Aurélien Pontier

Born in Paris in 1981, pianist Aurélien Pontier discovered his vocation at five after hearing a recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, performed by violinist Itzhak Perlman under conductor Carlo Maria Giulini. His father, himself a pianist and teacher, played the disc for the boy, who later recalled the experience in a July 1, 2024, Meet the Artist interview: "I was five years old, I was literally in shock, and I felt then that music would be my life." Lessons with pianist Marta Zabaleta followed, leading to a debut at the Paris Opéra at age nine. Before his teens, conductor Emmanuel Krivine invited him to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, with the Orchestre National de Lyon. At thirteen Pontier entered the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSM), where he studied with Jean-François Heisser and Rena Cherechevskaia and earned highest honors; additional guidance came from Murray Perahia and Maria João Pires.

Having translated early recognition into a sustained international presence, Pontier has appeared throughout Western and Eastern Europe and in Thailand. He maintains a regular presence on France’s principal classical networks, Radio-Classique and France-Musique. His first commercial recording, the 2013 Brilliant Classics release Violin Showcase, featured violinist Matthieu Arama. In 2019 he contributed the early sonatas to Warner Classics’ complete edition of Beethoven’s piano works. Venues have included the Philharmonie de Paris, the Louvre Auditorium, and the Tchaikovsky Hall of the Moscow Conservatory; frequent partners encompass countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński and cellist Marc Coppey.

Pontier’s association with Warner Classics began with the 2020 album 3D Piano Collection, conceived in collaboration with a streaming platform and among the first recordings to originate in that manner. The label issued his Vienna: Joyful Apocalypse in 2024.