Jean-Pierre Ferey (Piano)

Born: France

The French pianist, Jean-Pierre Ferey, began studying piano at age 6 at the Conservatoire of Le Mans, and won prizes in piano and chamber music at the age of 15 and 16. Then he posed the problem of orientation, and ambient pressure, completely abandoning the piano, and spending his leisure in sport rather than music. He attended classes in composition, harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatoire of Creteil. After studied of civilian engineering with option geology, he joined as a researcher in a small geothermal engineering company. Thanks to a favourable combination of circumstances this was a half-time job. He was able to resume his piano studies with Lelia Gousseau, Professor at the Paris Conservatoire and the École Normale de Musique. In December 1983, he took a vacation to participate in the Competition of Zaragoza - three weeks of preparation and two weeks of competition - where he won the 4^th prize in competition with "full time" pianists. Less than a year later, he terminated his activity as an engineer, whereas he could now make a serious progress by taking the risk of dedicating himself completely to music. "If I had not done," he said, I would have regretted it my whole life. "

Since then, he has become a full time concert pianist, with a slow start in the first year and getting better over the years. He is often the producer of his concerts, renting the hall and paying the ticket prices. His repertoire is extensive, his palette very broad and the concerts he gives covers works from Haydn to Henri Dutilleux. He has recorded works by such diverse composers as Samuel Barber, Léon Boëllmann, Jean Cras, Marcel Dupré, Gabriel Fauré, César Franck, Eugene Gigout, Paul Ladmirault, Jean Langlais, Frederic Ledroit, Aubert Lemeland, Gian-Francesco Malipiero, Flor Peeters, Maurice Ravel and Charles-Marie Widor, on labels as Cybelia and Skarbo.

Source: Groupe de musique de chambre de la Société Amicale des Anciens Elèves de l'Ecole Polytechnique Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (February 2011); Bits & pieces from other sources
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2011)

Jean-Pierre Ferey: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Musique: les interprètes: Claude Abadie (Groupe de musique de chambre de la Société Amicale des Anciens Elèves de l'Ecole Polytechnique) [French]