Poetry at the heart of the notes

Among poet-musicians, Clément Lefebvre is its torch-bearer for his generation. His authentic personality and sense of poetry attracted widespread attention in Paris when he was a prizewinner at the Concours International Long-Thibaud-Crespin in 2019. Prior to that, he had already made a name for himself on the other side of the Channel, gaining First Prize and the Audience Prize at the James Mottram International Piano Competition in Manchester in 2016.

These twin accolades marked a new stage in the trajectory that led him to Paris when he was just ten. There he learnt the founding principles of musical art from Billy Eidi, and pursued his studies with Jean-Michel Dayez and Hortense Cartier-Bresson, then Roger Muraro and Isabelle Dubuis at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he also benefited from the guidance of Claire Désert, Alain Planès and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Clément has received awards and support from the Banque Populaire and Safran Foundations and Mécénat Société Générale.

The number of French festivals and concert halls at which he has appeared as a guest has grown year on year, from the Auditorium du Louvre to the Auditorium de Radio France, from La Roque-d’Anthéron to Lyon (Opéra), from Metz (L’Arsenal) to La Côte-Saint-André, whose Berlioz Festival invited him in 2024 to perform Ravel’s complete works for solo piano and two pianos in tandem with Philippe Bianconi. In 2023, he was heard for the first time at the Salle Philharmonique de Liège in the prestigious ‘Piano 5 étoiles’ recital series. Clément Lefebvre has also performed in Dublin, Beijing, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Japan. On tour in Brazil, he played with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira and the Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais, thus expanding his experience with orchestras – he has already appeared alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine and Orchestre National de Metz.

Clément’s concert activity is enriched by pedagogical experience at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where since 2023 he has been assistant professor to Marie-Josèphe Jude. His firm commitment to passing on his knowledge and guiding the next generation has also prompted him to give masterclasses.

Whether he is performing Schumann and Chopin, Fauré and Ravel, or Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, his sincere and stylish playing touches mind and heart in equal measure, combining tenderness and resolution, reverie and energy, in a constantly renewed musical discourse. Clément Lefebvre has nobility of utterance, and poetry at his fingertips.