Born in 1985, Benjamin Alard began his piano studies at the age of
seven. He later studied the organ under Louis Thiry and François Menissier
and harpsichord with Elisabeth Joye, developing an interest in early music that
led him to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis for further studies under
Jean-Claude Zehnder (organ) and Andrea Marcon (harpsichord). His studies were
distinguished by the “felicitations” of the jury when he completed
the programme.
Awarded the first prize and the Audience Award, Alard won
the 2004 Bruges International Harpsichord Competition, previous winners of
which include Pierre Hantaï and Scott Ross. He is also a prize-winner of
Declic 2005/2006, a joint Radio-France, Cultures France and Societe
Generale Bank support and sponsorship programme for talented young French
performers. Benjamin Alard was appointed organist at the church of
St-Louis-en-l’Оle in Paris, where he performs on the new instrument made by
Aubertin in 2005. In 2007, he was chosen Laureate Juventus. In
September 2007, he won first prize at the Gottfried Silbermann Organ
Competition in Freiberg (Germany) and the special Hildebrandt prize,
awarded by the Zacharias Hildebrandt-Stiftung Naumburg.
As recitalist on both harpsichord and organ, Benjamin Alard has been invited
to perform in prestigious early music festivals and venues such as
Le Printemps des Arts in Nantes, La Folle Journee (Nantes and
Lisbon), the Festival of Saints, Flagey Hall in Brussels, Festival
Radio France in Montpellier, the Bach Festival in Schaffhausen,
the Bach Festival in Lausanne, the Festival de Saint-Michel en
Thierache, Les Midis du Musee du Louvre in Paris and the Bach
Festival in Istanbul. He also collaborates with leading ensembles such as
La Petite Bande (directed by Sigiswald Kuijken),
the Capriccio Stravagante (directed by Skip Sempe) and
the Venice Baroque Orchestra (directed by Andrea Marcon).
As a young and promising musician, he was chosen for the Discovery CD
for Classica Repertoire Magazine, recorded in May 2005. Benjamin
Alard’s CD Andreas Bach Buch, recorded in 2006 by the label
Hortus Editions, was praised by the critics (Cinq de Goldberg,
Crescendo magazine, Le Monde de la Musique, Diapason, Classica
Repertoire and Le Monde). Transcriptions, his latest CD
dedicated to transcriptions by J. S. Bach, was released in 2007 (Editions
Hortus) and was awarded a Choc by Le Monde de
la Musique among other accolades. His new CD Manuscrit Bauyn
was released in October 2008 by Editions Hortus.