David Kadouch

David Kadouch is a French pianist and chamber musician. His international career began early when, at age 13, he was in concert with Itzhak Perlman in New York. A finalist in several competitions, he was named Young Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2011. He has performed and recorded with a focus on chamber music and contemporary music.

Life and career Born in Nice, Kadouch began his piano training at the Conservatoire de Nice and continued studies at the age of 14 with Jacques Rouvier at the Conservatoire de Paris. He then moved to the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, where he studied piano with Dmitri Bashkirov and chamber music with Márta Gulyás and Ralf Gothóni. He has also attended master classes with Daniel Barenboim, Murray Perahia, Maria João Pires, Maurizio Pollini, Stephen Kovacevich, and Eliso Virsaladze.

At the age of 13, Kadouch won the Young Talents Competition in Milan and was subsequently invited by Itzhak Perlman to give a joint concert in New York. In 2005 he came third at the Telekom Beethoven Competition as well as at the Kissinger Klavierolymp in 2007. He came fourth at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2009. Kadouch was Young Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la musique classique in 2010. That year, he played a solo recital at Metropolitan Hall in New York City. He was named Young Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2011.

His repertoire includes not only the usual classical and romantic piano works from Bach to Beethoven and Mendelssohn to Saint-Saëns, but also less frequently performed music, for example Arvo Pärt's Lamentate, Guillaume Connesson's piano concerto The Shining One, and Sergei Taneyev's Prelude and Fuge, Op. 29.

Kadouch has played at international music festivals such as the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Jerusalem Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Verbier Festival, Colmar Festival, Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, and at La Folle Journée Nantes. He has worked with conductors Gábor Takács-Nagy, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Charles Dutoit, and Chung Myung-whun. His chamber music partners include for example the Quatuor Ébène, the Modigliani Quartet, Edgar Moreau, Renaud Capuçon, and Gautier Capuçon.

*Updated January 2024

February 22, 2023: The intimate journey of Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch
- Radio France

January 31, 2023: Travels in recital with Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch at the Athénée
- Olyrix

January 27, 2023: “Invitation au voyage” at the Parco della Musica
-Il Sole 24 Ore

January 17, 2023: David Kadouch’s Playlist and Interview
- Díapason Magazine

April 11, 2022: David Kadouch Joins radiofrance as their Guest of The Day
- radiofrance

April 8, 2022: David Kadouch Releases Album, ‘Les musiques de Madame Bovary’
- Spotify

March 26, 2022: Balenciaga’s Winter 2022 Collection Includes David Kadouch’s ‘Slavonic Dances in E minor’
- Glasstire

September 6, 2019: David Kadouch Releases Album, ‘Revolution’
- Spotify

Editor's Choice: March 2023 | The best new classical recordings
”A philosophical, emotional and geographic journey told through a superb selection of songs; Sandrine Piau is a profoundly poetic guide, David Kadouch her perfect travelling companion.”
- Gramophone

Classical CDs: Deserted churches, funeral marches and a Cornish lifeboat
”Perhaps the most jaw-droppingly effective section in pacing, flow and sheer attention of both singer and pianist to the detail of every nuance from beginning to end…”
- Sebastian Scotney, The Arts Desk

Recording of the week: Voyage intime
”…by far the most appealing ‘invitation au voyage’ I’ve received so far this month came in the form of today’s beguiling programme of songs of travel from Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch… Voyage intime is guaranteed to stave off any winter Wanderlust for a fraction of the price of a real-life minibreak, with the French soprano at the top of her game and her new recital-partner proving the most illuminating of travel-companions.”
- Katherine Cooper, prestomusic

ROME, PIAU/KADOUCH CONCERT INVITATION VOYAGE 01/02/2023
“Sophisticated, eclectic, extremely delicate, the Invitation au voyage program is, literally, a cathartic journey between romanticism and musical symbolism. The eclectic voice of Sandrine Piau and the delicacy of the piano art of David Kadouch lead the spectators.”
- Stefano Ceccarelli, L’Ape musicale

