Pacific Chamber Symphony welcomes the return of the incredible French pianist Denis Pascal, whose last performance with PCS was four years ago, playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. This time Pascal joins the symphony in performing a work by Frédéric Chopin, the composer who many proclaim wrote best for the piano: Concerto No. 2 in F minor.

Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 2 in A minor travels through the dark beauty of the minor key to joyful rapture. It is a true French masterpiece.

Maestro Lawrence Kohl adds: “This side-by-side view of the two composers [Chopin and Saint Saëns] offers an illuminating juxtaposition of how each composer suggests and uses color to enrich the emotional palate of their respective works."

Denis Pascal is a well-known soloist and music chamber musician; he performs in famous Parisian concert halls such as Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre de la Ville, Salle Gaveau and Opéra Garnier. His concerts are broadcast on the French TV network (ARTE, Mezzo, TV5) and on French radio (France-Musique and Radio Classique). He also performs in prestigious concerts in Europe: Palermo, Roma, Mestre, Venice (Italy), Oviédo, Valencia, Alicante, Saragossa (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal) and Helsinki (Finland). In the United States, he has performed at Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Hall in New York; The Kennedy Center in Washington DC; and the Herbst Theater in San Francisco.

Pascal is regularly invited as a guest artist at various international music festivals: La Roque d’Anthéron, Fêtes Romantiques de Nohant, Festival Consonance à Saint-Nazaire, Piano aux Pyrénées in France and in Heidelberg in Germany. He is also the artistic director of the festival Musique de Chambre in Thonon and Evian in France.

Pascal studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris in Pierre Sancan’s class and unanimously won a First Prize for piano and music chamber. He is the award winner of several musical competitions: Lisbon (Portugal), Zurich (Switzerland) and the New York Artist Guild Concert.