Ismaël Margain was born in 1992 in Sarlat (Dordogne), where he began his musical training (piano, flute, saxophone, jazz, composition), before being unanimously awarded a place at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), where he worked with Jacques Rouvier, Nicholas Angelich, and later Roger Muraro.
In 2011 he won the Génération SPEDIDAM International Competition in Aix-en-Provence for his performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, receiving his prize from Aldo Ciccolini. He was immediately invited to play Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto at the Touquet International Music Masters 2012. He came to the notice of the general public in December 2012, when he played Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 23 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in the Long-Thibaud Competition and won the Public Prize as well as the Third Grand Prix Marguerite Long.
In 2011 Ismaël Margain was invited by the Limoges Opéra to present a programme in tribute to Franz Liszt (for the bicentenary of the composer’s birth) and to Franz Schubert, one of his personal favourites. He has since taken part in various festivals, including Deauville (Easter Festival), Paris (Chopin), Chambéry (Bel-Air Claviers Festival), Prades (Pablo Casals), Toulouse (Piano aux Jacobins) and others.
His international career began in 2012 when he was awarded first prize in the Concours de la Société des Arts in Geneva, before going on to take part in the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany and to give a series of recitals, concertos and master-classes in Latin America and the United States.
In 2012 Ismaël Margain was awarded a bursary by the Clos Vougeot Music Festival (Côte d’Or, Burgundy) and formed an ensemble for the occasion with soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, New York. In 2014 he received a scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe. He performs regularly at the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris, where he is artist in residence.