- Marc Ponthus
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Marc Ponthus is a notable French pianist of modern and contemporary music, educated in Paris and currently living in New York City.
Uncompromising in artistic standards, Ponthus is among the few promoters and interpreters of avant-garde piano music. He has specialized in complex contemporary music for the piano, particularly in the piano repertoire of the Darmstadt School from the 1950s and 1960s, notably the Klavierstucken of K. Stockhausen and the Piano Sonatas of P. Boulez. An advocate of advanced music from the second half of the twentieth-century, Ponthus has also performed Beethoven's Hammerklavier at Columbia University's Miller Theater. He has also given the world premiere of Webern's unpublished, Kinderstuck in New York City at the Pierpont Morgan Library. In 2004, he recorded the complete piano music of Iannis Xenakis for Neuma Records. Back in 1977, he was prized at the V Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition.
A recipient of the Tanne Foundation's Award for achievement in the arts, in addition to his work as a pianist, Ponthus is the director of the Mannes College of Music's Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance, which he founded.
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