Denis Pascal was born in Albi, where he started to learn the piano at the age of eleven. He soon became one of the last significant disciples of Pierre Sancan at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (the French Academy of Music), where he won first prizes with unanimous jury in piano and chamber music as well as in music theory courses (1984), before attending the classes of Jacques Rouvier, Leon Fleisher and György Sandor in the highest selective program at the French Academy of music, a very demanding school.

He won several international prizes, such as the competitions of Lisbon and Zurich, and the Concert Artist Guild Competition in New York and the Cziffra, Lavoisier and Menuhin Foundations, and finished his studies with György Sebök in Bloomington, Indiana, where he received the Artist Diploma.

Denis Pascal has given many solo and chamber music performances in Europe, USA and Asia celebrated by the public and reviewers throughout the world.
In France, he played as a soloist at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Salle Gaveau, and the Théâtre du Châtelet. He also played with the National Orchestras of Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux, as well as the Besançon Orchestra and Orchestra of Auvergne and the historic ensemble « Les Siècles » conducted by François-Xavier Roth with whom he recorded the famous two Chopin Concertos on a Pleyel piano.

He also played with the New Japan Philharmonic and with the San Francisco Chamber Philharmonic and Pacific Chamber Orchestra in the USA. He also gave concerts in New York at the Merkin and Alice Tully Concert Halls, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Denis Pascal is much sought after by partners such as Janos Starker, Tedi Papavrami, Corey Cerovsek, Philippe Graffin, and the Diotima String Quartett – to name just a few – or the late flutist Alain Marion with whom he recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas.
He has been awarded several times for his recordings of Liszt’s 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, receiving the «Choc du Monde de la Musique», «Classica Award» and the Prize of the Franz Liszt Association.

He is also very interested in rare music and had great success with the world première of Joseph Marx’s piano music. In march 2008, his recording dedicated to Jean Wiener’s music was awarded by a Diapason d’Or.
Numbers of composers have written for him, such as Régis Campo, Jean-Philippe Bec and Guillaume Connesson.

Denis Pascal’s individual style when playing the great repertoire (Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Ravel piano concertos…) and his defending of composers who are rarely played in concert halls such as Cyril Scott, Joseph Marx, York Bowen, Ernest Chausson and Florent Schmidt place him among the finest French pianists of his generation.
 
Denis Pascal has been lately appointed piano teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Lyon in January 2010, then of Paris in may 2011.