburgh is brilliantly calm and selfassured under considerable technological duress throughout, from the spectacular and rhapsodic early pieces to the more subdued and contemplative Piano Hero #3 and #4.
Max Erwin, Tempo, Cambridge University Press
In this recording, Ginsburgh brings a different sort of physicality to the music, toughly tender as he is here.
Tom Perchard, The Wire
Ginsburgh's performance exhibits a sublime, unified beauty, like that found in the random latticework of a snowflake.
Michael Woodring
BIOGRAPHY
Stephane Ginsburgh has been praised for his daring piano playing whose "performance exhibits a sublime, unified beauty, like that found in the random latticework of a snowflake". He appears regularly in recitals and chamber music worldwide. He has performed at numerous festivals such as Ars Musica, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, ZKM Imatronic, Agora at IRCAM, Bach Academie Brugge, Ultima Oslo, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Gaida (Vilnius), Warsaw Autumn, Musica Strasbourg, Klara Festival and Accademia Chigiana.
A tireless surveyor of the repertoire but also exploring new combinations including voice, percussion, performance or electronics, he dedicates much of his energy to contemporary music. He has collaborated with many composers such as Frederic Rzewski, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Stefan Prins, Alec Hall and Matthew Shlomowitz of whom he premiered works, as well as with choreographers such as Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and visual artists. He appeared with violist Garth Knox, soprano Sarah Defrise, basse Shadi Torbey, percussionist Miquel Bernat and flutist Manuel Zurria. Stephane Ginsburgh loves immersive performances: he as played Prokofiev's complete piano sonatas, Galina Ustvolskaya's piano sonatas or Beethoven's six last sonatas in one evening.
Ginsburgh recorded Feldman, Duchamp, Satie, Fafchamps for Sub Rosa. He recorded the world premiere of two pieces by David Toub for World Edition. His Prokofiev complete piano sonatas was released on Cypres Records in 2015 and praised as "captivating and essential" in La Libre Belgique. In 2018, Grand Piano/NAXOS published his recording of the world premiere of the "Bad-Tempered Electronic Keyboard", a series of 24 Preludes and Fugues by the composer and writer Anthony Burgess. In 2019, Kairos released "Piano Hero" which is included in an album dedicated to the music of Stefan Prins. His latest recordings for Sub Rosa feature Julius Eastman's complete music for four pianos and pieces for speaking pianist by Frederic Rzewski.
He is a laureate of the Tenuto competition 1995 and has received the Pelemans Prize in 1999 from the Belgian composers union for his dedication in performing Belgian contemporary music. In 1998, Stephane Ginsburgh co-founded Sonar (previously le Bureau des Arts), a group of artists dedicated to different types of artistic expression and creation including music, dance and literature, which he directed until 2018. He has also been artistic director of the Centre Henri Pousseur, an electronic music studio in Liège, from 2010 until 2013.
Ginsburgh is a professor of piano at the Haute école de musique de Genève. He has given courses, talks and masterclasses at universities and conservatories in Brussels, Mons, Liège, Tel-Aviv, Luxembourg, Paris and London. After completing his studies with a Master in music, he worked with Paul Badura-Skoda, Claude Helffer, Jerome Lowenthal and Vitaly Margulis. Stephane Ginsburgh holds a BA in philosophy of science from the Free University of Brussels (U.L.B.) and a DMA (PhD in the Arts) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel en Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel.
Note: Please do not modify this updated bio (2024) and contact me if you need a shorter one. Thank you !
