Award winning French pianist David Fray was named “Newcomer of the Year 2008” by BBC Music Magazine. A frequent soloist with leading orchestras, David Fray has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Asher Fisch, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Jarvi, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Jaap van Zweden among many others, and also maintains an active career as a recitalist, performing in the most important concert halls across Europe, Asia and the United States.
David Fray made his United States debut in the summer of 2009 with the Cleveland Orchestra and went on later that season to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. In July and August of 2010 he performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. Recital debuts followed in November 2010 at Carnegie Hall and in December 2011 in Chicago at Symphony Hall. Subsequently, David Fray appeared with the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Cincinnati and Indianapolis and returned to the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His concerts in May 2013 in Chicago mark his orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony.
David Fray has been supported by artists such as Dimitri Bashkirov, Menahem Pressler, Paul Badura-Skoda, Christoph Eschenbach and Pierre Boulez. Upon Maestro Boulez’ recommendation, David Fray received in Germany the prize for young talents of the “Klavier Festival Ruhr” where he played in the summer of 2006. Christoph Eschenbach invited him to the 10th Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw to play Bach Concertos with him, Robert Levine and Ya-Fei Chuang.
David Fray has received numerous prizes and awards including a prize and a grant by the Banque Populaire, the Diploma of Outstanding Merit at the Fifth International Hamamatsu Competition in Japan; the Jeune soliste de l’année (Young Soloist of the Year) award, the most important prize awarded by the Commission des radios publiques de langue française; the Feydeau de Brou Saint Paul grant and the Révélation classique (Classical discovery) prize from ADAMI. At the 2004 Montreal International Music Competition, David Fray received both the Second Grand Prize, and the Prize for the best interpretation of an imposed Canadian work. As a direct reward for his success in this competition, ATMA Classique released his first CD (Liszt and Schubert).
Since 2007 an exclusive Virgin Classics artist, David Fray devoted his first Virgin recording to Bach and Boulez. The newspapers Le Soir in Belgium and the London Times in England praised it as “best record of the year”. Mr. Fray’s second release, the four keyboard concertos by Bach recorded with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen led to his being named “Instrumentalist of the Year – Piano” for 2009 by the German Recording Academy. His third recording for the label, dedicated to Schubert’s “Moments Musicaux” and “Impromptus,” was released in 2009. An excerpt from his recital of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy was released on DVD on the Ideale Audience label. In December 2008 the German/French TV network ARTE +7 presented an hour long documentary about him, directed by renowned French director Bruno Monsaingeon. The film, “David Fray records Johann Sebastian Bach,” was released on DVD with a bonus performance of the three concertos. Most recent releases are a Schubert recital, Mozart concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London under Jaap van Zweden’s direction and in December 2012 a Bach recital disc (Partitas Nos. 2 and 6 and the Toccata in C minor).
David Fray started taking piano lessons at the age of four. He furthered his studies with Jacques Rouvier at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris where he graduated with highest honours. David Fray makes his home in Paris.
