When you love music and want to play it, you get caught up in a machine whose magnitude you can't even imagine; one day, your hobby becomes your profession and poof, out with it, the despot has relegated your other passions (celestial mechanics or car mechanics) to the status of pleasant trifles, and a half-sigh later you find yourself a professional pianist! So, since I don't often appear on Drucker's show, let's get acquainted and recap, after all, there's no shame in it: 11 and a half years old: first TV appearance with the ORTF Orchestra - no, not on "L'École des Fans" (a French TV show). 14 years old : First Prize in piano, first in my class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur, the real one, in Paris: it can take longer, but they released me for good behavior. 15 years old : the same, or almost, in Chamber Music, with Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux - a truly remarkable pianist, no less. My lifelong mentors, the kind who teach you things even if you don't want to: Madeleine de Valmalète, my idol; Janine Collet, who taught me how to work and so much more; and finally, Jacqueline Robin, a great musician who taught me everything else. Advanced studies with Pierre Sancan (all my affection), and masterclasses: Magaloff, Sandor, Badura-Skoda, Sebök. 17 years old : finalist in the Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey. I'm dropping out of law school. Schumann, at least, had finished. 18 : Winner of the Santander Competition, I'm in love and driving a Ford Capri 2600 Turbo. The King isn't my cousin (besides, my cousins ??are pianists, a family trait). Lessons with Enrique Barenboim; less fun. 20-23 : Long stays in Japan, recitals and concerts with excellent Japanese orchestras, discovering traditional arts. I listen to Oscar Peterson in Tokyo. 23-24 : Great, I'm quitting everything and going back to do my military service under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Chopin (true story). Well, afterwards, we don't mention his age anymore, but between us I was born in France in 1963, to Pied-Noir parents who had travelled light from their native Algeria, and for people in that situation, having a son who wants to play Schumann is not easy, they did their best. So, here's the rest in no particular order: concerts with the USSR National Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, and Yuri Bashmet (that was something!), tours in the former USSR-Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Kyiv-a first CD of French music, a recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, concerts with tenor Gegam Grigorian, a Liszt CD on the BNL-Auvidis label, a meeting with Michel Portal, and then in '96 with violinist Gilles Apap, a welcome breath of fresh air from Santa Barbara. A "great career" as a duo that took them to the Drôme region of France, Californian retirement homes, Alaska, Florida, Moscow, the Théâtre du Châtelet (no less!), and the Romanès Gypsy Circus; we made a beautiful album together (Enescu, Debussy, Ravel) and were honored by the American Record Guide (Ha!). Solo recitals for Radio France, works by Thierry Lancino, Nicolas Bacri , and Philippe Racine (Genuin CD to be released in 2011), Bach's Goldberg Variations and other lighthearted pieces at the Salle Gaveau (CD released in 2002), a substantial program including Liszt's transcription of the Symphonie Fantastique , a foray into classical jazz, the Miami Jazz Festival, and quite a few other enjoyable things one can indulge in if one is as free as a bird; which proves how right you were to visit this page today. By the way, thank you!