Alexandre Bodak

French pianist, born 14 December 1937 in Berlin. In parallel to his successful musical career, Alain Bodak was also a renowned physician (now retired). Bodak began to study the piano in Algiers at the age of eight. Soon after he entered the Conservatoire in Toulouse and a few years later he continued his studies in Brasil with Renée Devraine. Bodak was also a student at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in Montevideo (Uruguay) where he studied with Wilhelm Kolisher, Enrique Casal Chapi and Eliane Richepin. In 1956 he participated in the Chopin Competition in Rio de Janeiro and also gave a number of recitals there. In 1957 Bodak returned to France where he continued his studies in Paris with Eliane Richepin, Jeanne Marie Darre, Germaine Deveze and Pierre Sancan at the Conservatoire National de Paris. From 1957 until 1962 Bodak took part in a number of International Competitions among which competitions in Warsaw, Paris and Valdemosa (Spain) and also the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona where he was awarded the Third Prize. He was the pianist of François Malkovsky (dancer, choreographer) from 1957 to 1980. In 1960, at the age of 23, an injury of his left wrist disrupted his career, so he took up medical studies. He graduated as a physician in 1972, but never gave up piano playing. He retired from medecine in December 2004. Bodak has made a number of recordings and has given many recitals and concerts with orchestras in France as well as in Belgium, and the USA. In 1992, in Paris he was awarded the First Prize of the Concours International des Grands Amateurs de Piano organised as a part of the Competition by Radio France. This success has given a new impetus to Bodak's career and he his now regularly in demand for recitals and concerts with various orchestras. In 1995 he participated as one of the soloists in the world premiere at the Sorbonne Hall (Paris) of Marius Constant's Symphonie Concertante for six pianos and orchestra under the direction of Georges Pretre. In March 1998, Bodak performed a piano recital at the Gaveau hall in Paris and gave the world première of the 4th sonata for piano written for him by Milosz Magin. In June 1999, he won the audience award at the first International Piano Competition for outstanding amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas (USA), a competition organized by the Van Cliburn Foundation. In April 2000, he played as the world première, the 4th piano concerto composed for and dedicated to him by Milosz Magin with the AP-HP orchestra in Paris. In February 2002, Bodak gave a world première of the piano concerto with orchestra from Jan van Landeghem at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.