Mathilde Handelsman
Constantly 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, 2013), 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 upcoming solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 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. A collaborative album devoted to new commissions for woodwinds and piano by Roger Boutry will be released in 2022. 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. She has also received recent guidance and mentorship from Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, Robert Levin, Jeffrey Kahane, 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. In 2020, she earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah Conservatory.
Since 2020, Handelsman has served on the music faculty at the University of New Hampshire, where she now holds the position of 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.
