Jean Fassina (born 9 November 1936) is a French classical pianist born in Algiers.
A concert artist and direct heir to the great Paderewski piano tradition, Fassina is a renowned teacher who counts among his students a host of French and international artists.[livre 1]
Coming from a line of pianists, (his grandmother was a pianist and composer, his mother performed in concert and was his first teacher), he trained at a very young age at the Conservatoire de Paris. [livre 1] After winning his prizes there, Fassina felt the desire to go and study in Eastern European countries, where the results of the teaching given there worked wonders in international competitions: "When not one but twenty pianists dazzle you, there is something obvious about it". [livre 2]
He obtained a scholarship that allowed him to study in Poland. He completed his training as a pianist in Kraków, the high place of the Polish piano school, under the benevolent guidance of Henryk Sztompka, [1] himself a former student of Paderewski and worthy heir of an instrumental and stylistic tradition going back to Chopin and Liszt. [livre 3]
In the first lesson, Sztompka told him "You are a musician, but you have to do everything over again...". Thus began four years of intensive work which Fassina himself describes as "the most extraordinary of his life". [livre 4]
After a short and intense concert career from 1961 to 1975, [livre 3] he devoted himself to what he considered his true vocation: teaching the piano. In about ten years, he trained a good number of artists and teachers of all nationalities, to whom he passed on the knowledge he received in Poland.
After forty years of teaching, Jean Fassina published a book (Lettre à un jeune pianiste Fayard) in which he shares his pianistic knowledge and his pedagogical experience.
Fassina teaches in many countries in Europe and Asia: [livre 3]
More than a hundred internationally known musicians have been students of Fassina such as:
Fassina is the permanent guest of prestigious master classes: [livre 3]
He also sits on the jury of numerous international competitions:
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