Josquin Otal studied in Lyon at Conservatoire à Rayonnement Regional with Hervé Billaut and received his master’s degree from Paris’ Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSMDP) in 2015. He also began work towards an Artist Diploma at the CNSMDP under the supervision of Denis Pascal and Bruno Rigutto, specializing in music by Enrique Granados. Since 2016, Otal has been an artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium under the direction of Louis Lortie and Avedis Kouyoumedjian.
Otal has performed numerous concertos with orchestra and has won several prizes in international competitions, including Piano Campus, Grand Prix Alain Marinaro, Washington International Competition, Rhodes International Piano Competition, and Fondation Banque Populaire. He has also been invited to perform in various festivals in France and Belgium – Auditorium Rainier III in Monte Carlo, Nahant Piano Festival, Piano en Valois in Angoulème, Flagey, Chopin à Bagatelle, Prades, Les Chorégies d’Orange, Théatre Bouffes du Nord, Abbaye de Vallemagne, Opéra Garnier, Theatre du Chatelet, as well as abroad in Germany, Spain, Abu Dhabi, United States and Morocco. In 2015, Otal was named the Révélations de l’Adami Fellow of the Bluthner Foundation. He is further supported by Fondation Safran and Fondation Banque Populaire.
Recenly, Otal has recorded Goyescas by Enrique Granados as well as an album with sonatas by Liszt and Reubke, both on the label “Printemps des arts”.
You can hear Otal’s First Round performance during Session 1 on Thursday, July 30.