Célia Oneto Bensaid

In recent years, the press has been following the evolution of this committed pianist with golden fingers and irreproachable technique (LexNews), whose sensitivity is matched only by her mastery (Télérama) and embodying the free electron of the next generation of French pianists according to Les Échos.

A sincere and committed artist, Célia Oneto Bensaid shapes a career in her image, highlighting a particular repertoire, the signature of this pianist who develops her singularity and willingly goes off the beaten track. On the training side, she leaves the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with five prizes obtained with the best distinctions in the piano classes, chamber music and the three accompaniment classes. She then joined the École Normale Alfred Cortot where she obtained the higher diploma of concert performer.

It is today on the greatest stages, solo, chamber music and concerto, that Célia carefully chooses the repertoires she defends: American music (including her own transcriptions), French music, today’s music, and female composers hold an important place in her programs. She collaborates and creates many pieces of which she is dedicatee for some of David Hudry, Kaija Saariaho, Diana Syrse, Camille Pépin, Fabien Waksman and is one of the artists most committed to the rediscovery of the Musical Matrimony.

Yamaha artist, supported by the Banque Populaire Foundation and the Safran Foundation, Célia is a laureate of numerous international solo and chamber music competitions (Piano Campus, Cziffra Foundation, Nadia and Lili Boulanger competition, Pro Musicis, HSBC Prize of the Aix-en-Provence lyric festival, etc.), she received the audience prize of the Société des Arts de Genève in 2017. In 2020, she became the first winner in the “Classical Music” category of the K2 Trophy.

Recently she has been accompanied by the orchestras of Avignon-Provence under the direction of Debora Waldman, Brittany under the direction of Aurélien Azan Zielinski, the Republican Guard under the baton of François Boulanger, the Toulon Opera under the direction of Lucie Leguay both in concertos of the “great repertoire” (Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Franck …) but also for concertos by Vítězslava Kaprálová or Marie Jaëll.

In recital and chamber music, she has been invited to the Philharmonie de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, “Piano aux Jacobins”, “La Roque d’Anthéron”, the festival. “Nouveaux Horizons”, of the “Spirit of the Piano” in Bordeaux, of the Folle Journée de Nantes, the Grand Théâtre de Harbin (China), the Salamanca Hall (Japan), the Salle Bourgie (Montreal), the Wigmore Hall (London), and is also the regular guest of various radio programs (France Music, Radio Classique, France Culture etc.).

A sought-after chamber musician, she can be found on stage alongside Renaud Capuçon, Violaine Despeyroux, Elsa Dreisig, Marie-Laure Garnier, Olivia Gay, the Hanson Quartet, Léa Hennino, Héloïse Luzzati, Fiona McGown, Raphaëlle Moreau, Alexandre Pascal, Xavier Phillips…

An eclectic artist, she is also an actress during the projects of the MAB Collectif (shows “Cinderella, with my sister” and “How I became Olivia”), is a hand understudy on feature films and as a pianist she appears in the series “Les Sauvages” and “Validé” (Canal Plus). She also recorded the soundtracks of various films and series (“Les Sauvages” Canal Plus, “Rouge” by Farid Bentoumi, “Le Tourbillon de la vie” by Olivier Treiner).

As for records, already numbering a dozen, they illustrate his attachment to his favorite repertoires: from his first solo album “American Touches” around Gershwin and Bernstein in 2018, to “Metamorphosis” in 2021 around Glass, Pépin and Ravel, acclaimed by critics (Coup de coeur by Renaud Capuçon on RTL, 5 stars Classica, contemporary record of the week on France Musique etc.), She explores solo and chamber music these very varied repertoires, reflecting her thirst for discovery.

In 2022, “Songs of Hope” is published with his partner the soprano Marie-Laure Garnier, crossing negro-spirituals and sacred melodies (TTT of Télérama, 5 stars Classica etc.).

His third solo album dedicated to the pieces of Dante by Marie Jaëll (Label Présences compositrices) is “choix du Monde”, gets TTTT from Télérama, 5 Diapasons, 5 stars from Classica and multiple enthusiastic feedback from the press. She also participated in a monograph on the unpublished works of Charlotte Sohy, widely acclaimed by the international press. In January 2023 the album “Chants Nostalgiques” with Marie-Laure Garnier and the Hanson quartet around the French melody (Fauré, Chausson, Franck, Sohy…) which has already obtained TTTT from Télérama.

Célia is Artiste in residence at the Opera Grand Avignon on the 22/23 and 23/24 seasons.

©️Lyodoh Kaneko