Biography

Born into a well-known family of musicians in Neuchâtel, Marc Pantillon was raised in an environment filled with music where it was only natural to begin studying the piano at a very early age under the tutelage of his parents. He did not study with anyone else until after he earned his diploma at the age of 20. As the recipient of a grant from Migros, he was able to study with Hans Petermandl at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, where he earned a diploma in virtuosity "with honors" in 1983. In the same year he won great attention as a finalist at the Bösendorfer Competition, likewise in Vienna.

Marc Pantillon then had the chance to continue his studies with Paul Badura-Skoda, who took great interest in his development, encouraging him to seriously consider a career as a soloist. The prize as Soloist of the Swiss Musicians’ Association in 1987 served as the starting point for this career. Since then he has appeared frequently in recital and as a soloist with orchestra; he is likewise a chamber musician in great demand. Marc Pantillon teaches professional piano classes at both the Neuchâtel and Lausanne Conservatories.

His first solo recording ( "C Minor", Gallo ), warmly received by critics, was soon followed by other compact discs with partners such as the Moravian Chamber Orchestra, Spanish tenor Ruben Amoretti and oboist Roland Perrenoud. He now works for the famous swiss firm Claves, recently recording the six trios by Ignaz Lachner, a recital of pieces for piano by Stephen Heller and a programm of romantic music for viola and piano with Anna Barbara Dütschler.

A passionate botanist and bird-watcher, Marc Pantillon lives in the village of Môtiers, where nature has remained untouched and forests have hardly changed since Jean-Jacques Rousseau once roamed there...