French-American Piano Society
in partnership with
THE CONSULATE OF FRANCE IN NEW YORK
presents
Claire-Marie Le Guay, Piano
“BACH, UP CLOSE”
2026 Spring Benefit Recital
TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2026 AT 6:30 PM
CONSULATE OF FRANCE IN NEW YORK
PROGRAM
Claire-Marie Le Guay, Piano
Performing on the James E. Sheeran Steinway Piano
From Orchestra to Keyboard: The Art of Reduction and Transformation
Throughout music history, the keyboard has served not only as an instrument of intimacy, but as a powerful lens through which orchestral and concertante works are reimagined. Long before the age of recordings, transcription was an essential act of transmission—allowing complex, large-scale compositions to circulate, to be studied, and to live beyond the concert hall.
Johann Sebastian Bach elevated this practice to an art form. By reducing concertos originally conceived for violin, organ, or ensemble to the keyboard, he did not merely condense the music; he revealed its inner architecture. Orchestral dialogues are recast into layered counterpoint, rhythmic propulsion is absorbed into the hands of a single performer, and timbral contrasts are translated into touch, articulation, and register. What is lost in color is gained in clarity, structure, and immediacy.
These keyboard transcriptions occupy a unique space between chamber music and symphonic thought. The piano becomes an orchestra in miniature—capable of sustaining cantabile lines, projecting rhythmic vitality, and suggesting multiple instrumental voices simultaneously. Later composers and transcribers, from Romantic virtuosi to contemporary musicians such as Florian Noack, have continued this tradition, expanding its expressive and technical horizons while remaining faithful to the original spirit of the works.
In this program, orchestral and concertante masterpieces are refracted through the prism of the keyboard. Heard in their distilled form, they invite the listener to engage more directly with the compositional core—melody, harmony, rhythm, and form—while celebrating the piano’s extraordinary ability to encompass the breadth of the orchestral imagination within a single instrument.
Bach, Up Close
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fantasy and Fugue in A minor, BWV 922
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) / Johann Sebastian Bach
Largo e spiccato from the Concerto in D minor, BWV 596 (after Vivaldi)
Antonio Vivaldi / Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto in B minor for Four Keyboards — I. Allegro
(transcription by Florian Noack)
Antonio Vivaldi / Johann Sebastian Bach
Largo from the Violin Concerto in G major, BWV 973 (3’)
Thierry Escaich (b. 1965)
Aria (3’)
Étude baroque No. 2 (3’)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971
Claire-Marie Le Guay “organizes her narrative through sweeping gestures, as if skimming the movements of an inner clock hidden beneath the eloquence of the song.” (Pianiste).
A soloist on the international scene and winner of the Victoires de la musique, Claire-Marie Le Guay has performed at New York's Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, the Festival de La Roque d'Anthéron and Germany's Klavier-Festival Ruhr. Winner of several international competitions, she plays with the same commitment in recital, chamber music (with François Salque, Amaury Coeytaux, Magali Mosnier or the Modigliani Quartet, among others) or in concerto with numerous orchestras, such as the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Kremerata Baltica, New Japan Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Weimar, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and Louis Langrée, with whom she has recorded Concertos by LISZT, RAVEL and SCHULHOFF.
Her vast discography has been hailed by the critics; the English magazine Gramophone calls it a “masterly contribution”. DECCA has released three boxed sets of her recordings, featuring Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Ravel, Gubaidulina and Escaich.
With the release of her recording Joies de l'âme in 2021, Claire-Marie Le Guay has returned to LISZT, whose interpretation made her a household name at just 19 years of age. This is her fourth recording for the Mirare label, following Voyage en Russie, Bach, and Schubert Wanderer with François Salque.
Her broad repertoire includes the music of her time (Thierry Escaich, of whom she is the dedicatee of several works and one of the most faithful interpreters, Sofia Goubaïdulina, of whom she has recorded piano pieces and the Introitus concerto with the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, as well as Guillaume Connesson, Henri Dutilleux and Bruno Mantovani).
Following her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP), Claire-Marie Le Guay continued her training at the Lake Como Piano Foundation, of which she is a prizewinner, with such musical personalities as Dmitri Bashkirov, Alicia de Larrocha and Andreas Staier, as well as in Berlin with Daniel Barenboim.
Since 2001, Claire-Marie Le Guay has been teaching at the CNSMDP and the Académie de musique française de l'École normale-Alfred Cortot.
