Biography

David Fray started piano lessons at age four; he eventually furthered his studies with Jacques Rouvier at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris, from which he graduated with the highest honors. Mr. Fray has worked with artists such as Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Christoph Eschenbach, and Pierre Boulez, and has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras and in recitals around the world. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut as a Shenson Young Artist in 2010.

David Fray made his US debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2009. He has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and many other ensembles. In 2010 he performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall.

David Fray has been an exclusive Virgin Classics artist since 2007. His first recording was devoted to Bach and Boulez and named Best Record of the Year by the newspapers Le Soir in Belgium and The Times in England. For his second album, consisting of four keyboard concertos by Bach and recorded with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the German Recording Academy named him Piano Instrumentalist of the Year 2009. Mr. Fray’s third recording for Virgin is dedicated to Schubert’s Moments Musicaux and Impromptus. In 2008, the German/French TV network ARTE+7 presented an hour-long documentary, David Fray Records Johann Sebastian Bach, which has been released on DVD.

Mr. Fray is the recipient of many honors, including the 2008 Newcomer of the Year award from BBC Music magazine for his Bach/Boulez CD and two ECHO Classic awards from the German Recording Academy. He won both the second grand prize and the prize for Best Interpretation of a Work by a Canadian Composer at the 2004 Montreal International Music Competition.

(October 2012)