Born in Paris, Devoyon began his studies with Blanche Bascourret de Gueraldi then with
Lélia Gousseau at the
Conservatoire de Paris where he won
first prize in 1971. Then he became famous for his successes at international competitions: the
Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (in 1974, second place), the
Leeds International Piano Competition (in 1975, tied with
Andras Schiff for third place), finally the
International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (in 1978, tied with
André Laplante for second prize). Favourite in the final of this competition, the jury awarded him only the second place behind
Mikhail Pletnev. The following year he began an international career and gave several concerts in Europe, the United States and the USSR. Among his notable recordings are Maurice Ravel's
Gaspard de la nuit and Franz Liszt's
Piano Sonata in B minor. Devoyon often performs as a chamber pianist, and collaborates with cellist
Steven Isserlis, as well as violinist
Dong-Suk Kang and pianist Rikako Murata. From 1991 he has been teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris, then since 1995 at the
Berlin University of the Arts as well as at the
Conservatoire de musique de Genève. Among his pupils are
Mélodie Zhao,
Caroline Fischer and
Louis Schwizgebel-Wang. At the same time, he continues his concert career. == References ==