François Latour - Piano
The vibrant young Canadian pianist Jean-François Latour has established a reputation as a poetic and imaginative artist with brilliant technique and a strong personal voice who can communicate across cultures and generations. Leon Fleisher, with whom he studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, calls Latour "a highly giftet and intelligent young artist with fine musical instincts." Recognized as one of Canada's most talented young pianists, Jean-François Latour has performed throughout Canada at major venues such as the Institute Canadien in Québec City, the National Arts Center in Ottawa, and the Place des Arts in Montréal and in many major cities of Europe and North America, including Paris, Toulouse, Geneva, Hamburg, Brussels, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. He was named Young Soloist of the year 1998 by the French Language Pub lic Radio Network, and as a result, M. Latour's performances have been broadcast by the Radio Suisse-Romande, Italian National Radio-RAI, Belgian Radio-Television, and the Société Radio-Canada.
Jean-Franççois Latour made his orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières. Since then, he has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Hilton Head Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de la Montérégie among others. He has played under the direction of Timothy Vernon, Christopher Wilkins, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Victor Pull, Marc David, Christopher Warren-Green, and Lara Webber. His festival appearances include the Orford Music Festival, the Festival d'Été de Québec, the Festival du Domaine Forget, the Festival de Lanaudière, the Fontana Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, and the Vermont Mozart Festival. As a chamber musician, Jean-François Latour has collaborated with Alain Trudel, Philippe Magnan, Yehonatan Berick, and the Pacifica Quartet.
In 2005, M. Latour played the piano on stage in performances of Les 24 Préludes de Chopin by Marie Chouinard Dance Company in both Tokyo and Montréal. He also made his debut of China with a recital and master classes at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. A documentary film of his visit was made for national broadcast.
His first recording, released in 2007 by ATMA Classique, was all-Chopin.
M. Latour's honors include several first prizes in the Canadian Music Competition, a top prize in the Stepping Stones Competition, and a first prize in the Concours National de Piano de Sucy-en-Brie in France. He served as a member of the jury for the 2004 and 2007 Canadian Music Competition.
In May 2002, Jean-François Latour completed the prestigious Artist Diploma program at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he was a full scholarship student of Leon Fleisher. He also hold a Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody and an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he was a student of Marc Durand and Leon Fleisher. He earned his Bacheler's and Master's degress at the University of Montréal, where he studied with Marc Duran. Mr. Latour has also worked with John Perry, André Laplante, Ellen Mack, Marek Jablonsky and Gilbert Kalish.
M. Latour, who resides in Montreal, teaches piano at the Université de Sherbrooke. He is the recipient of a Career Grant from the Canadian Council of the Arts.