Sylviane Deferne

Versatile pianist Sylviane Deferne has gained recognition as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber music player, and educator. Partly trained in Canada, she has issued several albums on Canadian labels. Deferne was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1965. She took up the piano at age five and entered the Geneva Conservatory in 1977, studying with Louis Hiltbrand and Maria Tipo and earning a prize of distinction with her soloist's diploma. Deferne went on for further study at the University of Montreal in Canada. One early breakthrough was a third-place finish at the Épinal International Piano Competition in France. In the same year, she earned the Gabriele de Agostini scholarship, which allowed her to travel to Vienna for further study. The year 1986 brought Deferne a Soloist of the Year award from the Communauté des radios francophones, and several more major international honors followed, including the top prize at the Frank Martin Competition in the Netherlands. Deferne settled in Switzerland in 1996, joining the faculty of the Conservatoire de Neuchâtel and later that of the Haute École de musique de Genève. In 1997, she made her recording debut on the CBC Records label, backing violinist Anne Robert in a program of music by Vierne, Ropartz, and Messiaen. Her solo debut came the following year on CBC Records with the recital Fanny et Felix Mendelssohn: The Last Rose of Summer. Deferne has performed widely in Europe, North America, and as far afield as Brazil, South Korea, and Japan, where she toured in 2007. Among the orchestras with which she has appeared are the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in addition to major Swiss groups. She played chamber music with the Trio Ceresio. In the 2010s, Deferne recorded several albums for the Doron Music label in Switzerland. She moved to Aparte in 2022 for the album Schubert: Der Wanderer.
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