Thierry de Brunhoff
Thierry de Brunhoff is a French pianist and Benedictine monk.
Early life and education
Thierry de Brunhoff is the son of Jean and Cécile de Brunhoff, creators of Babar the elephant, and younger brother of Laurent de Brunhoff and Mathieu de Brunhoff.de Brunhoff started taking piano lessons from Alfred Cortot at age 11. Cortot was his greatest musical influence, as de Brunhoff testified several times: Thereafter, de Brunhoff also studied with Edwin Fischer, before becoming a teacher himself at the École normale de musique de Paris for over a decade. Among de Brunhoff's students was Hüseyin Sermet.
Career
De Brunhoff is particularly known for his interpretations of Chopin and Schumann, but his repertoire is very broad, from Beethoven to Debussy and Ravel, through Carl [Maria von Weber], whose ostracism Brunhoff regrets, even the condescension with which he would be treated by musicians.However, de Brunhoff's performance goes to Chopin, whom he praises in these terms:
In 1974, de Brunhoff retired as a monk to the En-Calcat Abbey in the Tarn department and became Brother Thierry Jean. In this regard, he declared in 2004 in a letter to Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier:
De Brunhoff was also a devoted fan of Maria Callas.
Pianist and radio producer Philippe Cassard devoted several series of programs to de Brunhoff on France Musique between 2008 and 2015.