Diving into the music of Sofiane Pamart feels like stepping into a journey through all the emotions we experience, are meant to experience, and inevitably will experience as human beings. The French artist is a true master of the piano – someone who creates entire worlds through sound, and now invites us into his fourth studio album, MOVIE. “I often receive proposals to compose for films, but I wanted this album to be my own movie,” he explains. Here, music, fashion, and storytelling transform into a firework of fantasy, beauty, and emotion. “To live a film is to enter a story, to feel choices and consequences, to love and age alongside the characters,” he says. And we find ourselves drawn into this world with quiet anticipation – ready to listen, to feel, to be carried away.
Sofiane’s musical sensitivity revealed itself early on. At around four years old, his talent already began to show, leading his mother to enroll him at the National Conservatory of Lille at the age of six – just like his siblings. Over the course of sixteen years, he studied piano and music there, eventually graduating with a gold medal. It feels only natural that he continues to share this gift with the world.
“My art is to crystallize its emotion at a precise moment, to sublimate what that voice is carrying right then.”
On MOVIE, Sofiane brings together 14 global voices, from Nelly Furtado and Celeste to SIA, Christine and the Queens, Melody Gardot, and Loreen – each adding new textures and colors to his piano-driven universe. The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, renowned for their work in film soundtracks, elevate the album’s cinematic depth, while also opening the door for a new generation to connect with choral music. But his vision reaches even further: with an upcoming performance at the Stade de France in April 2027, Sofiane is preparing one of Europe’s most ambitious piano concerts – where sound, visual spectacle, and narrative merge on a monumental scale.
We spoke with Sofiane about translating emotion into sound, about fashion as part of the story, and about building entire worlds from a single note.
Photography (header and last photo): Chloe Rose
Make-up: Sarah Carlier
Styling: Antoine Négrevergne
Your stage presence has become as iconic as your music. For your latest album premiere at the Opéra Garnier, you wore a mix of upcoming and established designers. Can you deconstruct some of your favorite outfits and share the hidden messages or stories woven into them?
Every outfit is a composition. At the Opéra Garnier, I wanted a dialogue between heritage and rupture. Established houses carry history, emerging designers carry something still becoming. Each choice reflects that tension, that conversation between tradition and innovation.
You often wear a cape on stage. What does this piece symbolize for you – is it a costume, a form of armor, or something else entirely?
The cape is movement. The piano contains you physically; you sit, you’re fixed. The cape was my way of escaping that. It moves when I move, it breathes when I breathe. But now I’m testing new things on stage – I’ve freed myself from the cape and I’m exploring other forms.
“The outfit has to carry the performance, it’s part of the show. It has to be armor because on stage you embody something larger than yourself,…”
For you, is fashion primarily about enhancing the performance, protecting your presence, or expressing your identity? How do you balance all three?
The outfit has to carry the performance, it’s part of the show. It has to be armor because on stage you embody something larger than yourself, and what you wear gives you that stature. It also has to be deeply, honestly you. Otherwise, the audience senses the disconnect before you play a single note.
Your collaborations heavily feature vocals, from iconic voices like SIA to rap artists. How do you merge piano and voice in a way that each element retains its emotional power?
Every voice carries a soul. My art is to crystallize its emotion at a precise moment, to sublimate what that voice is carrying right then. The piano doesn’t support; it elevates. The two have to exist on equal ground, in harmony.
“Every voice carries a soul.”
When selecting vocal collaborators, what do you look for in a voice? Is it about tone, emotion, character, or something ineffable that complements your compositions?
I listen for the places in a voice where life has left a mark. Technical perfection doesn’t move me. What moves me is when a voice carries something unresolved, something it hasn’t fully made peace with. Tone matters, character matters, but I’m searching for stories too heavy to live only in the singer’s voice – stories that need sound to hold them.
Your recent performances and premieres are as much visual storytelling as musical experiences. How do your fashion choices and musical compositions interact to create a complete narrative for the audience?
I think of a premiere the way a director thinks of a film. Every element – lighting, set, outfit, sequence – must either honor the conversation the space is already having or deliberately disrupt it. Fashion is the first thing the audience reads before I play a single note. It sets the emotional key of the evening.
“Technical perfection doesn’t move me — what moves me is what hasn’t been resolved.”
For fans attending your upcoming tour, what can they expect in terms of sound, visuals, and sartorial expression?
The Stade de France says everything. When you play a stage that size, every detail must be monumental. Sound, visuals, wardrobe – nothing is left to chance. Expect something you’ve never seen around a piano before.
How do you see fashion as a collaborator in your music – does it shape your identity as an artist, or is it more like an extension of your creative expression?
Fashion and music speak the same language: emotion, timing, impact. When I compose, I think in textures and contrasts. When I dress, I think the same way. A sharp silhouette against a grand piano, a fabric that moves with the music, a color that sets the emotional tone – fashion is another instrument. And like any instrument, in the right hands, it says things that words never could.
Follow Sofiane Pamart for more:
www.sofianepamart.com
www.instagram.com/sofianepamart
www.facebook.com/SofianePianist
