Credits: Frédéric Lipzyc.
Discover the journey of Ingmar Lazar, a prodigious pianist from a very young age, who began performing in public for the first time at 6. At just 30 years old, he already has an exceptional career. In this interview conducted by Pierre-Antoine Tsady, Ingmar Lazar takes us into memories of his artistic influences, his demanding musical studies, and his first concerts. Driven by absolute devotion to his art, he shares with us his repertoire choices, festival organization, and vision for the future.
Interview
Pierre-Antoine Tsady: You started piano at 5 and performed in public for the first time at 6. What memories do you have of that first experience on stage, and how did it influence your musical path?
Ingmar Lazar: Being able to share music with an audience is an exceptional feeling, because the performer can create a real dialogue with listeners, and that is what makes every concert unique. I was already able to feel that at my very first concert, even if I still could not clearly identify the exact reasons. It should also be said that at that age, there is a certain carefree quality that can also bring something very positive, because you almost have to forget yourself in order to let yourself be fully carried away by the music.
P.-A.T.: How did your training at the International Piano Academy Lake Como and at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland in Lugano shape your approach to music and the stage?
I.L.: My musical studies led me for many years to Germany, where I studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, and then later to Austria at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.
However, I also wanted to join the International Lake Como Academy, which at the time of my studies had a partnership with the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland — Lugano — through a special program made possible by the Theo Lieven Foundation. This institution was something unique in Europe: the number of students admitted to take part was limited to seven pianists selected from around the world, who could benefit from classes taught by the greatest pianists and pedagogues. That is how I was able to study over several years with Dimitri Bachkirov, Malcolm Bilson, Fou Ts’ong, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Tamás Vásáry… Being able to benefit from such varied opinions and being in contact with different traditions opened up a new world of possibilities for me, because I then realized the multitude of different ways of approaching the same subject. This made me understand that the most important thing is above all to have a clear vision and precise intentions, and that it is up to me to make my choices fully based on my own convictions, which have developed over the years.
P.-A.T.: You have a very varied repertoire, ranging from Schubert to Liszt, including Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and more recently César Franck. How do you choose the works you perform? Is there a composer or musical era with which you feel particularly in tune?
I.L.: As a pianist, repertoire choices are unavoidable, because our instrument has an almost endless body of literature… And there are no real rules governing how I make those decisions. On the other hand, I always go with my gut, like a deep desire that arises at a given moment to explore an era and/or a composer. A thirst for constant discovery and renewal guides me, and that is why, for now, I do not want to limit myself to a specific period or composer. And as for my affinities, each composer I am playing at the moment becomes my favorite. If that unique connection that forms between a composition and a performer does not happen, I prefer not to program those works in public. And those decisions also keep evolving constantly, thankfully!
P.-A.T.: Tell us about the Bruit qui Pense and Escapades Pianistiques festivals, of which you are the founder and patron.
I.L.: The goal of the artist, of the musician, is to be able to convey to the public such a rich and compelling range of emotions that they are swept away into the world it opens its doors to. That is what I aim to achieve in each of my concerts as a pianist. Creating festivals is a natural continuation of that: imagining programs by inviting artists who defend, with conviction and sincerity, the works they wish to embody by bringing them to life on stage.
It was this desire that led me to create the Bruit qui Pense Festival in 2016, which has taken place every spring in Louveciennes ever since.
As a pianist, this also gives me a way of seeing things that can differ from some organizers who do not have that dual role. For example, I have noticed how much audiences appreciate it when artists introduce their programs, while I also know that some musicians prefer not to speak on stage just before performing in concert. That is why I wanted to develop a different concept within the Bruit qui Pense Festival: each concert is briefly introduced by a moderator who is either a journalist or an actor, so that the audience can already benefit from a few listening keys. The moderator then conducts an interview with the artists who performed just after the last encore, and listeners are invited to actively take part by asking questions. In this way, musicians are delighted to interact with the audience after the concert, and this interactive exchange helps break the ice between the stage and the hall. The fact that these events take place in a warm, intimate venue — 300 seats — makes these friendly discussions easy.
I also wanted to design the Bruit qui Pense Festival as a truly complete artistic experience: literary events and exhibitions related to music are also programmed, to show just how much the arts converse with and inspire one another. Previously, I had invited photographer David Baghdasaryan from Studio Harcourt, who had exhibited his photographs of musicians. At this year’s festival, I had the pleasure of presenting for the first time in France the canōgraphie exhibition by artist Pia Imbar, who developed a unique concept obtained through singers’ gestures, giving birth to images on canvas that appear abstract to us. As a mezzo-soprano herself [female voice intermediate between soprano and contralto, editor’s note], she gave a demonstration of the canōgraphic process by performing different opera arias while wearing the illuminated sleeves that make her works possible during the opening of her exhibition. The audience was enthralled! You have to dare to take risks as a programmer and support projects you believe in.
As for the Escapades Pianistiques at Château de Commarin, this festival took place for the first time in the summer of 2020. The Association of Friends of Château de Commarin, which had just been created shortly before, proposed that I become the patron and artistic director of a new piano festival, and it was set up quickly. As a musician, you have to travel a lot, and a routine can set in as you move from hotel to hotel. Being able to settle down for a few days in a sublime, history-filled setting such as Château de Commarin, which has remained in the same family ever since it was built 900 years ago, makes you feel, in a sense, detached from time, and for me it represents an essential way to recharge. And I am not the only one who feels this need to reconnect with one of the most inspiring places and benefit from an almost family-like welcome in the best sense of the term, because that is what also won over the musicians I invited to perform at Château de Commarin: Raúl da Costa, Severin von Eckardstein, Andrei Korobeinikov, Roustem Saïtkoulov, Haiou Zhang…
P.-A.T.: Your discography is already impressive. What place does recording occupy in your life as an artist? What is the difference between preparing a recording and preparing a concert?
