Jean Fassina

Jean Fassina in October 2010, at the International Chopin Piano Competition

Jean Fassina (born 9 November 1936) is a French classical pianist born in Algiers.

A concertist, direct heir of the great Paderewski piano tradition, Fassina is a recognized teacher who counts a pleiad of French and foreign artists among his students.^{[livre 1]}

Biography[]

Coming from a line of pianists, (his grandmother was a pianist and composer, his mother performed in concert and was his first teacher), he trained at a very young age at the Conservatoire de Paris.^{[livre 2]} After winning his prizes there, Fassina felt the desire to go and study in Eastern European countries, where the results of the teaching given there worked wonders in international competitions: "When not one but twenty pianists dazzle you, there is something obvious about it".^{[livre 3]}

He obtained a scholarship that allowed him to study in Poland. He completed his training as a pianist in Krakow, the high place of the Polish piano school, under the benevolent guidance of Henryk Sztompka,^[1] himself a former student of Paderewski and worthy heir of an instrumental and stylistic tradition going back to Chopin and Liszt.^{[livre 1]}

In the first lesson, Sztompka told him "You are a musician, but you have to do everything over again...". Thus began four years of intensive work which Fassina himself describes as "the most extraordinary of his life".^{[livre 4]}

After a short and intense concert career from 1961 to 1975,^{[livre 1]} he devoted himself to what he considered his true vocation: teaching the piano. In about ten years, he trained a good number of artists and teachers of all nationalities, to whom he passed on the knowledge he received in Poland.

After forty years of teaching, Jean Fassina published a book (Lettre à un jeune pianiste Fayard) in which he shares his pianistic knowledge and his pedagogical experience.

Pedagogy[]

Fassina teaches in many countries in Europe and Asia:^{[livre 1]}

• Conservatoire de Strasbourg,
• Academies of Nice and Barèges (France),
• Académie de Haut Perfectionnement de Musique de Saluzzo (Italy),
• Conservatories of Sapporo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Okinawa (Japan),
• Central Conservatory of Music (China),
• Rencontres internationales d’Enghien,^[2]

Pupils[]

More than a hundred internationally known musicians have been students of Fassina such as:

• Jacques Rouvier,
• Michel Béroff,
• Olivier Gardon
• Jean-Rodolphe Kars,
• Jacqueline Bourges-Mounoury
• Jean-Louis Haguenauer,^[3]
• Beate Perrey,^[4]

Master classes[]

Fassina is the permanent guest of prestigious master classes:^{[livre 1]}

• Institut Chopin de Varsovie,^{[livre 1]}
• Rencontre internationale de musique d'Enghien,^[5]
• Institut supérieur de musique et de pédagogie^[6] as well as the Higher Conservatories and Universities of Porto, Brussels, Bucharest, Beijing, Tokyo, Osaka.^{[livre 1]}

Jury of international competitions[]

He also sits on the jury of numerous international competitions:

• Concours international P.T.N.A (Japan 2003)
• Concours international Frédéric Chopin de Moscou (Russia 2004)
• Concours international de Musique de Porto (Portugal 2002 and 2004)
• Concours international de Musique du Maroc (March 2013)
• Piano Campus International Competition (Pontoise, France, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011)

Sources[]

• Lettre à un jeune pianiste - Jean Fassina - Foreword by Jacques Rouvier - Éditions Fayard - III 2000

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Lettre à un jeune pianiste - Jean Fassina - Foreword by Jacques Rouvier - Éditions Fayard - III 2000 ISBN 2-213-60592-0

External links[]

• Entretien avec Jean Fassina, Pianiste