Lucas Debargue

Lucas Debargue (born 23 October 1990) is a French pianist and composer. He was awarded fourth prize at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Early life and education Lucas Debargue was born in Paris, France, on 23 October 1990. He grew up in a family of non-musicians in Compiègne. His parents work in the medical field; his mother is a nurse and his father is a physiotherapist He took his first piano lessons at the music school in Compiègne at the age of 10 with teacher Christine Muenier.

He stopped his piano studies at age 15, as he became more interested in literature. At 17, he moved to Paris to study for a degree in arts and literature at Paris Diderot University and graduated it with a Licence degree. During this period he decided to become a professional musician. Soon after they started to prepare for competitions which met with success at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Lucas Debargue graduated under direction of Rena Shereshevskaya in 2016 with the school's highest recognition, the Prix Cortot.

Career In 2015, Debargue was selected to participate in the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition. Arriving there completely unknown, his very individual performances caused furore and attracted attention. The second round was the breakthrough where his expressive performance and unexpected program – the little-played Nikolai Medtner Sonata No. 1 in F Minor and Maurice Ravel "Gaspard de la Nuit" was particularly impressive. Debargue was awarded fourth prize at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and received the special prize of Moscow music critics.

After his success, Debargue started his career quickly. In 2015 Debargue signed with Sony Classical. In current time he is AMC - Artists Management Company artist with general manager Franco Panozzo and collaborates with Primavera Consulting.

He is performing in concert halls like Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Theatre des Champs Elysées, Louis Vuitton Fondation in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Konzerthaus Vienna, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Tonhalle in Zürich, L'Auditori in Barcelona, MüPa Budapest, the Konserthuset in Stockholm, National Philharmonic Warsaw, Odessa Philharmonic, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Zaryadye Concert Hall and many others. He is a regular artist at the festivals such as Verbier festival, Tsinandali festival, Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron Festival de Pâques d'Aix-en-Provence.

Debargue has collaborated with conductors like Ludovic Morlot, Lorenzo Viotti, Elim Chan, Esa-Pekka Salonen , Andrey Boreyko, Laurence Equilbey Tarmo Peltokoski Tugan Sokhiev, Sascha Goetzel, Antonello Manacorda , Bertrand de Billy, Roberto González-Monjas, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Andras Keller, Maxim Emelyanychev, Eugene Tzigane, Christian Schumann, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Joshua Weilerstein, Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Jurowski and many others.

His chamber music partners include musicians like Gidon Kremer, Klaus Mäkelä, Janine Jansen, Martin Fröst, Renaud Capucon, Edgar Moreau, Lisa Batiashvili, Daniel Hope, Kristof Barati, Camille Thomas, Marc Bouchkov, Alexandra Conunova, David Castro-Balbi, Alexandre Castro-Balbi, Eva Zavaro, Jerome Pernoo, Adrien Boisseau, Quatuor Terpsycordes, and Ébène Quartet. Debargue works regularly with Kremerata Baltica. In 2019 Gidon Kremer named him "Kremerata Baltica permanent guest".

The collaboration with Sony Classical has lasted for years and under this label Debargue has released numerous albums. In 2017 Debargue was awarded ECHO Klassik prize.

Since the beginning of his career, Debargue has continued composing alongside of performing. His oeuvre includes numerous chamber music pieces, such as Trio for violin, cello and piano, Quatuor Symphonique for piano quartet, Cello Sonata, Violin Sonata,String Quartet, Piano Quintet. His works include many piano pieces, such as Toccata, Scherzo, "Menuet Triste", "2ème pièce pour piano: Prelude and Fugue in G Minor", "3ème pièce pour piano: Barcarolle in F Minor", and Concertino for piano, string orchestra and drums. He has also composed vocal music: songs on the words of Charles Baudelaire.

Lucas Debargue is interested in supporting French piano brands. He has a long-standing collaboration with French piano builder Stephen Paulello. On Stephen Paulello's innovative Opus 102 Concert Grand, Debargue has given many concerts, including concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. On Opus 102 Concert Grand Debargue also recorded his latest album "Fauré: Complete Music for Solo Piano" for Sony Classical.

In recent years, Debargue has been actively interested in talking about music and interacting on musical topics. With the release of his album "Fauré: Complete Music for Solo Piano" in 2024, Debargue also recorded a series of video interviews on the subject of Gabriel Fauré. In 2025, he was a guest on video podcasts of French pianists, popular youtubers and influencers French Piano Guys – Aurélien Froissart and Julien Cohen He has also written several essays on musical topics. They have been compiled on the Medium site.

In 2017 a documentary directed by Martin Mirabel (Bel Air productions), "Lucas Debargue: To Music", was released. Documentary received International Classical Music Award for the best music documentary in year 2021 and was selected for the FIPA in Biarritz in 2018.

Compositions

Chamber Music

Concertino, for piano, string orchestra and drums (2017), premiered by the composer and Kremerata Baltica in Cesis (Latvia). Quatuor Symphonique, for piano quartet (2018), premiered in the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris by the composer and Eva Zavaro (violin), Adrien Boisseau (viola) and Jerome Pernoo (cello). Trio No 1, for violin, cello and piano (2019), premiered in Théâtre des Champs-Elysées by the composer and David Castro-Balbi (violin) Alexandre Castro-Balbi (cello). Sonata for cello and piano (2019) Sonata for violin and piano (2020), commissioned and premiered for festival « Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn » by Eva Zavaro and the composer String Quartet No1 « Aus Wien » (2021) premiered for festival « Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn » String Quartet No2 « Élégie » (2022) premiered in Victoria Hall, Geneva, by the Terpsycordes string quartet Piano Quintet for 2 violins, viola, cello and piano (2023) Trio No 2, for violin, cello and piano (2025), commissioned and premiered for Festival des Forêts by the composer and David Castro-Balbi (violin) Alexandre Castro-Balbi (cello)

Piano solo

Toccata in B Minor (2019) Scherzo in A Minor (2020) 2ème pièce pour piano: Prelude and Fugue in G Minor (2020) 3ème pièce pour piano: Barcarolle in F Minor (2020) Mazurka No1 in B flat Major (2022) Menuet Triste in F sharp Minor (2023) Mazurka No2 in E Major (2024) Suite in D Minor, in 5 parts (2024) : French overture, Pantomime, Sarabande, War Minuet and Gigue.

Discography

Solo recordings

Collaboration albums et al.Deutsche Grammophon