Biography

He was born on June 9, 1983 in Sète, only 33 kilometers from Montpellier, in the department of Hérault (France). He is a pianist, composer, arranger and educator.

In addition to participating in various musicals throughout his career and recording with numerous artists, Marcenac is founder of the INTERNATIONAL PIANO SCHOOL IN DEN HAAG, where he develops the method “intuitive mechanisms” for providing students the tools necessary to fully develop their musical potential.

Born in the town of Sète and raised in Agde, Marcenac lived his childhood and part of teenage years in the South, near the sea, where he began to have a particular interest in music, especially jazz and his own compositions. As he was growing into other stages, he developed a musical ear (absolute pitch), while he was passionate about playing piano.

Inspired by a great variety of composers from the 16th to the 21th centuries, but especially Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven due to the structuring / conception of their music with devotion and mastering, Marcenac begins to transcribe many solos and to imitate jazz pianists as Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson, Lenny Tristano, Bud Powell, among others.

His musical training was given first independently, he stayed six years at the Municipal Music School of Adge, then moved to the city of Toulouse and studied jazz piano for four years, and there he recorded with the Big Muret Band.

Since then, he has perfected his piano and musical education in various conservatories, among which are: classical organ in the Municipal Conservatory of Sète (four years); piano in Montpellier JAM jazz school (one year); piano jazz at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (two years), where he got a Bachelor of Music and a diploma as a Master of Arts.

Among others, he has played in the festivals of Carcassonne and Montauban with Dominique Rieux, worked with Big band brass, Nicoletta, and has toured with the Peruvian musician / composer Miguel Ulisses.

Guillaume’s wide and varied recording work includes his compositions with the saxophonist Max Ionata (2009).

He has also recorded in Dubai with the jazz trio Afif Brothers (2011), performing with kanun player Furat Qaduori and collaborating with the guitarist Kamal Mussalam.

Marcenac recorded and performed in Paris in a jazz trio with Xavier Roumagnac and Guillaume Marin (2012), before working on a studio recording with Anthony Davis and Andor Hordvath (2013).

Marcenac defines himself as a passionate, dreamer, curious, adventurous man, and this is reflected in his compositions, being a versatile artist who prioritizes professional devotion, hard work and routine at every stage of his projects: from transcriptions of improvisations, recording a studio work or the media diffusion.

His playing experience ranges from performing solo recitals, concerts with orchestra and bands, studio recordings, to theater productions in a variety of venues and festivals in The Netherlands and elsewhere.

Regarding his professional stage performance, Marcenac has collaborated with ”Stage Entertainment”, the biggest musicals producer in Europe, having appearances in: “Miss Saigon” (2011), “Aspects of Love” (2012)”, “Jersey Boys” (2013), “Moeder ik wil bij de Revue” (2014), “Billy Elliot” (2015), “Beauty and the Beast” (2016) and the record breaking “The Lion King” (2017) – with more than 3.3 million ticket sales and 1000 shows – the most viewed musical in The Netherlands.

He has recorded and released a piano solo at Wisseloord Studios, entitled ” Chansons a l’improviste” (2015) as well as a studio album called “Explorations” (2018), with the participation of singers and guest artists, Nadja Filtzer, Jurgen Donkers, Tess, Bryony Burns and Patricia Wisse.

In this latest work, Marcenac transforms different popular French songs of his childhood through jazz, accompanied by the different styles and timbres of the singers, to endow them with new colors and new sounds.

In addition to jazz, another of Marcenac’s specialties is improvisation. During his time as a student in conservatories, he used to play and improvise pieces related to his childhood and teenage years in bistrots, later being able to adapt these improvisations to more elaborate compositions and pieces.

Even beyond his music, he is also an educator with more than 15 years of experience teaching from beginners at all levels, to professional musicians.

During his stay in Toulouse, he got a French Teaching Certificate at the Center d’Etudes Supérieures Musique et Danse (CESDM), his multilingual training has served to help musicians from different parts of the world.

He founded the INTERNATIONAL PIANO SCHOOL IN DEN HAAG, where he is a piano instructor specialized in jazz, improvisations and auditions in grade 5 (and above). Guillaume is committed to inspiring children to foster a lifelong passion for music, which is why he has developed a music education program for the European School of The Hague (2017).

Guillaume imparts an intuitive mechanics method for new students who wish to learn the concepts of music theory and develop their piano skills. This is a progressive system that combines theoretical teachings with the performance of each student by levels, offering also internal and official exams, which help to follow the progress through four essential pillars: scales and arpeggios, ear training, sight reading and piano repertoire.

Guillaume’s aspirations on the piano are writing new music, recording and collaborating with other artists for whom he feels admiration.