French pianist Yannick Rafalimanana has developed an international concert career performing recitals and chamber music concerts regularly throughout Europe, the United States, South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Winning the first prize in the 2012 Tufts/New England Conservatory Soloist Competition, he made his US debut in Symphony Hall in Boston, playing Schumann Concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra under the baton of Keith Lockhart.
He recently performed at the Berliner Philarmonie, in Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Chamber Hall, in the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Kennedy Center in Washington, live on Boston’s radio station WBGH, in Jordan Hall with the Borromeo String Quartet, in Boston with violists Kim Kashkashian and Thomas Reibl, in Poland with violinists Andreas Reiner, Arnold Steinhardt and in Shelter Island (NY) sharing the stage with Itzhak Perlman. He also made his Brazil recital debut performing at the Mube Museum and his Israel debut performing at the Jerusalem Music Center.
Mr. Rafalimanana has won numerous awards and prizes in several competitions, including the Borromeo Quartet Guest Artist Award, the Bruxelles J-Musiciens Competition, the Brest Piano Competition, and the International Ravel Academy's Rotary-Lions Competition.
As a soloist, he has performed regularly with the Orchestre CNR de Lille, Orchestre Impromptu, and the Ensemble Parisien. He recently founded and conducted the LFO - a chamber orchestra based out of Boston, involving NEC students, with whom he has also played as a soloist. Mr. Rafalimanana also performs frequently with the Trio La Plata, a group formed in Paris in 2006.
An advocate of new music, he has great experience as a collaborative pianist with orchestras, and it has led him to work under the batons of Peter Eötvös, Jean Deroyer, Thomoty Brock, Zolt Nagy and John Heiss and perform in such venues as La Cite de la Musique and Radio France in Paris, Jordan Hall and Harvard Music Association in Boston and at the “Poisson Rouge” in New York. He also works often with the Ensemble Le Balcon under Maxime Pascal in Paris.
Mr. Rafalimanana has participated in numerous summer festivals; among them are the Perlman Music Program, the Greatlakes Chamber Music Festival, the Brussels Chamber Music Festival, Krzyzowa Music Festival. He has collaborated with some of most well known musicians, such as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Joseph Kalichstein, Kim Kashkashian, Gary Hoffman, Paul Katz, Narek Hakhnazaryan , Roger Tapping, Julian Arp, Frank Stadler, and Andrej Bielow.
Born in Lille, France, Mr. Rafalimanana began his musical studies at the Conservatory of Lille under the tutelage of Alain Raes. He later graduated with first prizes in both Piano Performance, and Chamber Music and Collaborative Piano Performance, from the 'Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris'. Among his teachers are Bruno Rigutto, Michael Levinas and Jean-Claude Pennetier. His chamber music and collaborative piano coaches include Francois Salque, Michel Moraguais, David Walter and Jean Koerner. Mr. Rafalimanana graduated from the New England Conservatory with a Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance and a Master of Music in Chamber Music under Vivian Weilerstein.
Mr. Rafalimanana has been teaching Chamber Music at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen from 2015 to 2018.
Fotocredits: Neda Navaee, Skaiste Diksaityte
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