Biography
"An oustanding pianist." Andrei Gavrilov
Recognized as an imaginative and unusual performer with refined interpretations, for her “calm technical mastery, immediate understanding of balance” as well as “extraordinary vigor, flawless musicality,” (Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace), Mathilde Handelsman is a concert pianist, poet, and educator from Paris, France.
Spanning the repertoire across Europe and the United States, Handelsman's career as a soloist and collaborative musician has led her to perform under conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Thomas Adès, Stefan Asbury, and Luigi Gaggero. Highlights from recent and current seasons include chamber performances alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Nicolas Namoradze, and Stephen Drury at the Tanglewood Music Festival, as well as an solo debut at Carnegie Hall in May 2022.
Handelsman's début solo album, Images, featuring Claude Debussy’s complete works of 1903-1907, was produced by the record label Sheva in 2020. Two new albums are are scheduled to be released in 2023-2024, one devoted to works by Schumann, Knussen and Debussy for the Sono Luminus label, and a collaborative debut album with husband and cellist Edward Cho, as part of the Cho-Handelsman Duo. Additionally, Handelsman’s work as a poet includes two published volumes, Pré-sage (2016) and L’Absurde Génie des fleurs (2017).
Mathilde Handelsman was born in Paris to a family of musicians and visual artists. Her principal teachers are Menahem Pressler, John O’Conor, and Laurent Cabasso. Throughout her childhood, Handelsman also had the privilege of studying under the mentorship of Jean Martin, a pupil of Yves Nat, and at the Paris Conservatoire. Recently, Handelsman received additional guidance from Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Jeffrey Kahane, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, Robert Levin, Philippe Cassard and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. After graduating “Magna cum laude” from the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg in 2015, Mathilde moved to the United States to further her studies at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University-Bloomington where she also taught as an Associate Instructor. In 2020, she earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah Conservatory on a full scholarship and assistantship.
Since 2020, Handelsman has served on the music faculty at the University of New Hampshire where she heads the piano area as a Lecturer of Piano and Director of the Piano Extension Program. She previously served on the piano faculty of the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy and the Young Pianists Program at Indiana University.
