Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula

Born in 1991, pianist and composer Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula initially studied piano with Christian Favre at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne and then chamber music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Ronan O’Hora, as well as composition with Julian Anderson. He has attended masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Sir András Schiff, Dénes Várjon, Mitsuko Uchida, Imogen Cooper, Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Richard Goode and Leon Fleisher.

As a soloist, he has already performed in venues including Zurich’s Tonhalle, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Sendesaal Bremen, Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Hall and Wigmore Hall in London. He has played in the “Building Bridges” series at the invitation of its creator, Sir András Schiff, and been a guest of festivals such as the Ittingen Whitsun concerts, the Lucerne Festival and the Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Seminar, as well as the Banff Artist in Residence Programme. For both his piano playing and his compositions, Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula has received many prestigious prizes, including the Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize.

Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula’s works are regularly performed by musicians including Heinz Holliger, Antje Weithaas and Patricia Kopatchinskaja and by ensembles such as the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, the Swiss Chamber Soloists, Camerata Bern, the Zürcher Kammerorchester and Ensemble Séquence. He has also written music for numerous films, some of which have won awards.

He recorded Janáček’s complete solo piano music for Delphian Records with previously unrecorded works, due for release in 2023.

As a composer, his new work for cello and piano was premiered at the 2022 WEMP Festival in Pully, and he wrote and recorded the soundtrack for a feature film "Colombine" directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard. 

From October 2018 until summer of 2021, he has studied on the Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Pianists at Kronberg Academy. His studies were funded by the Henle patronage of the Günter Henle Stiftung.