Charbel Charbel and Philippe Alègre

Charbel Charbel, Cellist

A passionate musician, the Franco-Lebanese cellist Charbel CHARBEL began studying the cello at the Beauvais Conservatory with Alexandre Soumagne. After several years at the Aulnay-Sous-Bois Conservatory (in the class of Philippe Muller and Véronique Alvarez) and in the class of Marie-Paule MILONE at the Pôle Supérieur de Paris, he entered the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM) in 2015 in the class of Raphaël Pidoux.

His curiosity and desire to learn have led him to participate in numerous master classes with, notably: Gary Hoffman, Xavier Phillips, Nicolas Altstaedt, and Anner Bylsma (during the Amsterdam Biennale in 2016), and Emmanuel Bertrand, who invited him to play Camille Saint-Saëns' cello concerto at the 2017 Beauvais Festival for a master class with orchestra.

Charbel has had the opportunity to play under the direction of prestigious conductors such as Mikko Franck with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, where he was an academy member during the 2017/2018 season, and with Philippe Herreweghe with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées at the 2016 Saintes Festival.

Passionate about chamber music, he has founded several groups, including the Byblos Trio, with which he participated in the Lyon Chamber Music Competition in 2018.

In 2019, he recorded the two sonatas for piano and cello by Johannes Brahms with Nima Sarkechik for his Urban Brahms project and performed as a soloist in Elgar's cello concerto with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra.

Also a painter, he strives to create connections between different art forms and works on audacious projects.

PHILIPPE ALEGRE, PIANIST

It was with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, invited by its conductor Michel Plasson, that Philippe Alègre made his debut as a concert pianist. Pianist Aldo Ciccolini gave him his first opportunity to perform in Paris at the Salle Gaveau in 1989.

Since then, he has pursued his career in France and abroad, performing in piano duos, chamber music ensembles, and as a soloist, and has shared the stage with numerous opera singers.

Philippe Alègre has performed at venues including the Musique d'été festival and the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Opéra de Lyon, the Grandes Heures de Cluny, the International Piano Festival in Riom, the Hyères Festival, the Cziffra Festival, the Abbaye de L'Epau, and festivals in Annecy, Saint-Étienne, and Bordeaux, as well as in Budapest, Seville, Amsterdam, Malta, Geneva, Brussels, and Athens, among others.

In Paris, he has given numerous concerts in the prestigious Salle Gaveau and Salle Cortot.

Alongside his career as a concert pianist, he was the founder and artistic director of the "Nuits musicales du Rouergue" from 2003 to 2022. He is currently the artistic director of "Piano Passion," a series of concerts held throughout the year at the Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church in Paris.

He has recorded the solo albums "Intime" (2013) and "Chopin" (2019), the two-piano album "West Side Story" with Fabrice Boulanger, "Encanto" with soprano Edwige Bourdy, and "Nostalgia del Tango" with accordionist Thomas Chedal.

Program and cast

Beethoven: Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano

Bach: Prelude, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue (Suite No. 1 for solo cello)

Schubert: Serenade

Liszt: Liebestraum (Dream of Love)

Debussy: Beau soir (Beautiful Evening)

Chopin: Introduction and Polonaise brillante

Chopin: Two Waltzes (piano solo)

Bizet: Habanera (Carmen)

Fauré: Après un rêve (After a Dream)

Dall’Abaco: Caprice No. 1 for solo cello

Granados: Andaluza (piano solo)

Rachmaninoff: Vocalise

Monti: Czardas