« [F. Vaysse-Knitter] has clearly established the Chopin-Debussy-Liszt lineage. From the start, with the first book of Images by Debussy, which sounded ample and limpid, to then reach a stupefyingly supple beauty. (…)
His interpretation [of Funérailles] was imposing in its power, its gravity, its harmonic lavishness, Vaysse-Knitter drawing from this solemn work the sound diversity of a symphonic orchestra. Finally, Poisson d’or (…), fluid with an ethereal touch of dizzying virtuosity. »
Bruno Serrou (juin 2016)
“Every descent of our sight within ourselves is at the same time an ascension, an assumption, a look toward the reality outside ourselves”. Novalis offers us here the perfect words to express the quintessence of Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter’s playing: striking with extreme density and a sense of vital urgency, his piano is in equal parts the champion of introspection and that of transcendence.
This could explain his enduring fascination with Karol Szymanowski-Stravinsky’s music: Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter has dedicated himself for many years to the integrality of Szymanowski’s piano works and the repertoire of his peers, all the while caring particularly for modern and contemporary music as well. His Szymanowski’s solo recording was awarded 4 stars Fonoforum, 5 stars in Piano News, a Maestro from the magazine Pianiste, while his following CD Szymanowski-Stravinsky (Aparté), recorded with the violinist Solenne Païdassi, received a CHOC Classica, 5 Diapasons, 10/10 from Klassik Heute… Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter’s discography includes recordings of Chopin, Liszt, Haydn, Satie, Dvorak ; and has earned him a Price Jeunesse Adami and the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros.
Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter is a guest of prestigious concert halls, such as the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Cité de la Musique, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the auditoriums of Granada, Murcia, and Monterrey in Mexico, as well as numerous festivals: Menton, Radio France in Montpellier, Lille Piano(s) Festival, Lazienki/Varsovie, Weimar, Osaka, in Australia for the very first French Festival of Adelaide, …
He has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Arie Van Beek, Stéphane Cardon, Diego Matheuz, Jean-François Verdier, Benjamin Lévy, with the Orchestre Colonne, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre d’Auvergne, the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris,…
While he regularly performs with Alexandre Tharaud, Solenne Païdassi, the cellists Xavier Phillips and Sébastien Van Kuijk, the Diotima Quartet or the Jazz pianist Guillaume de Chassy, Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter is also committed to projects that combine music and literature, working together with actors and philosophers, among others Catherine Jacob, Nicolas Vaude and François Morel, to create a new concert experience.
He has been shaped by the great traditions of the French, Polish, and German schools.
After getting into the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of thirteen, he obtains a Premier Prix in piano as well as in chamber music, and then completes the Perfectionnement curriculum.
He then makes one of the most determining encounter of his life with Krystian Zimerman, who will counsel and guide him in many of his future artistic choices. He joins the Freiburg Musikhochschule, where he receives a Soloist diploma. Finally he refines his education with such musical personalities as György Sebők, Alexis Weissenberg, Alicia de Larrocha et Leon Fleisher, at the prestigious International Foundation of Lake Como. Those will have a lasting impact on him: the first by his philosophical and spiritual approach to music, the second by the seismic power of his interpretation, the third by his constant care of the vocal line, while the last became a great mentor.
As a Révélation Classique de l’Adami and a Juventus Laureate, he is soon noticed by Maria João Pirès, who invites him to the Lille Piano(s) Festival for the first time.
Since then he is ceaselessly invited to tv and radio studios: France Télévision, the BBC, TV Polonia, Radio Classique, France Musique, the Bayerischer Rundfunk…
Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter is the founder and artistic director of two festivals : on one hand the Festival A Tempo (Lavaur, Tarn), and on the other Les Conversations musicales (Villefranche-sur-Mer, Alpes Maritimes), whose first edition will take place in July 2018.