Eric Le Sage

Pianist Eric Le Sage specializes in Romantic music, often performing works by <a href="spotify:artist:2UqjDAXnDxejEyE0CzfUrZ">Robert Schumann</a> and the music of French composers. He has a large repertory of rarely played concertos of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Le Sage was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, on June 15, 1964. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and went on to London for further training with Maria Curcio. Major competition wins launched his career, including the Porto International Piano Competition in 1985, the Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau, Germany in 1989, and the Leeds Competition in 1990. That win entailed the chance to perform in concert under conductor <a href="spotify:artist:4GQwgdcDQwqtcHICjUNndp">Simon Rattle</a>, and Le Sage has gone on to perform concertos with such top orchestras as Berlin's <a href="spotify:artist:5HxMHFsUWX0VqOlmsoGrTj">Konzerthaus Orchester</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:6yeL5iw4hXNZtd8T7FOoFU">Los Angeles Philharmonic</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:41dt7Un3zDLbOpYfTasmid">NHK Symphony</a>. His recital career has taken him to such prestigious venues as Wigmore Hall in London, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and Tokyo's Suntory Hall, as well as most of France's major halls. An enthusiastic chamber music player, Le Sage has collaborated with the likes of the <a href="spotify:artist:2fFxNneQmtCTdIwEpfXnqe">Quatuor Ébène</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6gPZtcc8s5kJlYPhGWOeGZ">Les Vents Français</a>, and flutist <a href="spotify:artist:6duaKoFWgzQNgHlfmn3dHq">Emmanuel Pahud</a>. In 1993, he made his recording debut on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Denon%22">Denon</a> label, backing clarinetist <a href="spotify:artist:31rALqMKxBY8SoTJhNwJhn">Paul Meyer</a> on the album French Clarinet Art. A frequent sight at French festivals, Le Sage founded the Festival international de musique de Salon-de-Provence in 1994. He backed a variety of other soloists on recordings in the 1990s, making his solo debut in 2001 on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a> label with the album Poulenc: Oeuvres pour piano.

Le Sage is especially noted for his complete recorded cycles of the music of various composers, crowned by a set of <a href="spotify:artist:2UqjDAXnDxejEyE0CzfUrZ">Schumann</a>'s music in observance of that composer's 200th birthday in 2010. He has also recorded complete cycles of the piano music of Poulenc and the piano chamber music of Fauré; a cycle of Brahms' chamber music with piano was underway in the late 2010s; by 2021, it had reached nine volumes. Le Sage has recorded for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a> labels, as well as many others; in the late 2010s, he moved to the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22B+Records%22">B Records</a> label for his Brahms chamber cycle, which continued through the early 2020s. In 2021, he issued an album of Hindemith's wind sonatas with <a href="spotify:artist:6gPZtcc8s5kJlYPhGWOeGZ">Les Vents Français</a> on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics%22">Warner Classics</a>. In 2022, he released an album of Mozart piano concertos with the <a href="spotify:artist:2DMF5PvArh8PhpR1YRDBgv">Gävle Symphony Orchestra</a> on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alpha%22">Alpha</a> label and the solo recital Jardins Suspendus on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sony+Classical%22">Sony Classical</a>. Le Sage returned in 2023 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics%22">Warner Classics</a>, backing flutist <a href="spotify:artist:6duaKoFWgzQNgHlfmn3dHq">Emmanuel Pahud</a> on the album Romances. By that time, his recording catalog comprised more than 60 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi