Advanced piano studies
With Gabriel Tacchino, Francis Poulenc’s only student, at the Schola Cantorum.
Valentin CarayolComposer · PianistFR/EN
Biography
A journey between
performance and creation.
Composer, concert pianist, educator, and author Valentin Carayol pursues an artistic vision in which music engages with storytelling, science, and transmission.
Valentin Carayol studied at the conservatory, the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, and the Schola Cantorum.
He began piano at an early age with Lionel Dibot. From 2007 to 2013, he pursued advanced studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot in Odile Catelin-Delangle’s studio and its upper-level professional performance program.
He later continued his training at the Schola Cantorum with Gabriel Tacchino, Francis Poulenc’s only student, with whom he developed a close friendship. Poulenc is among the composers who shaped his musical language, alongside Bach, Chopin, Ravel, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff. Carayol also studied chamber music with Jean-Louis Caillard and Alexandre Gasparov, and composition with Stéphane Delplace and Christian Manen.
TrainingMusical studies+
Advanced composition studies
With Christian Manen, winner of the Grand Prix de Rome.
Chamber music
With Alexandre Gasparov and Jean-Louis Caillard at the conservatories of Paris’s 14th and 17th arrondissements.
Organ
With Éric Ampeau at the conservatory of Paris’s 18th arrondissement and at the Cathedral of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides.
Composition and musical writing
Harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and composition with Stéphane Delplace.
Piano and musical writing
Advanced studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
Piano training
Private instruction with Lionel Dibot.
QualificationsDiplomas and credentials+
Advanced Piano Performance Diploma
École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, studio of Odile Catelin-Delangle.
Advanced Music Theory
École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
Music Analysis
École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
Chamber Music Diploma
Conservatory of Paris’s 17th arrondissement, awarded with highest honors.
Music History
École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
Performance & education
A multifaceted
practice.
Recitals and chamber music
Valentin Carayol performs as a soloist and chamber musician in France and abroad. His appearances have included the Palais Garnier, the Mucem, the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, and the François Mitterrand National Conservatory in Mauritius.
From stage to screen
He has worked on programs including The Voice on TF1 and Un dîner presque parfait on M6. He also collaborated with the startup Meloflow and presented its application to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in 2016.
Teaching and transmission
A piano and music theory instructor, he has taught at the conservatories of Sèvres and Le Plessis-Robinson and at several institutions in Paris. He now continues his work as a private teacher.
Music, science & storytelling
Building
connections.
In 2021, Professor Yves Coppens invited Valentin Carayol to the Mucem for a symposium on the future, where he spoke about the future of music and performed in concert.
He is also the author and composer of The Ancestor, a musical and scientific tale about human origins. Originally envisioned with Yves Coppens, the work was completed by Carayol alone after Coppens’s passing and dedicated to his memory. Initially developed and produced by RED MAMA Productions, it received its world preview in 2025 at the Auditorium Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, with opening remarks by Lilian Thuram. Yves Coppens had served on the scientific committee of Thuram’s foundation.
Carayol is also a cofounder of the Association des Géologues du Centre-Loire and the Maison de la Géologie Yves Coppens, a museum devoted to paleontology, prehistory, and geology near Sancerre.
Recognition
Awards &
distinctions.
International competitions · Composition
IBLA Grand Prize New York
- Most Distinguished Musician for Agitato — 2024
- Most Distinguished Musician for Sur le Mot Homme — 2023
- Second Prize, Madeleine de Valmalète International Piano Competition, Virtuosity Level — 2011
- First Accessit, Léopold Bellan International Competition, Piano, Excellence Level — 2011
- First Prize, Concours Musical de France, piano four hands, Excellence Level — 2010
- Unanimous First Prize with Jury Honors, Madeleine de Valmalète International Competition, piano four hands — 2010
United States
Extraordinary Ability
Holder of a U.S. O-1 visa, granted to individuals recognized for extraordinary ability.
Press
In the
press.
Articles and profiles chronicling Valentin Carayol’s musical career.
Le Berry Républicain · June 21, 2026