French-American, born in Paris

Pianist, singer and composer ARIANE GRAY HUBERT is a pioneering and innovative artist in several music fields. Over the years Ariane has delighted the audiences the world over with her performances which include piano recitals, piano/vocal world music programs and orchestral concerts with western and eastern musicians.

With a vibrant mezzo-soprano voice and a visionary approach to playing the piano, Ariane elicits enthusiastic responses from audiences both in the West and East.

And to get a complete picture of her multifaceted talent she also composes her own music.

From Paris to Vienna : early years of exploring music

Born into a cosmopolite family, Ariane started her musical journey at the age of four with her mother and her great-aunt in Paris who herself received her musical training in Geneva from one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Alfred Cortot.

After completing her first music diploma at the Conservatory of Paris, Ariane decided to leave France at an early age and move on her own to “the heart of western classical music”, Vienna in Austria.

During a three years-program in Austria she was presented with a special award in Music –Laureate Lavoisier– for the first time by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ariane perfected her piano style with Mikhail Agranat in Vienna, Wladimir Krainev in Hanover, and later on with François-René Duchâble in Annecy. It is at that time that she discovered her aim in music, which is to present and promote her art in a different way.

“Western music can not go further if western musicians continue to present music to the audiences in such conventional way. Playing Mozart, Schubert and Prokofiev sonatas one after the other in a concert without any organic link is surely the best way to isolate classical music. An artist has to reinvent his/her language and must interact with the public in a creative way.”

Over the next few years, Ariane created a new series of concerts through pioneering cross-cultural programs such as “Women Composers”, “Mode, Melody and Rhythm between East and West”, sponsored by French cultural centers abroad in Baltic countries, Austria and Asia.

She also performed and collaborated with renowned stage directors from Opera of Paris, French movie director Coline Serreau & the international group Voices America.

Her performances convey a unique style of blending traditional repertoire with new compositions, and her musical personality increasingly attracts wider audiences.

Her first album “A Piano Solo Tribute: My Way” reveals a rare piano repertory from Alexander Scriabine to Lili Boulanger and illustrates the credo of the artist which is to highlight original music with a strong spiritual theme (2002).

From Europe to India : composing, singing and creating a new musical niche between classical and world music

Bound to enlarge her artistic horizon, Ariane started performing extensively in Asia, especially in India where she feels a great affinity with the people and the music.

She performed at prestigious venues such as the Music Academy in Madras in a solo vocal recital; The Madras Other Festival in her world premiere duet piano with ghatam or clay pot from South India : a piano solo tour organised by Indian Council of Cultural Relations in Bombay, New-Delhi, Calcutta, Madras & Bangalore (2001). She also made a special appearance on leading Indian Television channels, All India Radio and for the second time, won the special award –Laureate Lavoisier– by the French government for her music and performances in India.

Having worked on the relationship between time and music in Indian music, she decided to blend her own music and piano cum voice repertoire in a new world music program entitled “Piano Music for Morning, Noon and Evening” inspired by Indian music.

As a singer, Ariane’s voice lends itself to western sacred songs as well as “harmonic detours” inspired by highly rhythmic Indian ragas. She was part of the Female Gregorian Choir of Paris and sang at various sacred festivals all over Europe like the Vatican in Rome and the Basilica of Vezelay.

On her second album “Beyond Classical World(s)- Du Prelude au Raga”(Night&Day 2003/worldmusic), she composed the whole music for piano, voice and South Indian percussions and surprised both audiences from east and west with her modern compositions that blend with Indian music to her own music.

An example of a new kind of modern sacred music appears in her composition “Incantation” and in the same album Ariane adds a humorous note to a new vocal rap technique matching with ragas compositions and presents unheard piano scales like “Tamil Nadu” and “Khilona…Tillana”.

“My previous album was a personal tribute to a rare classical repertoire for piano. Here I break with my own tradition. However you wish to classify this album is not the issue…My aim is to provoke new kinds of artistic ventures where two major classical traditions can go beyond the age-old limits!”

Ariane‘s unique way of playing the piano and blending it with her voice is praised as “musically innovative and impressive” by the press and the album received a special recognition in MIDEM Cannes.

From India to the world : blending different arts together, sound and vision, concern for contemporary issues with her art

2004 is a new chapter in Ariane’s work and inspiration. She appeared in a series of solo improvisations entitled “Piano Rag(a) Time” based on the American rag time and the rag(a) time concept in Indian music for water preservation & environment at UNESCO,  Museum of ORSAY, Paris - La VILLETTE, L’ARCHIPEL, Enghien-les-Bains Festival of World Pianos, a mix of Western , American and Eastern music.

She sang in André Malraux Institute in Paris on a Bengali poetry program along with the music by international composer Henry Dutilleux and performed in major cities abroad for the Week of Francophonie in a tribute to famous contemporary francophone writers.

In 2005, she composed film-music for a French documentary “Women World Reverie” with fourteen sound-clips & lyrics mixed with her voice, keyboards & electronic sounds.

In 2006 Ariane launched “Piano Rag(a) Time” in India with her new Trio for piano, tabla and ghatam along with a world premiere exhibition of her Collages entitled “A Woman changes Seven Keys”. She received great reviews by leading publications and T.V channels in India for her innovative talent and gave special TV interviews with Doordashan in ‘Rangtarang’, NDTV and Headlines Today.  

Some other performances that Ariane has presented include those for the German airlines Lufthansa and Renault, participation in several humanitarian causes all over the world and her first opera to be produced in 2008.