Matthieu Cognet

French pianist Matthieu Cognet is an active soloist and sought-after chamber musician whose performances have taken him to major venues and festivals across Europe, Asia, and the United States. He has appeared at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, the Cultural Institute of Chicago, the Hemptinne Festival and Festival Musicorum (Belgium), the Ruhrtriennale Festival (Germany), the Rushmore Music Festival (South Dakota), Memphis in May, the Saint-Georges Music Festival (Guadeloupe), and the Prades and Pianissimes Festivals (France).

He collaborates regularly with internationally acclaimed flutist Carol Wincenc and Grammy Award–winning bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto, and was formerly a member of the CDK Trio alongside cellist Kenneth Kuo and violinist Arturo Delmoni, Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.

As a soloist, Mr. Cognet has appeared with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, San José Chamber Orchestra, Queer Urban Orchestra, Stony Brook University Orchestra, Indiana University Student Orchestra, and the Paris Sorbonne Orchestra. His recital and chamber performances have been broadcast on Radio France, RAI (Italy), and WFMT in Chicago.

A laureate of the Concours Musical de France, the Bloomington Travel Grant, the Stony Brook Concerto Competition, and the Forte and Entraide Française Competitions (New York City), Mr. Cognet holds degrees from the Paris and Brussels Conservatories and the University of Paris–Sorbonne, where he graduated summa cum laude. He earned his Performer Diploma at Indiana University, working extensively with legendary cellist János Starker, and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University in 2017.

In addition to his performing career, Mr. Cognet published his own solo piano arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s La Valse with Lauren Keiser Publications / Hal Leonard. He serves as Artistic Director and Masterclass Director of the French-American Piano Society and has released three critically acclaimed albums: Debut Recital, Mit Humor (Odradek Records, praised by Gramophone), and Global Saxophone.

Mr. Cognet currently serves as Staff Collaborative Pianist at The Juilliard School and as French Diction Coach at both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. He has also been a guest vocal coach for Opera Philadelphia, a visiting faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, and is a Collaborative Piano Artist at the Meadowmount School of Music.