Perhaps surprisingly for an artist so associated with contemporary music, Aimard's first disc under the new agreement will be Bach's The Art of the Fugue, to be released next spring as he performs the work in concert in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Tokyo.

Aimard, who turns 50 next month, was born in Lyon; he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, beginning at age 12, with Yvonne Loriod, who was Olivier Messiaen's wife, and later in London with Maria Curcio. While still a teenager, he won the 1973 Messiaen Competition in Paris; when he was 19, Pierre Boulez selected him to be solo pianist with the new Ensemble Intercontemporain. Since then he has developed a major career as concerto soloist and recitalist. He is especially associated with the music of Gy‹rgy Ligeti, with whom he worked for 15 years, and he has recorded the composer's complete works for piano.

In 2005 Aimard took Instrumentalist of the Year honors at the Royal Philharmonic Awards in London; this year he won the same title from Musical America.