Karine Sélo is a French pianist and accompanist who collaborates with leading instrumentalists and teaches in major European institutions. Renowned for her work with young artists, she regularly coaches advanced students and performs in chamber music across Europe. She has long worked alongside Jérôme Pernoo and is actively involved in academies, competitions, and at the Pernoo School of Musical Performance.
Her vocation for accompaniment has led her to work with some of the most prestigious musical institutions, supporting both students and leading instrumental professors. In this context, she provides coaching and recordings for advanced students, helping them prepare for major competitions.
Her experience and her enjoyment of making music with others have also led her to design original concert programs, often integrating literature and visual arts.
In 2002, her meeting with Jérôme Pernoo marked the beginning of a long musical collaboration, and she became his regular pianist for academies at the Royal College of Music in London, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, and, since 2023, for his private school. She is also regularly invited to work with Gary Hoffman, Claudio Bohórquez, Philippe Muller, Michel Michalakakos, François Salque, Pierre-Olivier Queyras, Young-Chang Cho, Julien Beaudiment, Marc Danel, Xenia Jankovic, Leonid Kerbel, Nathan Braude and others, in masterclasses and international academies such as the Kronberg Academy, the Cagliari Academy, the Kuhmo Festival, MusicAlp, the International Summer Academy PragWienBudapest, Schlossakademie and the Musica Mundi School. She is frequently engaged as accompanist for international competitions including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Feuermann Competition in Berlin, Young Concert Artists, the Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, the Isang Yun Competition in Korea, the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, as well as auditions for the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris.
She is also an accompanist at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Paris and at the Musica Mundi School in Belgium.
Passionate about chamber music, Karine performs in various ensembles ranging from duo to quintet and takes part in numerous festivals, including Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn in La Roche-Posay, Les Musicales de Blanchardeau, the International Summer Academy PragWienBudapest in Austria, the International Spring Festival at Teatru Manoel in Malta, the Festival de Saint-Hilaire-des-Noyers, Musique en Pays de Serres, À portée de mains in Autun, Les Musicales du Parc de Wesserling and Musique en Pays de Noailles. She also performs at the Moulin d’Andé, the Château de Ratilly, the Centre de musique de chambre de Paris, and is regularly invited by the Ensemble Reza in the United Kingdom. Her musical partners have included Jérôme Pernoo, Claudio Bohórquez, Stéphane Réty, Michel Lethiec, Felix Renggli, Gérard Poulet, the baritones Yann Toussaint and Julien Clément, and the Akos Quartet.
Since 2017, she has organized musical weekends at the Moulin d’Andé, a cultural and artistic center in Normandy, featuring three concerts over two days. She has also recently created a concert series in Paris, À vos ouïes… Prêts ? Musique !, at Studio l’Accord Parfait, an intimate venue where the proximity between audience and musicians fosters a shared musical experience.
She forms a duo with cellist Claire Thirion of the Chiaroscuro Quartet. Together, they explore new concert formats and have created two concert productions combining music, literature and visual arts: Du côté de chez Franck and Le spleen russe de Pouchkine à Rachmaninov.
Her work also brings her into contact with contemporary composers. In March 2009, she premiered the Piano Quintet by Jérôme Ducros; in 2011, she produced a cello and piano reduction of Guillaume Connesson’s Cello Concerto for Éditions Billaudot; and in 2013, she served as artistic director for the CD En Aparté, featuring works by Jérôme Ducros, released by Universal Music.
Born in Saint-Nazaire, Karine Sélo began studying piano at the age of 7. She first trained at the École Nationale de Musique in her hometown with Laurence Chiffoleau, then continued at the conservatories of Versailles, Paris, and Boulogne-Billancourt, where she was awarded several First Prizes in piano and chamber music. She has also studied with, among others, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Paul Meyer and Éric Le Sage.
She has appeared on radio, notably on France Musique programs such as Un mardi idéal, Plaisirs d’amours, Dans la cour des grands, Les apprentis du Bien Nourri, and Générations France Musique, le live.
