Michel Dalberto

A prolific recording artist, pianist Michel Dalberto mostly focuses on non-French music and recorded a complete cycle of Schubert’s abundant piano music. Dalberto is also active as a vocal accompanist and is an important educator. Dalberto was born in Paris on June 2, 1955. Although his family was not musical, Dalberto was already studying the piano at age three. He entered the class of Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1969, remaining in that program for nine years. He also studied with Nikita Magaloff and Jean Hubeau. Major British prizes put Dalberto on the international map; he won the Clara Haskil Competition in 1975 and took first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition three years later. In the final round, he played a Mozart piano concerto, becoming the first winner of the top prize ever to do so, and from the start, he avoided cultivating a connection with French repertory. Dalberto made his recording debut in 1980 on the Erato label with an album of Beethoven sonatas; he followed that up with a Mozart piano concerto release in 1981 and backed soprano Jessye Norman on a 1983 album of Chausson songs. In 1988, Dalberto issued a recording of Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16, on the Erato label. He moved to Denon the following year for a recording of Schubert piano sonatas, and he recorded for that label for much of the first part of his career. By that time, Dalberto was already an experienced recitalist and concerto soloist who had appeared in major capitals in Western Europe and North America. Much of his energy as a recording artist in the ’80s and ’90s was devoted to a 14-volume complete set of Schubert's piano music. In addition to performing, he served as artistic advisor to the Les Arcs Academy-Festival in Bourg Saint-Maurice, France, from 1990 to 2005. Dalberto is unusual in that he has equal prominence as a solo performer and as a collaborative pianist; in addition to Norman, he has backed soprano Barbara Hendricks and a variety of instrumentalists in chamber music. Dalberto signed with the BMG/RCA label in 1997 and released an album of Debussy's Images and Préludes, one of his few recordings to feature French music. In 2011, Dalberto joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP). In the 21st century, he has recorded for various labels, including RCA, Erato, and La Dolce Volta, issuing an album of music by Berg, Brahms, Poulenc, and Schumann with clarinetist Michel Portal on the latter label in 2024. By that time, his recording catalog comprised well over 50 releases. ~ James Manheim