| BIOGRAPHY "Jalbert dazzles with skill, style and taste…with all the exuberance and finesse a listener could want." THE TORONTO STAR Pianist David Jalbert is one of the most remarkable talents of the new generation. With his personal style, incomparable stage presence, and refined ear, he has wowed audiences and critics everywhere in North America: "a deeply musical pianist" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), "a virtuoso in the best sense of the word" (La Presse), "…wide-ranging musical imagination, phenomenal technique, and an unerring lightness of being" (The Toronto Star). His first solo disc, dedicated to the works of Corigliano and Rzewski, was launched to great applause on Endeavor in 2004 and was followed in 2006 by a recording of Fauré's complete Nocturnes (a winning selection on La Tribune des Critiques de Disques, France-Culture). His 2008 release on the ATMA label, Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues opus 87, drew rave reviews, won an Opus Award, and was nominated for a Juno Award. He followed it up with an album dedicated to works by minimalist greats John Adams and Philip Glass (2010), and his eagerly-anticipated recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is now out in stores. David Jalbert has also recorded several chamber music CDs, most notably with his long-standing musical partner Denise Djokic (their hit album, Folklore, garnered a Juno nomination, and their latest album, dedicated to the Chopin and Rachmaninov Sonatas, will be released in 2012) and with French hornist Louis-Philippe Marsolais. Along with violinist Jasper Wood and cellist Yegor Dyachkov, Jalbert is a member of Triple Forte, a dynamic piano trio comprised of three established soloists. Their first cd, featuring trios by Ravel, Shostakovich, and Ives, will also be released in 2012. Jalbert has also collaborated with Rachel Barton Pine, the Alcan Quartet, as well as with pianists Anton Kuerti and Naida Cole. As guest soloist, Jalbert has appeared with many orchestras, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, and National Symphony of Ireland. He has also collaborated with several conductors, including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Skitch Henderson, Bramwell Tovey, Alexander Anissimov, Peter Kuhn, David Currie, Marc David, Dmitry Liss, and Dinuk Wijeratne and has performed in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. Jalbert’s repertoire is expansive, and he plays Mozart, Schumann or Ligeti with equal pleasure. His interests in literature, philosophy, contemporary art, and rock and roll influence and inform his performances, which can be heard regularly on CBC Radio and Radio-Canada broadcasts. A national and international prize-winner, David Jalbert was the 2007 winner of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts, and is now a professor of piano at the University of Ottawa. He holds two Artist Diplomas: one from the Juilliard School in New York, the other from the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto. He received his Master’s Degree from the Université de Montréal at age 21, winning the Governor General’s Gold Medal (awarded to the top graduate student of the University). His main teachers have been Jerome Lowenthal, Marc Durand, André Laplante, and Pauline Charron. He has also worked with Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Claude Frank, Gilbert Kalish, and Marylin Engle. Click here to listen to a podcast interview with pianist David Jalbert about his recording of the complete Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, opus 87. Click here to connect to an article on David Jalbert in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. For more information please visit www.davidjalbert.com. |
