Swiss Global Artistic Foundation

Clément Dufour was born in 1987 in Versailles. At a very early age he was given a flute and soon developed a passion for the instrument. From 1995 until 2003 he studied at the Regional Music Academy of Rueil-Malmaison (the city where his family lives), in the class of Pascale Feuvrier and Philippe Pierlot. In 2001 he won First Prize at the European Music Competition in Picardy and, in 2002, First Prizes at the Bellan competition, the National Competition for Young Flautists and the UFAM competition. That year he also won the First Prize at the Regional Music Academy of Rueil-Malmaison, and in 2003 a Prize of Excellence. He passed his baccalaureate in 2003, with distinction.

Clément Dufour was admitted by unanimous vote to the National Music Academy of Lyon (CNSM) in 2003, where he joined the class of Philippe Bernold and Emmanuelle Reville. In 2005-6 he spent a year at the Hans Eisler Hochschule in Berlin, where his teacher was Benoît Fromanger, and returning in 2006 to the National Music Academy of Lyon.

In April 2004 he placed second at the "Internationaler Rotary Musikförderpreis" in Nuremberg and was a finalist in the European Young Concert Artists Auditions in Paris. Early in 2005 he took Second Prize at the International Flute Competition in Krakow and, as a member of l'Orchestre Français des Jeunes during that summer, played Mahler's Fifth Symphony at the Champs Elysées Theatre in Paris.

In October 2005 he appeared with the harpist Isabelle Perrin at the Jours des Arts II Festival of the Suisse Global Artistic Foundation at the Château de Montcaud (near Avignon). Later that month, in Paris, Clément Dufour won First Prize at the Seventh International Jean-Pierre Rampal Flute Competition--the world's foremost flute contest. He was by seven years the youngest of the four finalists, and received high praise for his performances of the Mozart Flute Concerto in D Major and the Flute Concerto by Andre Jolivet.

As a result of the Jean-Pierre Rampal victory, Clément Dufour has appeared in Rome at and in Vaucresson (near Paris) at the invitation of the Rotary Club. He has also played in the Louvre, with the pianist Laeticia Bougnol, and in Tokyo and Hamamatsu with Shiganori Kudo. Recently, he was soloist at the Festival in Palaiseau, near Paris.

In 2006, Clément Dufour was nominated "Classic revelation" by Adami.

Please visit www.clementdufour.net for further information.