Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt, piano
Concert

Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt’s piano playing spans all regions and genres, from Baroque music to contemporary works. A look at his concerts around the world paints the portrait of an insatiable explorer—deep in thought, open to all influences, regions, and aesthetic approaches. His highly assured technique allows him absolute concentration and total immersion in his musical world. La Provence wrote, following a debut recital at La Roque d’Anthéron, “A pianist with flawless technique and a distinct poetic sensibility.”

A guest artist with prestigious orchestras such as the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine under the baton of Paul Daniel, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV) under the baton of Christian Vásquez, and the Saint-Étienne Opera Orchestra, pianist Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt performs in major concert halls such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Bordeaux Auditorium, Salamanca Hall in Japan, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, as well as numerous venues across China.

He performs regularly at major festivals in France, such as the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes, L’Esprit du Piano in Bordeaux, the Chopin Festival in Nohant, Piano aux Jacobins, the Berlioz Festival, the Abbaye de l’Epau, the Jeudis Musicaux de Royan, Piano en Valois, the “Lisztomanias” in Châteauroux, the Festival de Sully, and in many countries including Italy, Belgium, Germany, the United States, and Korea.

In 2022, he recorded the album *Ballets*, dedicated to Ravel, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev, for the La Dolce Volta label. No sooner had it been released than critics raved about it: Diapason d’Or, TTTT from Télérama, 5 stars from Classica, and praise from the Quebec magazine “Le Devoir,” which wrote, “A few times a decade, here and there, an artist emerges whom we knew nothing about and who, in just a few notes, establishes himself as an essential figure in our musical world (…) We have just been treated to a revelation by a French pianist, Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt.” (Christophe Huss)

In October 2025, La Dolce Volta released a recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 24 Preludes, an album that received widespread acclaim from both the music press and the general media, and was awarded another Diapason d’Or: “[Fonlupt] captivates with his poetic inspiration, his penetrating passion, and his architectural mastery: [he] offers us a bold modern interpretation. ” (Bertrand Boissard, Diapason). “In both his delicate lyricism and his earth-shaking power, Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt seems like an alter ego of Sergei Rachmaninoff,” writes Pierre Gervasoni in Le Monde.

His other recordings, dedicated to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt, have received the highest praise in magazines such as Diapason, Classica, and Gramophone and are regularly broadcast on the radio: “What subtlety in the chiaroscuro and what intimacy in the contemplative passages! The touch is never forced: the fervor remains noble, its subtle slowness constantly imbued with life.” (Bertrand Boissard, Diapason). Alain Cochard writes in Pianiste: “Without a trace of affectation, Fonlupt captivates through the power of his touch, the variety and poetry of his sonic palette, the urgency of his expression, and a simply masterful sense of the grand arc.” ” And Jérémie Bigorie, in Classica, regarding his recording dedicated to Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 and Liszt’s Sonata: “Masterful yet singing, his playing, imbued with great lyricism, sees far. Equally delightful in Liszt’s Sonata, with an impressively organic flow and flashes of brilliance that few pianists can afford to display in concert.”

A documentary marking the world premiere of “Anamorphoses,” a concerto for piano and orchestra by composer Joseph-François Kremer, featuring the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, was produced and broadcast by the music channel Mezzo. His interest in contemporary music has also led him to premiere several works by the French composer Florentine Mulsant, including 11 preludes and her sonata for cello and piano.

Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in Bruno Rigutto’s class and at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin in Michael Endres’s class. He also studied with Yonty Solomon at the Royal College of Music in London and with Elisso Virssaladze at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 13 with the Orchestre Colonne, performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Bertrand de Billy.

His extensive repertoire allows him to present themed recitals or concert series, as he did at the 2018 Berlioz Festival, where he performed five recitals based on the five movements of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (six hours of music performed entirely from memory).

Source: jbfonlupt.com