Karol Beffa, born in 1973, combines general and musical studies, after having acted as a child between the ages of seven and twelve in over fifteen films (he played with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano under the direction of Giorgio Strehler, interpreted Mozart at the age of eight in Marcel Bluwal's TV film, and played Lino Ventura's son in his latest film, La Septième Cible).
After graduating top of his class from the École normale supérieure (Ulm), he studied history (bachelor's degree), English (master's degree), philosophy (master's degree at Cambridge University) and mathematics, graduating from the École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique (ENSAE). He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in 1988, where he won eight first prizes (harmony, counterpoint, fugue,20th-century music, orchestration, analysis, vocal accompaniment, piano improvisation). After passing the agrégation d'éducation musicale, he taught at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (1998-2003), then at the École polytechnique (2003-2008). In 2003, he was awarded a doctorate in musicology for his doctoral thesis on György Ligeti's Études pour piano. Since 2004, he has been a lecturer at the École normale supérieure (Ulm).
A pianist, Karol Beffa has appeared several times as soloist with orchestra, and has played at Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, the Festival de Radio France Montpellier, the Piano-en-Valois festival, the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse, the Piano aux Jacobins festival, the Périgord Noir festival, the Athénée in Bucharest... He also gives regular concerts accompanying readings and silent films: at the Sorbonne, the auditorium of the Musée d'Orsay, the Forum des Images, the Rennes Opera, the Toulouse Cinémathèque... He gives improvisation concerts on themes suggested by the audience, a genre he is one of the only pianists to offer in Europe.
As a composer, his works have been performed in France (Salle Pleyel, Théâtre du Châtelet, Olivier Messiaen auditorium, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées..), in Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, the United States and Japan by such famous ensembles as A Sei Voci, the Maîtrise de Radio France, the Cambridge Voices, the Chœur de Tapiola and by the greatest orchestras (Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Orchestre de Bretagne, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Baltic Chamber Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national d'Île-de-France...). He has been commissioned by numerous festivals: Saint-Lizier, Juventus, the Festival d'art sacré de l'Abbaye de Sylvanès..
