French pianist Adam Laloum signs to Sony Classical

Sony Classical is delighted to announce the exclusive signing of French pianist Adam Laloum. A young musician of extraordinary technical prowess and searching poeticism, Laloum was awarded first prize in the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in 2009. Since then his career has included highly praised performances in the world’s leading venues and festivals (Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Berlin Philharmonie, the Verbier Festival) and collaborations with many great orchestras (Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, Orchestre de Paris, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester).

Born in Toulouse in 1987, Laloum began to learn the piano aged 6. From the very first, his instinctive gift for lyrical phrasing and visionary intensity was matched by a remarkable independence of spirit. At the tender age of 12, having commenced studies with Daniel Beau at the Conservatory of Toulouse, he disobeyed Beau’s orders and auditioned for the National Conservatory of Paris without telling him. He was accepted, and then began to study with Michel Béroff. Beau was initially furious, but the relationship has now been fully healed, and the men are friends again: ‘I have enormous respect for him,’ said Laloum in an interview in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. ‘Beau inspired me to look for all the potential beauties in the sound of the piano, and it’s an idea which I have never lost.’

Such bravery and independence also helped Laloum gain first prize in the Clara Haskil Competition, one of the world’s foremost musical events (previous winners have included Steven Osborne, Richard Goode, Christoph Eschenbach and Till Fellner). Of his winning performance, Le Monde wrote that ‘he possesses an immediate and absolute ability to give a density even to the silence before his first entry... he has that je ne sais quoi which captivates.’

In 2013 (before signing exclusively to Sony) Laloum’s recording of works by Schumann won a prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, and an ‘ffff’(the highest rating) from the French cultural magazine Télérama.

Laloum is also a committed and passionate chamber musician. In 2014 he founded Trio Les Esprits with violinist Mi-sa Yang and cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière in 2014, and the ensemble was immediately invited to perform at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. In 2015 he founded the festival Les Pages Musicales de Lagrasse, which is dedicated to chamber music repertoire. 

Adam Laloum’s first recording will be the two Brahms piano concertos and is going to be released in autumn 2017.

'It is with great joy and pride that I announce my recent signing with Sony worldwide. A new adventure begins and I look forward to continue recording the repertoire that is dear to me with this legendary record company.' – Adam Laloum

‘Adam Laloum is one of the most exciting young classical artists to come out of France in the last years. We have watched the development of his career with great interest and look forward to becoming a part of it now. Between his solo work and his chamber music projects with Trio Les Esprits we have mapped out a unique recording plan for the coming years which will see Adam become an important member of the Sony Classical family.’ – Bogdan Roscic, President of Sony Classical

Adam Laloum is represented worldwide by Jérémie Barret, Musicaglotz.

Photo © Carole Bellaiche