During a performance of Mozart’s concerto K314, Leonard Bernstein noticed Jean Ferrandis and, hearing him play the adagio, exclaimed: ‘It’s Pan himself!
Following this artistic encounter, Leonard Bernstein composed a cadenza for Jean Ferrandis.
After winning a prize in Maxence Larrieu’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon in 1985, Jean Ferrandis went on to win the Maria Canals international competition in Barcelona and the Young Concert Artists competition in New York. In 1986 he was awarded the Grand Prix of the ‘Printemps de Pragues’ International Flute Competition. In 1998 he was elected ‘Artist in Residence’ at the New York Lotos.
This was followed by numerous concerts throughout Europe, Asia and North America, where he performed in recital, chamber music or as soloist with orchestra in the most prestigious venues such as the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Vigado in Budapest, Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Taipei Arts Center, the Palais de la Musique in Barcelona, Hamarikiu Hall in Tokyo, Wigmore Hall in London, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, La Fenice in Venice, Carnegie Hall under the baton of Leonard Bernstein, Tibor Varga, Laurent Petitgirard and Yoram David. He has also been invited to take part in numerous festivals, including Lanaudière in Canada, Sion, the Budapest Spring Festival, Midem in Cannes and the Berlioz Festival. Jean Ferrandis performs chamber music with such outstanding artists as Jean- Philippe Collard, Henri Demarquette, Ivry Gitlis, Jean-Marc Luisada, Emile Naoumoff, Marielle Nordmann, Gérard Poulet, Caroline Sageman and Dominique de Williencourt.
He also has a career as a conductor with ensembles such as the Saint Petersburg Camerata and the Saint-Christophe Chamber Orchestra in Vilnius. His recordings include works by Honneger and D’Indy, as well as the complete Mozart Concertos with Marie-Pierre Langlamet (Solo Harp with the Berliner Philharmonik). He has produced a CD of Schubert’s ‘Sonatines’ and ‘Arpeggione’ with the pianist Emile Naoumoff and the complete C.Ph.E Bach concerti with the Saint-Christophe Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius. With the same orchestra, the complete works for flute by Yuko Uebayashi.
‘Debussy live in Theatre des Champs Elysées’, Bach’s trio sonatas with Lela Katsarava.l’intergrale des quatuors de Mozart avec le trio Goldberg is his last album, released on 23 October 2022.
A great champion of the composers of our time, Jean has given many world premieres of works such as Alexandre Desplat’s ‘Pélléas et Mélisande’. Benoît Menut, Yuko Uebayashi, Rudolf Hakan, Gilles Silvestrini and Dominique de Williencourt, among others, have composed for him.
Alongside his concert activity, he is a professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris and at Californian State University, Fullerton, US. He regularly gives Master Classes in Europe, Japan, Korea and the United States, where he teaches at universities such as the Juilliard School, Rice University, Texas, and Bloomington, Indiana. Tchaikovsky conservatory, Royal Academy in London.
Jean Ferrandis is a regular guest at American conventions, Tokyo and Adelaide (Australia).
In 2018, Jean Ferrandis received the Annasilaos award in science and art for his contribution to music.
