Jean-François Heisser

Born in Saint-Étienne near Lyon on December 7, 1950, pianist Jean-François Heisser first studied locally under Paul Simonnar before relocating to Paris for lessons at the Conservatoire de Paris with Vlado Perlemuter. He joined that institution’s faculty in 1984, where his pupils have encompassed rising French talents such as Bertrand Chamayou, Vanessa Wagner, and Lucas Debargue; he has likewise instructed at the Académie Maurice Ravel in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Equally active as concerto soloist, recitalist, conductor, and chamber musician, Heisser has performed with the Moscow Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Sinfonieorchester des bayerischen Rundfunks, and numerous French orchestras, often directing from the keyboard. These engagements led to his appointment as artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Nouvelle-Aquitaine. In recital and ensemble settings he has collaborated with the Lindsay, Ysaÿe, and Prazak quartets, violinists Sándor Végh and Gérard Poulet, and pianist Marie-Josèphe Jude in two-piano repertoire. His programming reaches from Beethoven—whose complete concertos he has presented under Louis Langrée—to the most recent works of Stockhausen and other contemporary composers.

Heisser’s recorded catalog began in 1991 with Harmonia Mundi releases of Liszt’s Harold in Italy and Schumann’s Märchenbilder. In 2019 he and Jude returned to the same label to document their two-piano arrangement of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, performed on the 1928 Pleyel Vis-à-Vis Piano. Additional discs have appeared on Erato, Apex, and Mirare, the latter issuing his 2021 account of Stockhausen’s Mantra.