Lucas Debargue | UKARIA Cultural Centre

The charismatic French pianist and composer Lucas Debargue makes his UKARIA debut. Since his sensational appearance at the 2015 Tchaikovsky competition, where he was awarded the prestigious Moscow Critics Award, Debargue has forged an international career as a virtuosic soloist and sought-after chamber musician. To regular performances as a soloist in Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, he adds chamber music collaborations with artists including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer and Renaud Capuçon. As a Sony Classical recording artist, Lucas Debargue has released five solo albums, with a sixth to appear in early 2026.

His majority-French program speaks in part to this recording history: both Fauré’s monumental Theme and Variations and Ravel’s equally demanding and atmospheric Gaspard de la nuit feature in Debargue’s discography. The program’s second half profiles a contemporary French compositional voice: the gently colourful world of eminent composer Stéphane Delplace’s Intermezzo VI and Ground is contrasted with the bold hues of George Gershwin’s classic Summertime Variations – here arranged by Lucas Debargue himself, and performed in celebration of his soon-to-be-released Gershwin album.