Marcel Ciampi

Who was Marcel Ciampi?

Marcel Paul Maximin Ciampi was a French pianist and teacher. He held the longest tenure in the history of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and also became head of piano classes at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England.

Ciampi was taught by Louis Diémer at the Paris Conservatoire and won the first prize for pianoforte in 1909. He had a career as a concert pianist, appearing with orchestras in France, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Sofia and Athens. He worked with Claude Debussy.

He turned to teaching and had a particular influence on Hephzibah Menuhin and her sister Yaltah Menuhin. He accepted Yaltah at age four, after hearing her play Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen. His students also included Yvonne Loriod, Cécile Ousset, Thea Musgrave, John Carmichael, Mícéal O'Rourke, Jean-Marc Luisada, Pierre Hétu, Kathryn Stott, Melvyn Tan, Nancy Bricard, Avi Schönfeld, Beryl Sedivka, Andree Juliette Brun, Grant Foster, Anna-Marie Globenski, Eric Heidsieck, Jacqueline Cole,. Another of his students was John-Paul Bracey, who was to become his biographer.

Ciampi recorded some early electrical solo and chamber music discs for French Columbia.