Michel Bourdoncle – The Listening Room

We’re proud of our rich and diverse culture in Acadiana. Our music, food, traditions and pastimes are influenced by many cultures from all over the world, including those indigenous to South Louisiana.

At this concert, we’ll explore the connection to our French and Acadian ancestors, through the lens of classical music, written by famous French composers, including visionaries like Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Gabriel Fauré.

Guest artist and French piano virtuoso, Michel Bourdoncle will lead the ASO Chamber Ensemble in performing a repertoire that touches on French Impressionism, old-world traditions, and quintessential French melodies.

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Michel Bourdoncle is the founder and artistic director of the music festival, academy and international music competition known as “Les Nuits Pianistiques” (Pianistic Nights). He has had an active concert career, regularly performing at top venues all over the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Sala in São Paulo, Brazil, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in Shanghai, China, and the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg, South Africa – to name a few. 

After completing his studies at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory of Aix in France, he was admitted to the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance. In 1984 he won Grand Prize in the Acanthes International Competition, and in 1986, he won a scholarship to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he was mentored by Henriette Mirvis, Samvil Alumian, Mikhail Vosskressensky and Lev Naoumov. That same year, he won a prize in the First Frantz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht, Netherlands.

From 1981 until 1991 Michel worked as accompanist for the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance. He also taught piano at the National Superior Conservatory of Lyon for Music and Dance, and chamber music at the regional Conservatory of Marseille.

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The Listening Room offers another way to experience world-class symphonic music, in a smaller, more intimate, salon-style setting. Concerts are held in the AcA’s James Devin Moncus Theater, which is converted to take on the feel of a living room or parlor. In this setting, audiences will enjoy a rich repertoire of lesser-known but highly regarded classical music works, performed by small chamber ensembles and guest musicians from around the world.