Eisenhower Fellow 2015, Artistic Director of the Dinard Music Festival from 2018 to 2023, she collaborated from 2012 to 2020 with the Opéra de Dijon for the development of young audiences.
Claire-Marie Le Guay has been in residence at the Théâtre du Chesnay since 2019. She is the author of two books: La Vie est plus belle en musique (2018) and C'est la nuit qu'il est beau de croire à la lumière (2022) with a preface by Erik Orsenna.
We are grateful to our 2025 RECITAL partners:
THE YOUNG PIANISTS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
The Young Pianists Scholarship Program, spearheaded by the French-American Piano Society, is a distinguished initiative aimed at nurturing the next generation of French piano virtuosos for U.S. audiences. This program offers exceptional young pianists an invaluable opportunity to advance their international presence and experience. Selected scholars from the Conservatoire National de Paris benefit from access to world-class performance venues at the Consulate of France in New York and the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C., where they are exposed to and meet curious and supportive U.S. audiences.
THE JAMES J. SHEERAN STEINWAY PIANO
At its inaugural recital on January 16th 2018, S.E. Anne Claire Legendre, Consul General of France in New York, in the company of S.E. Bertrand Lortholary, Ambassador of France in Vietam, Former Consul General of France in New York, and S.E. Francois Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United Nation, former Ambassador of France to the USA, and former Consul General of France in New York, dedicated our Steinway concert piano to
JAMES J. SHEERAN
(1923 - 2007)
A GREAT AMERICAN PATRIOT, WWII VETERAN, SON OF FRANCE, AND CHEVALIER DE LA LEGION D'HONNEUR (2006) OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE
We are deeply thankful to the generous patrons
who helped us fund our James J. Sheeran Steinway piano
CREDIT AGRICOLE CIB
NJ CURE
JCDECAUX
ALICE ROSNER FOUNDATION
COLAS, INC
COMMITTEE OF FRENCH SPEAKING SOCIETIES
CONNECTHINGS
CONSEILLERS DU COMMERCE EXTERIEUR DE LA FRANCE
MEDNEST
RATP DEV
VERONIQUE TRAVEL
and
The “88 Keys” Society Members and Patrons:
Helene Buchen (C1#, D1#, F1&#, G1#, A1&#, F2#, G2#, A2#)
Gilles Rousseau (G2,A2,B2,C3,D3,E3,F3,G3)
Veronique and Pascal Carpentier (C6#, D6#, F6#, G6#, A6#)
Ariane Daguin (B6, A6, G6, C7)
Anne-Julia Audray (D5, F5, A4)
Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD (A5, B5)
Laurence Chertoff (D2#, D3#)
Thomas and Albane Duplan (C8, B1)
Valerie and Gerard Duval (G7#, F7#)
Lily Hsia (D5#, D7#)
Susan Mackenzie (E6, C7#)
Martha and Rick Olson (E4, G4)
Daniel and Teresa Petitjean (F7, G7)
Helene and Mathieu Petitjean (A0#,A4#)
Dr. Ellie Abdi (B0)
Catherine Munera and Alfredo Basurto (E5)
Carey and Brett August (C6)
Veronique et Serge Banzet (A5)
Arnaud Boyer (E7)
Nigel Brown (G1)
Florence and Eric Brun (G5)
Eric and Isabelle Chaboureau (F2)
Vésine de La Rue (D2)
Philippe Dreano (G3#)
Yoni Elmalem (A7#)
Sylvie Epelbaum,MD (D4#)
John F. Bennet, Paris-American Club (G4#)
Bernard Frelat (F6)
French-American Choir of New York (A4)
Simone Galton (B3)
Guy Geslin (D7)
Anthony Gilroy (A3)
Robert Gorman (D1)
Odile Gorse (C1)
Herve Houdre (C2)
Laurent Kleitman (C5#)
Remy Lumbroso (D6)
Pierre Martin (F3#)
Andrea Mayes (C5)
Hanyi Meng (A7)
Jean-Hugues Monier (E2)
Mark Morris (A3#)
Rick and Mary O'Connell (E1)
Elizabeth Olson (C4)
Claudine and Bernard Parisot (C4#)
Joseph Patrych (G5)
Michel and Judith Pautrat (F4)
Jean Perrette (B7)
Dmitry Rachmanov (F4#)
Jerome Rose (A0)
Sophie Schyler - Chateau Kirwan (F5#)
Guy Sorman (D4)
Annaliese Soros (C2#)
Marie-Monique Steckel (B4)
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