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The pianist, Chantal Stigliani, was born in France of Venetian origin. She completed her formal studies at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. A major influence on her career was her study and friendship with pianist Yvonne Lefébure, who had known such eminent composers as Debussy, Ravel, Dukas, Chabrier, and Gabriel Fauré.
Chantal Stigliani's lifelong love of French music helped her win first prize at the Claude Debussy International Piano Competition in 1975. However, her true passion is the works of J.S. Bach. Her approach to Bach’s music has been described as being liberated from conventional formats and attitudes. She is also noted for her interest in rarely played works. Recently, for example, she performed a sonata by Paul Dukas during a Florida tour, and she gave a series of concerts in Tokyo dedicated to lesser-known French composers.
In addition to recording for French radio, each year Chantal Stigliani appears at the distinguished Salle Gaveau in Paris, and as recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician in France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Canada, Italy, and the UK. She regularly gives master-classes in France, Greece, and Bulgaria. She has been invited by the University of South Florida (Tampa) and by the Musashino Academia Musicae (Tokyo) to give a series of master-classes on French music. She has made numerous recordings of Bach’s works for Solstice, Chevrillon-Philip, and Arcobaleno, and recorded the complete piano works of Paul Dukas for Naxos.
Chantal Stigliani has an eclectic approach to chamber music. She performs with instrumentalists, singers, a classical vocal quartet, and actors (voice and piano). She has given a number of performances of poetry and music: Rilke–Bach with Laurent Terzieff, Mallarmé–Debussy with Tassos Bandis in Greece (Melina Mercouri Foundation), and Milosz–Mozart with Pascal de Boysson. With the company La Hulotte, she produced Tennyson’s melodrama Enoch Arden to music of Richard Strauss, with Jacques-Marie Legendre. She has presented the novels of de Maupassant with Anne Lefol in France and Harriett Anderson in Sweden.
Chantal Stigliani founded two associations. PHILOMUSES brings together gifted artists from different disciplines—musicians, painters, composers, poets, writers, and actors - to enrich their creative experience. In the same spirit, she has set up workshops to introduce children to music, dance, mime, and the history of art. Her second association, PYXIS (Greek for “compass”), helps young artists from different disciplines get a strong start in their professional life. |
