Karol Beffa has led an eclectic life, starting out as a child actor and later securing several degrees outside the musical world to establish a career as a composer and pianist. Beffa's growing catalog spans many genres, from solo instrumental and chamber ensembles of varying sizes to larger-scale works, such as operas, symphonic music, and ballet. He has also returned to acting and is an author. Beffa was born in Paris on October 27, 1973. He appeared in several films as a child actor, including in the role of an eight-year-old Mozart in a television movie by Marcel Bluwal. Following his child acting exploits, Beffa was admitted to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied with Thierry Escaich and Marc-André Dalbavie. During this time, he also attended the École Normale Supérieure, earning a bachelor's degree in history and master's degrees in English and mathematics. He also earned a master's in philosophy from Cambridge University. While he was at the Paris Conservatory, Beffa earned a total of eight first prizes (including for orchestration, vocal accompaniment, and piano improvisation) before earning agrégation in 1996 and beginning his teaching career at the Paris-Sorbonne University in 1998. In 2003, Beffa earned a doctorate in musicology and left his post at the Paris-Sorbonne University. The following year, he became an associate professor at the École Normale Supérieure. As a pianist, along with his compositions and works from the broader repertoire, Beffa often improvises in concert on suggestions from his audience. He also regularly accompanies silent films. In 2006, his two Masques were included on the album Inventions by Gautier and Renaud Capuçon. The following year, he wrote a Violin Concerto for Renaud Capuçon and followed it up in 2009 with a Piano Concerto for Boris Berezovsky. He has since written several more concertos, including ones for trumpet (2012), harp (2013), and mandolin (2016). Among his other large-scale works are three operas and the ballet Corps et Ames. A successful author as well, Beffa has collaborated with Guillaume Métayer on a series of children's books where the two main characters, Sol & Rémi, meet famous historical composers. As of 2023, the duo had met Ravel, Beethoven, and Satie. That year, his work Tabula rasa, for violin and piano, was heard on the album Change by Elsa de Lacerda and Pierre Solot. ~ Keith Finke, Rovi