Four years ago, at the close of the biggest concert of his career in Paris, the French pianist Sofiane Pamart did something unexpected to the instrument that brought him to fame: He took a flamethrower and set it on fire.<\/p>\n
Two years later, his instrument was aflame again as he played John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d while floating down the Seine river as part of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
The rock star move symbolizes what Pamart, 36, has sought to achieve since kicking off his solo career in 2019: making his instrumental music as popular, and spectacular, as possible.<\/p>\n
With his chunky silver rings and sunglasses, wide kimonos and high heels, the self-dubbed \u201cPiano King\u201d has made a name for himself in France\u2019s rap and classical crossover scenes as a performer who knows how to put on a show.<\/p>\n
The piano \u201chas centuries of history behind it and represents a culture that is very, very strong,\u201d Pamart said this week while visiting Paris to promote his fourth album. \u201cBurning it is a way of resisting this.\u201d<\/p>\n
With \u201cMovie,\u201d the new solo album he composed from West Hollywood, Calif., where he now lives, Pamart is taking his quest to shake classical music\u2019s rigid mores to new heights.<\/p>\n
It came out in April and is envisioned like a film based on scenes from his life. The tracks feature an orchestra, choir and a string of international guest stars, including Sia, Nelly Furtado and J Balvin, adding depth to the melancholic melodies that are Pamart\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilm music is something that has always appealed to me as a composer,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I wanted my first time to be for a film where I\u2019d have complete freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the soundtracks to movies and cartoons that first brought Pamart to the piano in Lille, northern France, where he grew up. When he was just 3, his mother, a literature teacher, noticed that he was reproducing the tunes of \u201cThe Godfather\u201d and \u201cE.T.\u201d on a 12-key toy piano. When he turned 6, she enrolled him in music school and pushed him to become a musician.<\/p>\n
Classical music was new to the household. Pamart\u2019s father, who runs French language schools for international students, preferred chansons by artists like Georges Brassens and L\u00e9o Ferr\u00e9. His mother, the daughter of Moroccan immigrants who moved to northern France to work in coal mines, felt both fascinated and removed from the classical music scene, Pamart said.<\/p>\n
For her, Pamart added, classical music was \u201cnoble, classy and powerful, majestic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a lot of time chasing my mother\u2019s dream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pamart said he and his two younger siblings, who followed him to music school, formed a sort of pact with their parents. \u201cWe realized very early on that a significant sacrifice had been made for us, and that the way to honor that was to achieve great success in whatever field we chose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While his mother and teachers taught him theory and discipline, a rebellious uncle introduced him to a whole different world: that of the streets of Lille and its underground culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I later blended rap and classical music,\u201d Pamart said, \u201cbecause, in fact, that was my story.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he graduated from music school, he already knew he wanted to make a career playing piano, but he didn\u2019t want to become a classical pianist. So he started his own band, Rapsodie, with musicians and rappers from his hometown and took on any piano gig he could find to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
Times were tough, and Pamart said he realized that his piano training had taught him a craft, but nothing about the music business. He signed up for a master\u2019s program in economics and music management in Paris, telling himself, \u201cEven if I don\u2019t know the people currently in the music industry, I\u2019ll surely meet the ones who will be shaping it in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around that time, he met Guillaume H\u00e9ritier, a like-minded entrepreneur who would eventually become his manager and business partner, and he began collaborating with rappers on acoustic versions of their tracks.<\/p>\n
Pamart was also composing his own solo pieces, in which he sought to capture emotions, with simplicity as the ultimate goal. To do that, he said, he had to do away with much of the technique he had spent years learning, though he still found inspiration in classical composers, especially Chopin.<\/p>\n
Scylla, a Belgian rapper who released an album with Pamart in 2018, described Pamart as a musician who \u201chas that ability, that strength, to understand emotions without even needing to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scylla said the stripped-back album they made was the result of a yearslong partnership \u2014 and it was bold. \u201cPeople in my team all told me, \u2018Wait, just a piano? Just a piano and a voice on an album? No, you really have to add some other stuff.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The record, called \u201cPleine Lune\u201d (\u201cFull Moon\u201d), was the first time Pamart had his name on the cover. \u201cThat implied a pianist had just as much to say as a rapper,\u201d Pamart said.<\/p>\n
With the help of H\u00e9ritier, his manager, Pamart brought out his first solo album, \u201cPlanet\u201d \u2014 12 introspective pieces, each with the name of a different city \u2014 which, according to H\u00e9ritier, has been near the top of the classical charts ever since.<\/p>\n
He toured the album to sold-out halls in Asia and Latin America, where he composed his second and third solo albums while expanding his range of collaborations, releasing music with the electronic DJ group Trinix, the singer Kimberose, and Charles Leclerc, the racing driver from Monaco who also plays piano.<\/p>\n