Jérôme Ducros

France's Jérôme Ducros ranks among his nation's foremost collaborative pianists, performing alongside both instrumentalists and vocalists. A composer and arranger as well, he has seen his pieces appear on Decca. Considerable debate surrounded him after a 2012 lecture at the Collège de France in which he argued that music would inevitably return to tonality. He has frequently partnered with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, most recently on the 2024 Erato release Schubert: Lieder.

Born in Avignon on November 30, 1974, Ducros studied as a teenager at the Conservatoire d'Orléans under Françoise Thinat. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1990, where Gérard Frémy and Cyril Huvé served as his main instructors. After earning a first prize in piano in 1993, he remained for two additional years of advanced study and participated in master classes led by Leon Fleisher, György Sebök, and Christian Zacharias. In 1994 he took second prize at the Umberto Michel International Competition in Milan, also receiving a special award for his performance of the required contemporary piece, Pierre Boulez's Incises. His first recording appeared in 1999 on Erato, supporting soprano Dawn Upshaw on Hommage à Jane Bathori: The Inspiring Muse.

Although Ducros is chiefly recognized for his work as an accompanist, he has also given solo recitals and made solo recordings. His engagements have included appearances at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Wigmore Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York. Among his regular partners are singers Ian Bostridge and Diana Damrau, pianist Nicholas Angelich, violinist Augustin Dumay, and cellist Gautier Capuçon. His association with Jaroussky extends to the countertenor's projects devoted to Romantic repertoire. Ducros began to acknowledge his own compositional activity only with the 2006 publication of his Trio for two cellos and piano. The 2012 Collège de France lecture, which challenged the foundations of atonality and predicted a return to tonal writing, provoked strong reactions; Pierre Boulez reportedly reacted with anger, and Ducros faced personal criticism that included repeated accusations of Nazi sympathies. Decca issued the all-Ducros chamber-music album En Aparté in 2013. He has recorded extensively for Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Zig Zag Territoires, and additional labels, maintaining a particularly close relationship with Erato through projects such as the 2024 Jaroussky album Schubert: Lieder.