The pianist classical music didn’t see coming

French pianist Lucas Debargue is not your typical classical musician. Before performing at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie, he worked at a supermarket checkout, studied philosophy, and spent years playing in jazz bars. It took a meeting with renowned teacher Rena Shereshevskaya, and a breakout performance at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, to set him on the path he’s now on.

Now 35, Debargue is making his Australian debut with Live at Yours, an intimate concert series known for staging recitals in non-traditional venues with theatrical lighting and a relaxed, salon-style atmosphere. Among the tour’s stops are two of Australia’s most storied Jewish spaces: the Toorak Synagogue in Melbourne and the Great Synagogue in Sydney.

For Live at Yours founder and artistic director Vladimir Fanshil, the setting carries real weight.

“At this fragile moment for our community, gathering in a synagogue for music feels like an act of resilience — a reminder that Jewish spaces are places of beauty, culture, connection and life,” he told The AJN.

The programme Debargue has assembled, titled L’Énigme Française, is entirely French, anchored by Ravel’s ‘Gaspard de la nuit’, alongside works by Gabriel Fauré. Its most distinctive element is Debargue’s own variations on Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’, a piece that resonates especially in these venues.