Serre Chevalier Summer Jazz Festival

This 4th edition of the festival will offer audiences concerts with eclectic aesthetics that are as close as possible to French musical creation.

1st part: Pierre de Bethmann, jazz pianist, composer and arranger, Pierre de Bethmann was born in Paris in 1965.

A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, he began playing jazz on his own.

At the age of 24, he decided to study in the United States at the famous Boston jazz school, Berklee College of Music.

Some time after his return to France he decided to devote himself entirely to music, encouraged by Laurent Cugny, then Director of the Orchestre National de Jazz.

During a master class with Herbie Hancock, he particularly impressed the famous American pianist. This marked the start of a career that would see him play with some of France's finest jazz musicians.

In 2013, he took part, alongside Didier Lockwood and Lionel Belmondo, in the "French jazz week" at the very famous Copenhagen club, Jazzhus Montmartre.

He has recorded several albums for the Blue Note label, in particular with his PRYSM Trio, with whom he has toured the United States several times.

Recognised as an excellent composer and arranger who writes for a variety of formations, including up to 12 solo musicians, Pierre de Bethmann has won numerous awards: Prix du Concours national de jazz de la Défense in 1994 – Django d'Or 1998 – Prix Django-Reinhardt de l'Académie du jazz in 2004 – Victoire du jazz in 2008 – Album of the year – Grand Prix Jazz de l'Académie Charles Cros in 2016 – Victoires du Jazz 2024 – Instrumental artist of the year – Victoires du Jazz 2025 – Album and concert of the year

Since 2008, he has taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Département Jazz et Musiques Improvisées.

2nd part:

"Lady Violet" Trio – Vincent Lê Quang (saxophone) Marc Ducret (guitar) Bruno Ruder (piano)

"Lady Violet "is the name of an exceptional trio formed by three leading musicians on the French and international jazz scene: Vincent Lê Quang, Bruno Ruder and Marc Ducret.

– Vincent Lê Quang is a saxophonist whose insatiable appetite takes him from jazz to contemporary and classical music. A great connoisseur of the soprano and tenor saxophones, he has forged his own distinctive style and sound. He has performed alongside Daniel Humair, Jean-Paul Céléa, Jeanne Added, Aldo Romano, Henri Texier, Bruno Ruder and László Fassang in the most prestigious venues in Washington, Moscow, Budapest and Paris.

Since 2007, he has been a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in Paris.

Bruno Ruder is an eclectic pianist, equally at home in the most avant-garde contexts as in the great jazz tradition. He is both a sought-after sideman and the leader of his own projects. After graduating from the Paris Conservatoire in 2003, he began his career with Riccardo Del Fra, playing alongside some of the world's leading musicians. He went on to play with Magma from 2008 and with the Orchestre National de Jazz from 2019 to 2024. A regular companion of singer Jeanne Added, he is also a loyal partner of Vincent Lê Quang. In 2022 and 2024 he is ranked as one of the top three French pianists by Jazz Magazine.

– A self-taught guitarist, Marc Ducret is quickly attracted to a wide variety of modes of expression, both in his guitar playing and in his work as a composer. He was soon spotted by major jazz figures, playing alongside Daniel Humair, Michel Portal, Joachim Kühn, Henri Texier, Don Friedman, Larry Schneider, Andy Emler and Didier Lockwood.

In 1986, he was asked by François Jeanneau to take part in the first Orchestre national de jazz. Today he is one of the leading figures on the French jazz scene.

Closing aperitif offered to festival-goers by the Dauphiné Libéré in the church square