Pierre Hantaï became fond of Bach’s music when he was about ten years old. Thanks to Gustav Leonhardt’s influence, he started studying the harpsichord, first alone and then helped by the American maestro Arthur Haas. He performed his first concerts at an early age, both alone and with his brothers, Marc and Jérome. Then, he spent two years studying in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt, who later invited him to perform under his conduction. In 1985, Pierre Hantaï founds the chamber ensemble Le Concert Français, with his brothers Marc Hantaï and Jérome Hantaï, and the violinist François Fernandez. In the same years, he became a regular member of the orchestra La Petite Bande, led by Sigiswald Kuijken. He also worked for a long time with the conductor Philippe Herreweghe and with his former teacher Gustav Leonhardt. In those years, he also collaborated with many other musicians and conductors, such as François Fernandez, Marc Minkowski, and Philippe Pierlot.

Currently, Pierre Hantaï is mostly performing as a soloist all over the world. He also performs with Jordi Savall and with friends like Hugo Reyne, Sébastien Marq, Skip Sempé, Olivier Fortin, Christophe Coin, Amandine Beyer, and Jean-Guihen Queyras, with whom he plays chamber music.

Pierre Hantaï’s recordings of JS Bach’s compositions earned him a particular appreciation of the critic, especially his two records of the Variazioni Goldberg (BWV 998,) respectively performed in 1992 and 2002, a repertoire that, more than any other, he has been playing since his childhood. His broad discography includes two recent recordings for Mirare: the first book of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier,” and the first book of his transversal project on Domenico Scarlatti’s works. Moreover, he is specialized in the repertoire of music for keyboards of the English 17th century.