I.L.: I think recordings are a wonderful way to make music, and they also make it possible to reach a different audience. It can represent a certain comfort for artists, because we get multiple takes, which of course is impossible in concert. However, that comfort can also have drawbacks, because many artists are simply more inspired when performing in public. Personally, I always try to imagine that I am playing for an audience or for a particular person when I record. That is why the team we work with is essential not only for the quality of the sound recording, but also for the way they guide artists during recording sessions so they can truly deliver their most personal artistic message.
As for preparing concerts and recordings, I must say that I make no distinction; the level of demand is the same.
Video unavailableP.-A.T.: During your training and your career, have there been musical personalities or other artists who had a decisive influence on your artistic development?
I.L.: I moved to Texas at the age of seven, because my family was transferred there for work for two years. I was already playing piano, and I had the chance to meet the great pianist Vladimir Viardo, who was already able to detect musical potential in my playing. I became his student, which was exceptional given how young I was, and it was he who convinced my parents to encourage me to fully commit to this path.
When I returned to Paris, the teacher who influenced me most was pianist Valéry Sigalevitch. He truly believed in me and instilled in me an unconditional love of music. An extraordinary artistic personality with immense culture, he knows exceptionally well how to pass on his art to his students.
The teaching I received from Alexis Golovine in Geneva was also highly significant, because he managed to develop in me a way of thinking and an analytical approach to the score and to piano playing, while always remaining tied to the deepest musicality. He took as much time as he felt necessary to get the desired result; his lessons could sometimes last an entire day! I had the privilege of being his student for many years starting at age 16, and I continued to see him regularly until his death last year.
P.-A.T.: In your playing, where do you draw the line between technique and expression?
I.L.: I make sure never to separate them! Technique is a tool used to realize a musical idea, and should not be an end in itself. Let us never forget that music carries the richest emotional messages, and that the piano is a medium that allows them to be conveyed. If technique takes over, spirituality disappears and gives way to mere execution, which then is not very interesting.
P.-A.T.: What event marked you the most in your career as a pianist?
I.L.: It was probably my first recital in Paris at the Salle Cortot, when I was twelve. The program consisted of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. What immense joy it was for me to perform this repertoire, which meant so much to me, after such intense preparation.
P.-A.T.: Can you tell us about your future plans, both for your upcoming engagements and for your festival artistic direction? Do you have any new works or composers you would like to explore?
I.L.: This spring is marked by several concerts I will give in different cities in Germany, before my summer engagements begin, which will take me notably to Paris for the Chopin Festival at Bagatelle as well as to the Luberon at Château de Lourmarin. I will also perform for the first time alongside violist Isabel Villanueva in Seville and Cuenca.
I am also very happy to be able to collaborate several times with contemporary composers, with the Salzburg premiere of a work by Jakob Gruchmann as part of the “Concerti Corti” festival in June, and by recording a new album of works by Pascal Arnault alongside Amélie Raison, Lauriane Le Prev and Matthieu Le Levreur, scheduled for release in November this year.
The 2024/25 season also looks very varied, including my debuts with the Pasdeloup Orchestra and Mykola Diadiura in Chopin’s First Concerto at the Salle Gaveau, as well as my recital debuts in Vienna (Palais Ehrbar) and London (St. George’s, Hanover Square). Recitals are also planned in France and Germany, and I will also have the joy of reuniting with violinists Giuseppe Gibboni, Benjamin Herzl and Christoph Seybold, with whom I perform regularly for concerts in Austria, France, and Switzerland.
As for the artistic direction of the festivals for which I am responsible, the next Escapades Pianistiques at Château de Commarin will take place this year on August 17 and 18, this time with the participation of Brigitte Fossey, who will perform alongside pianist Danielle Laval in a concert-reading centered on La Fontaine’s Fables.
As for the Bruit qui Pense Festival, it will take place in spring 2025. I can’t reveal the secrets of this next edition yet, but as always there will be discoveries that I hope will once again win over our audience!
P.-A.T.: Your life as a concert pianist is very demanding. Between rehearsals and travel, how do you balance private life and professional life?
I.L.: My professional life is inseparable from my private life, because it is not something that can simply be confined from such-and-such hour to such-and-such hour. Even when I am not sitting at a piano, music follows me and often haunts me, as is the case for example when learning new works. But isn’t it also a wonderful thing to be accompanied in that way by music? The composer Horațiu Rădulescu, with whom I studied composition, liked to say that music could be caught like a microbe, and I think there is something very true in that image.
P.-A.T.: In this 21st century, there has been a considerable decline in the number of Western children enrolling at the Conservatory. How would you motivate young people to choose the piano over the smartphone?
I.L.: I think it is not easy to take the first step and turn toward music, and making sure children discover it from a very young age is essential. To motivate beginners to practice the instrument, from the very first lessons you should not focus only on theory and technique, but above all stimulate their imagination and encourage them to share their feelings through music. It is the teacher’s duty to know how to awaken the spark that can create a real musical shock in the student.
P.-A.T.: You are young; what can we wish for you in the coming years?
I.L.: To have the opportunity to reach new audiences, and to be able to introduce classical music to as many people as possible. I also want to keep discovering sublime works that are still unknown to me today, so I can explore them and include them in my concert programs.