ARCACHON: AN EXCEPTIONAL CONCERT TO START THE CLASSICAL SEASON
“…born in 1995, [David Kadouch] illustrate[s] a new generation of artists overflowing with energy and also with rigor, who knew how to give this Beethoven concerto a brilliance and a dynamic that the spectators greatly appreciated.”
- Christian Visticot, Sud Ouest

DAVID KADOUCH, A PIANIST LOOKING FOR EMMA BOVARY
”Above all, there is David Kadouch's admirably refined playing, his quivering, caressing, silky touch even in the impalpable, the naturalness of a superlative technique carrying poetry, the subtle palette of camaïeux that characterizes this piano imbued with a native nostalgia.”
- Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde

DAVID KADOUCH IS A PIANIST WITH A POETIC STREAK ★★★★☆
“Kadouch is a pianist with a poetic streak. The variations on a Russian song by Farrenc never degenerate into gunfire. The tempo in a Chopin nocturne fluctuates subtly.”
- Guido van Oorschot, De Volkskrant

DAVID KADOUCH, THE ROMANTIC SHADOW OF EMMA BOVARY AT THE GRANGE DE MESLAY
“Pianist David Kadouch performed on Saturday June 25 at the Grange de Meslay festival, around a musical portrait of Emma Bovary, the heroine of Flaubert's masterpiece.”
- Xavier Renard, La Croix

HEROIC INCURSIONS OF DAVID KADOUCH
“The nine incursions place the pianist and virtuoso of David Kadouch at the helm, with abrupt changes of tones. And it concludes with a spirit of absolute communication.”
– Suzanne Lay-Canessa, Bachtrack

FRANCK, POULENC, STROHL, TOMBELLE CELLO SONATAS
“The partnership with Kadouch is also a fine thing, the two of them clearly singing from the same hymn sheet. The beginnings of a partnership akin to Erato’s longstanding cello-pianist team, Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley, perhaps? Who knows. What I can say with confidence is that this is a standout album.”
– Charlotte Gardner, Gramophone

PIANIST DAVID KADOUCH DELIVERS INTELLIGENT, IMAGINATIVE RECITAL
“Kadouch is an intellectual pianist, one who seems to favor head over heart. His sound at the instrument, in this case a Boesendorfer concert grand, can be aggressive and occasionally dry. But his musical instincts are sound, and it will be interesting to observe how his career, already taking hold in Europe, will develop as he plays more in the United States.”
– Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post

Orchestral Repertoire

Alkan
Piano Concerto Op. 39

Bartok
Concerto No. 3

Beethoven
Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19
Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, “Emperor," Op. 73
Triple Concerto

Bloch
Concerto for Piano

Brahms
Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15

Chopin
Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21

Fauré
Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 19

Haydn
Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Hob. XVIII/4
Concerto No. 11 in D Major, Hob. XVIII/2

Hindemith
“Les 4 temperaments”

Liszt
Concerto No. 2 in A Major

Mendelssohn
Concerto No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25
Concerto No. 2 in d minor, Op. 40

Mozart
Concerto No. 5 in D Major, KV. 175
Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, KV. 271
Concerto No. 13 in C Major, KV. 415
Concerto No. 17 in G Major, KV. 453
Concerto No. 24 in c minor, KV. 491
Concerto No. 25 in C Major, KV. 503

Poulenc
Concerto for Two Pianos

Prokofiev
Concerto No. 1 in D-Flat Major, Op. 10

Rachmaninov
Concerto No. 1 Op. 1 in f-Sharp minor (revised version)
Concerto No. 3 in d minor, Op. 30
Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 43

Ravel
Concerto in G Major

Saint-Saëns
Concerto No. 2 in g minor
Carnival of the Animals

Schoenberg
Concerto for Piano

Schumann
Introduction and Allegro appassionato, for piano & orchestra in G Major, Op. 92
Concerto in a minor, Op. 54

Shostakovich
Concerto in c minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35

*Updated August 2022