Jonathan Fournel credits to Marco Borggreve

©Photo: Marco Borggreve

Jonathan Fournel

Piano

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“A bristling technique matching fire with exquisite balance; an almost orchestral palette of tonal colours; and a brittle clarity to his playing that shone bright light on his music’s inner detail. Most of all, though, he really had something to say.”
David Kettle, The Scotsman

Jonathan Fournel was revealed with brilliance to the top international scene in spring 2021 as he won the much-coveted International Queen Elisabeth competition Grand Prix-Queen Mathilde Prize. “A natural, musical and poetic playing in Mozart’s 18^th concerto performed with majestic purity and lyricism as well as Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a theme by Haendel led with intensity and an unquestionable sense of storytelling”, Marie-Aude Roux writes in Le Monde. A few years earlier, Jonathan won First Prizes at the Scottish International Piano Competition in Glasgow, and the International Viotti competition in Vercelli, both at the age of 20.

What strikes most in Fournel’s playing, besides his stunning technique and extraordinary spectrum of colours, is this balanced mix of exquisite refinement and wild instinct, his natural lyricism and the bright clarity of his interpretations, shining light on details with a very mature understanding of the work.

He is the guest of venues and festivals such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Konzerthaus Vienna, Kioi Hall Tokyo, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Hannover’s Funkhaus, Rheingau Musik Festival, Verbier Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Radio France Auditorium, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Piano aux Jacobins Festival, the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall, Bozar Brussels, Flagey, de Bijloke Gent, Louisiana Museum in Denmark, Kumho Art Hall Seoul, Tongyeong Concert Hall, Sala Saõ Paulo, Warsaw Philhamonic Hall, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, and Sala Verdi Milan Paris’ Louis Vuitton Foundation.

Jonathan plays under the baton of conductors including Stéphane Denève, Jonathon Heyward, Thomas Dausgaard, Sascha Goetzel, Pascal Rophé, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Michael Schonwandt, Peter Oundjian, Lio Kuokman, Howard Griffiths, Alexandre Bloch, Gabor Kali, Daniel Raiskin, Hugh Wolff, and Fan Tao, and with orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Brussels Philharmonic, European Union Youth Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, NordWest Deutsche Philharmonie, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, NOSPR Katowice, Slovak Philharmonic, Macao Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National de Montpellier, and the Croatian Radio and Television Orchestra.

Fournel started studying the piano at seven in his hometown of Sarreguemines in the east of France before joining the Strasbourg Conservatoire. At 12, Jonathan was admitted to the Saarbrücken Musikhochschule in Germany in Prof. Robert Leonardy and Jean Micault’s studios. He was then admitted to the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique at 16 working with Brigitte Engerer, Bruno Rigutto, Claire Désert and Michel Dalberto and graduating with honours 5 years later. In September 2016, he joined Louis Lortie and Avo Kouyoumdjian’s studios at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth Brussels for another five years.

Chamber music has also always been an important part of his music-making, performing with musicians as Gautier Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Simone Lamsma, Vassilena Serafimova, Lorenzo Gatto, and Victor Julien-Laferrière amongst others.

Fournel signed to the multi Gramophone prize-winning label Alpha. A Brahms album was released in October 2021, receiving rave reviews from major international media. In France, the album was awarded the much coveted Diapason Découverte award and Telerama’s ffff. A Mozart album featuring concertos 18 and 21 with the Mozarteum Orchester and Howard Griffiths was released in February 2024 to great critical acclaim. This album is part of the New Generation Mozart Soloists collection, sponsored by the Orpheum Stiftung with the complete Mozart concertos featuring several soloists. Jonathan’s second solo album on Alpha Classics was released in August 2024 and is dedicated to Chopin and Szymanowski. The album is Choc Classica in France and has already received rave reviews.