Overview
Biography
Hélène Grimaud (born 7 November 1969) is a French classical pianist and the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York.
Early life and education
Hélène Grimaud was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. She described family nationalities in a New York Times interview with John Rockwell: "My father came from a background of Sephardic Jews in Africa, and my mother's ancestors were Jewish Berbers from Corsica." Her father was adopted as a child by a French family and he became a university tutor teaching languages. According to Luc Antonini the name Grimaud is typical of the region of Trets in Provence. She has stated that, as a child, she was often "agitated". She discovered the piano at seven. In 1982, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where she studied with Jacques Rouvier. In 1985, she won 1st Prize at the Conservatory and the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles Cros for her recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No. 2.
She experiences synesthesia, where one physical sense adds to another, in her case seeing music as colour, which helps her with memorising music scores.
Career
In 1987, she launched her professional career with a solo recital in Paris and a performance with the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Barenboim.
She performed repeatedly at the BBC Proms, including at the Last Night of the BBC Proms in London in September 2008, playing the piano part of Beethoven's Choral Fantasia.
Critical reception
Critics have praised Grimaud's willingness to reinterpret works and take chances, and compared her to Glenn Gould:
Grimaud doesn't sound like most pianists: she is a rubato artist, a reinventor of phrasings, a taker of chances. "A wrong note that is played out of élan, you hear it differently than one that is played out of fear," she says. She admires the "more extreme players . . . people who wouldn't be afraid to play their conception to the end." Her two overriding characteristics are independence and drive, and her performances attempt, whenever possible, to shake up conventional pianistic wisdom. Brian Levine, the executive director of the Glenn Gould Foundation, sees in Grimaud a resemblance to Gould: "She has this willingness to take a piece of music apart and free herself from the general body of practice that has grown up around it."
Personal life
In 1991, at age 21, Grimaud moved to Tallahassee, Florida, to be near a boyfriend, Jeff Keesecker who taught bassoon at Florida State University. In 1997, she settled in Westchester County, north of New York City. After some time spent in Berlin, she currently resides in Switzerland.
She has a passion for wolves, which she studies and raises. She now divides her time between her musical career and the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York, which she co-founded with her former companion, photographer J. Henry Fair.
Honours
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2002).
- National Order of Merit (France) (16 May 2008).
- Legion of Honour (3 April 2015).
