Frank Braley

Pianist Frank Braley has fashioned a highly successful career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and conductor. A gifted child who would go on to win the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition, Braley has performed with leading conductors, major orchestras, and soloists from around the world. In 2023, he and frequent partner Éric Le Sage teamed up to issue Le Ruban Dénoué: Valses. Braley was born in Corbeil-Essonne, France, in 1968. He studied piano from age four; at 18 he enrolled at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied piano with Pascal Devoyon and Jacques Rouvier. In 1991, Braley won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition, launching his highly successful career. To say the victory was unexpected would be an understatement: it was the 21-year-old Braley’s first international competition. Thereafter, he regularly toured Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Among his most significant early recordings is a 1998 release of Richard Strauss' Op. 5 Sonata and other Strauss piano works on Harmonia Mundi (reissued in 2008). In 2002, Braley debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 at the Tanglewood Festival with conductor Hans Graf. The following year, on September 18, he debuted at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain. Throughout his career, Braley has worked with many notable conductors, including Dutoit, Hogwood, Marriner, and Masur. His orchestral appearances include working with orchestras in Berlin, Paris, London, and Rotterdam. In chamber music, he’s performed with such distinguished artists as violinist Renaud Capuçon, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and clarinetist Pascal Moraguès, among others. Braley has fearlessly lent his support to student performers, not necessarily a career-boosting strategy: in 2007, he toured several French cities, giving a series of concerts with the French Youth Orchestra under conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus. Braley’s repertory is varied: while much of it includes a fair number of French works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Poulenc, it also takes in a disparate range of compositions by Mozart, Schubert, and more. In 2009, Braley issued a recording of Schumann piano works (Ballszenen and Kinderball, both for piano four-hands) with pianist Éric Le Sage. His 2010-2011 concert schedule included a tour of London, Singapore, Paris, and other French cities, with Renaud Capuçon performing the cycle of Beethoven’s ten sonatas for violin and piano. From 2014 to 2021, Braley was the music director of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, playing piano with and conducting the group. He has made numerous recordings for such labels as EMI, Harmonia Mundi, and RCA. In 2019, Braley recorded an album of Brahms' clarinet sonatas & trio with Moraguès and Christian Poltéra on the Indesens label. Braley once more teamed with Le Sage in 2023 for the Sony Classical album Le Ruban Dénoué: Valses; the pianists were joined by soprano Sandrine Piau. ~ Robert Cummings & Keith Finke