Festivals
Agora (Paris), Tzlil Meudcan Festival (Tel-Aviv), Milano Musica, Festival Next Wave (New York), Festival de Marseille, Moscow Autumn Contemporary Music Festival, Quincena Musical (San Sebastián), Imatronic/Piano+ ZKM (Karlsruhe), Biennale du divers (Paris), Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse, Ultima Oslo, Gaida Festival (Vilnius), Alterminimalismes (Paris), Autres mesures (Rennes), Festival Variations (Nantes), Music Current (Dublin), Warsaw Autumn, Festival d'Automne (Paris), Festival Musica (Strasbourg), Moscow Forum Festival, Festival Musique Action (Nancy), Superspectives (Lyon), Accademia Chigiana di Siena, Vang Festival (Madrid), Les Athénéennes (Genève)
Ars Musica (Brussels), Festival de Wallonie, Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival Transit (Leuven), Festival Courtisane (Gent), Artefact Festival (Leuven), Festival Bellone-Brigittines (Brussels), Festival Musiq3 (Brussels), Festival Midis-Minimes (Brussels), Festival Loop (Brussels), Biennale Charleroi-Danse, Ear to the ground (Gent), Gentsche Feesten, Nuits du Beau Tas (Brussels), Les Nuits Botanique (Brussels), Les Rencontres Inattendues (Tournai), Music Chapel Festival (Brussels), Bach Academie Brugge, Eastern Daze Kraak (Gent), Brussels Piano Festival, Piano Days (Brussels), La semaine du son (Brussels), Klara Festival (Brussels), Festival musical de Lasne, Bos Festival (Kortrijk), Brussels Cello Festival, Festival Musiq3 Brabant Wallon, Walden festival (Brussel), Artonov (Bruxelles), Mouvements d'Altérité (Bruxelles), Contour Biennale (Mechelen)
Main concert halls
Bozar (Brussels), Flagey (Brussels), Opéra Royal de la Monnaie, Le Botanique (Brussels), De Singel (Antwerp), Handelsbeurs (Gent), Vooruit (Gent), De Bijloke (Gent), Concertgebouw (Brugge), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Amsterdam Opera, Kanal (Brussels), Miry Zaal (Gent), Conservatoire de Luxembourg, Volksbühne (Berlin), Le Soufflerie (Rezé), Opéra Garnier (Paris), Buchman-Mehta School (Tel-Aviv), Felicja Blumental Music Center (Tel-Aviv), Teatro dal Verme (Milano), Tempo Reale (Firenze), Opéra de Rennes, Théâtre de la Villette (Paris), National Philharmony (Warsaw), Stanislawsky Theater (Moscow), Le Poisson Rouge (New York), Cafe OTO (London), Opéra de Lille, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Charleroi), Sadler’s Wells (London), La Monnaie (Bruxelles), Conservatoire de Montréal, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), IRCAM (Paris), Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon), Kurzaal (San Sebastian), Rachmaninov Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, Salle Poirel (Nancy), Teatro dei Rozzi (Siena), Grand Théâtre de Genève, Volkstheater (Wien), Palacio Cibeles (Madrid), Palais des Académies (Bruxelles), Arsonic (Mons), Nona Kunstenscentrum (Mechelen), Arsonic (Mons)
Composers
Newton Armstrong, Joanna Bailie, Vykintas Baltakas, Guy Barash, Philippe Boesmans, Denis Bosse, Melaine Dalibert, Renaud De Putter, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Fabian Fiorini, Alec Hall, David Helbich, Panayiotis Kokoras, Pierre Kolp, György Kurtág, Philipp Maintz, Benoît Mernier, Denis Pousseur, Stefan Prins, André Ristic, Frederic Rzewski, François Sarhan, Sabrina Schroeder, David Shea, Matthew Shlomowitz, James Tenney, Juan Carlos Tolosa
Choreographers and visual artists
Johanne Saunier (Joji Inc.), Anne Tersa De Keersmaeker (Rosas), Claudio Bernardo (As Palavras), Barbara Mavro (Roberta DC), Peter Dowsnbrough and Kurt Ralske
Prizes
1er Prix at Concours Tenuto BRTN 1995
Fondation Schlumberger, Académie Musicale de Villecroze, France
Ronit Amir Lowenthal Scholarship, Music Academy of the West Summer Festival, Santa Barbara, USA
Fondation SPES, 1999, Bruxelles
Prix Pelemans 1999 for interpretation of Belgian contemporary music