Alain Raës (Piano)

Born: March 26, 1947 - Roubaix, France

The French pianist, Alain Raës, was born to musical parents with whom he began his musical studies very early. He became a pupil of Jean-Jacques Painchaud at the Schola Cantorum. In 1965, he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in Paris. In 1970 he obtained a 1^st prize in piano in the class Lélia Gousseau. He then enrolled in the 3^rd round for the preparation of international competitions. In 1972 he won the 1^st Prize for ensemble music in the class of Maurice Crut, and in 1973 the Grand Prix and the Prix Spécial Suisse" at the Geneva International Competition.

Winner of first medals of music theory, sight-reading and history of music, Alain Raës also works in musical analysis with Jacques Castérède. Today, besides his concerts, he teaches piano and musical analysis at the Conservatoire National de Region (CNR) de Lille and the conservatoire de Roubaix respectively.

Alain Raës has given recitals in France and abroad (Turin, Suisse Romande), and with orchestras under the baton of Ferdinand Leitner (Wiener Symphoniker), and under the baton of Jean-Claude Casadesus (Orchestre de Lille), Stéphane Cardon, Henry Vachey (Orchestre de Douai), as well as with Jean- Jean-Marc Cochereau, Jacques Mercier ou encore Oscar Danon, etc.

Alain Raës has recorded for many years for Solstice label and has specialized in the repertoire of French music. In this regard, he was the first to record the complete piano works by Arthur Honegger (1976), then that of Albert Roussel (1979), and an anthology of Florent Schmitt.

Source: Les Concerts d'Esther Website (2009), English translation by Aryeh Oron (February 2011)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2011)

Alain Raës: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Alain Raës (Les Concerts d'Esther) [French]

Alian Raës (Wikipedia) [French]