Jean-Bernard Pommier was born in Béziers on 17 August 1944,[1][2] the son of an organist.[3] He began playing the piano at the age of four and gave his first public concert at the age of seven. He had his first lessons in Béziers with the Russian-schooled Mina Koslova.[2] His father introduced him to Pablo Casals. At the age of 14, he moved to Paris to study the piano, first privately with Yves Nat, as his last student,[1] and then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Pierre Sancan,[4] also studying conducting with Eugène Bigot.[2] Later, he also worked with Eugene Istomin in New York City.[5]
He was recognised internationally when he won Berlin Young Musicians International Competition in 1960.[2] In 1962, he was at age 17 the youngest finalist at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.[2][6] He was awarded an honourable mention[2] by a jury presided over by Emil Gilels.[7]
In 1963 Pommier and Eugene Istomin met in Sofia where Pommier played Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major for the first time. Istomin complimented him on the Ravel Concerto and suggested they would meet again. They established a transatlantic relationship punctuated by Istomin's travels to Europe. Istomin said: "It was not a master-student relationship, but an ongoing dialogue between colleagues. Jean-Bernard's career was already well launched! I cannot take the glory for this – it is Jean-Bernard who deserves all the credit. I am honoured to have been his teacher - the teacher of an exceptional student!”. They would go on to have a friendship of over forty years, performing together and making recordings.[5]
After the Tchaikovsky Competition, Pommier began recording with EMI.[6] Ten years later, he began a long period of collaboration with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin and Salzburg.[6] He played with conductors including Pierre Boulez,[4] Zubin Mehta,[7] Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti and Simon Rattle, among others. His recital and concert appearances included London, Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Amsterdam, Moscow, Chicago and New York City.[6] He recorded Beethoven's complete Piano Concertos with Daniel Barenboim and the Orchestre de Paris.[1][2]
From the beginning of the 1980s, Pommier also worked as a conductor working with major orchestras in Europe and America such as the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony,[2] Los Angeles Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,[1] Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Warsaw Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony, Leipzig Radio, Belgium National Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Salzburg Mozarteum.[6]
He conducted piano concertos from the keyboard, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra,[1] the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.[6] His chamber music partners included Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich,[1][4] Pinchas Zukerman, Leonard Rose,[7] Alexander Schneider, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paul Tortellier, Maurice Bourgue, Jaime Laredo, Josef Suk,[6] the Guarneri Quartet and the Vermeer Quartet.[4][6][7] Pommier gave masterclasses[7] in Chicago, London, Lausanne, Rotterdam, Durham, Barcelona, Melbourne and Shanghai.[6] Pommier was also artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia, principal conductor of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino,[4] and principal conductor of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.[4][6] From 2006 to 2008 he was artistic director of the Festival de Menton.[2][4]
Pommier recorded Mozart's complete Piano Sonatas and piano concertos by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, among others.[7] He recorded Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra with pianist Anne Queffélec and the City of London Sinfonia, conducted by Richard Hickox.[8] Pommier recorded the Sonate Pour Deux Pianistes that the jazz pianist Claude Bolling composed on Pommiers initiative with the composer in 1972.[9] A recording of Beethoven's complete Piano Sonatas earned him a Diapason d'Or.[1][7] He was a recipient of the Ordre national du Mérite and the Légion d’Honneur.[1][6][7]
Pommier was married to the Russian violinist Olga Martinova with whom he often performed.[2]
Pommier died in Béziers on 23 April 2026, at the age of 81, after a long illness.[1][2][3][4]
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