Pierre Hantaï

Pierre Hantaï, a harpsichordist, maintains a close connection to the keyboard compositions of J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti while participating in chamber groups and serving as an accompanist. Born in Paris on February 28, 1964, he drew inspiration from a performance of Bach by Gustav Leonhardt and began practicing at home, which prompted formal lessons with Arthur Haas starting at age 12. He continued his training with Leonhardt himself over a two-year period in Amsterdam. Hantaï achieved an early breakthrough in 1983 when he captured first prize at the International Bach-Handel Competition held in Bruges, Belgium, and has accumulated numerous additional honors since then. His primary focus remains Baroque keyboard repertoire, particularly the works of Bach and Scarlatti. His debut recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations appeared in 1993 and earned widespread praise; he has since presented the piece more than 100 times in concert and issued a second recording in 2002. That same year marked the beginning of his ongoing series of recordings devoted to Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas. Although Hantaï has concentrated chiefly on solo appearances, he has remained active in ensemble settings. In 1983 he joined his brothers—Marc on Baroque flute and Jérôme on viol—to establish Le Concert Français, which he leads from the keyboard. He has also appeared with Le Petite Bande under Sigiswald Kuijken and with Le Concert des Nations under Jordi Savall, and he regularly serves as accompanist in both live performances and studio sessions for musicians such as Emmanuel Balssa and François Fernandez. Most of his recordings have been made for the Mirare label, though he has also worked with Opus 111 and Naïve. In 2019 he released the sixth volume in his Scarlatti sonata series on Mirare.