Jean Fassina

Jean Fassina (born 9 November 1936) is a French classical pianist born in Algiers.

Jean Fassina in October 2010, at the International Chopin Piano Competition

A concertist, direct heir of the great Paderewski piano tradition, Fassina is a recognized teacher who counts a pleiad of French and foreign artists among his students.[livre 1]

Biography

Coming from a line of pianists, (his grandmother was a pianist and composer, his mother performed in concert and was his first teacher), he trained at a very young age at the Conservatoire de Paris.[livre 2] After winning his prizes there, Fassina felt the desire to go and study in Eastern European countries, where the results of the teaching given there worked wonders in international competitions: "When not one but twenty pianists dazzle you, there is something obvious about it".[livre 3]

He obtained a scholarship that allowed him to study in Poland. He completed his training as a pianist in Krakow, the high place of the Polish piano school, under the benevolent guidance of Henryk Sztompka,[1] himself a former student of Paderewski and worthy heir of an instrumental and stylistic tradition going back to Chopin and Liszt.[livre 1]

In the first lesson, Sztompka told him "You are a musician, but you have to do everything over again...". Thus began four years of intensive work which Fassina himself describes as "the most extraordinary of his life".[livre 4]

After a short and intense concert career from 1961 to 1975,[livre 1] he devoted himself to what he considered his true vocation: teaching the piano. In about ten years, he trained a good number of artists and teachers of all nationalities, to whom he passed on the knowledge he received in Poland.

After forty years of teaching, Jean Fassina published a book (Lettre à un jeune pianiste Fayard) in which he shares his pianistic knowledge and his pedagogical experience.

Pedagogy

Fassina teaches in many countries in Europe and Asia:[livre 1]

Pupils

More than a hundred internationally known musicians have been students of Fassina such as:

Master classes

Fassina is the permanent guest of prestigious master classes:[livre 1]

  • Institut Chopin de Varsovie,[livre 1]
  • Rencontre internationale de musique d'Enghien,[5]
  • Institut supérieur de musique et de pédagogie[6] as well as the Higher Conservatories and Universities of Porto, Brussels, Bucharest, Beijing, Tokyo, Osaka.[livre 1]

Jury of international competitions

He also sits on the jury of numerous international competitions:

  • Concours international P.T.N.A (Japan 2003)
  • Concours international Frédéric Chopin de Moscou (Russia 2004)
  • Concours international de Musique de Porto (Portugal 2002 and 2004)
  • Concours international de Musique du Maroc (March 2013)
  • Piano Campus International Competition (Pontoise, France, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011)

Sources
  1. Page 13
  2. Pages 15-16
  3. Page 17
  4. Page 19

References
  1. Henryk Sztompka on data.bnf.fr
  2. Rencontres Internationales d’Enghien (Belgium)
  3. Jean-Louis Haguenauer
  4. Beate Perrey
  5. Rencontre internationale de musique d'Enghien - IMUSE
  6. Institut supérieur de musique et de Pédagogie - IMEP

Bibliography
  • Lettre à un jeune pianiste - Jean Fassina - Foreword by Jacques Rouvier - Éditions Fayard - III 2000 ISBN 2-213-60592-0
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