The Protégé
Simon Ghraichy, Jeffrey Epstein, and the fog of art
Update (11. February 2026): A newly-discovered email would suggest that Jeffrey Epstein originally introduced Simon Ghraichy to Leon Botstein in June, 2014.
Pianist Simon Ghraichy’s last project with Deutsche Grammophon was a standalone single of Philip Glass’s “The Fog of War,” released on March 11, 2022. It was one of many conflict-connected recordings that came in the weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Ghraichy drew that connection in an Instagram post announcing the release:
“‘The Fog of War’… has been composed for a documentary with the same name tracing the life of an American officer from WWII until [the] Vietnam war. Today, names change, locations too, but the fact is we still live in a world torn apart with war, power and conquest: WWII, Cuba, Vietnam, Lebanon, Israel, the Gulf and today Ukraine… there has always been an assaulter and an assaulted, and particularly millions of innocent souls perishing - collateral damages. Today, I dedicate this music to them.”
Ten years earlier, the French pianist (of Mexican-Lebanese heritage) was a relative unknown. A major breakthrough had come in 2010, according to some versions of his biography, “after an enthusiastic review by journalist Robert Hughes in the Wall Street Journal.”1 The following year, he released his first album, Always in Motion: Opera Transcriptions and Paraphrases by Franz Liszt.
And in 2013, he met Jeffrey Epstein. The introduction apparently came via a mutual friend, French politician Jack Lang (who, on Saturday night, resigned as president of Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe). “I hope we will be meeting in the USA in the coming year,” Ghraichy wrote to Epstein at the beginning of 2014.
In fact, Epstein appears to have become something of a professional mentor to Ghraichy beginning in that year, particularly after a meeting that the two had on September 14. That same day, Epstein sent a flurry of emails regarding the pianist, including several to conductor Leon Botstein: “I think Simon needs a local manager, ideas? He’s here for ten more days?”2 reads one. Another, sent 20 minutes earlier: “When will you decide the Simon Graichy [sic] piece.”
In response to the second email, Botstein replied: “Will decide in a month or so but he will be asked to reserve time on the two weekends in August.” In August of 2015, Ghraichy performed on both weekend programs for “Carlos Chávez and His World” at the Bard Music Festival—which runs under Botstein’s co-directorship. “Your protégé, Simon Ghraichy, participated during both weekends and it seems to have gone very well,” Botstein reported back to Epstein on August 17.
“Protégé” was a word that Botstein used more than once to describe Ghraichy in relation to Epstein and, at least in the professional sense, it’s apt. Also following his September 14 meeting with the young pianist, Epstein began to reach out to his network of contacts to help Ghraichy find “a local manager.” Botstein in turn wrote to his executive director at the American Symphony Orchestra, Lynne Meloccaro.
“It is really hard to get good representation these days,” Meloccaro wrote back to Botstein that month, but compiled a list of “mostly veterans in NY and Europe who might be willing to talk with Simon and point him in a helpful direction.” Epstein also asked an unnamed associate to “ask Josh Bell who manages him.” That contact reached out to Joshua Bell’s assistant via a mutual friend, ultimately asking for an introduction to IMG Artists. (This lead also seemed to have gone cold very quickly, according to the available files from Epstein’s emails.)
Finally, that September, Epstein also seemed to suggest that Ghraichy fix a cosmetic flaw with his front tooth out of consideration for his image. Ghraichy followed up on this with Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, later that month, saying: “I don’t even notice it anymore, and people around me [think] of it as a sign of ‘identity’ (like a scar on the cheek or whatever…), but if [Jeffrey] thinks it should be better fixed for my image and career, then…who knows!” The following year, Epstein introduced Ghraichy to his own dentist in New York and agreed to pay $4,200 for dental work.
At the same time, Ghraichy’s career began to reach the next level. He made his debuts with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Carnegie Hall in the second half of 2015, and both his Kennedy Center and Berliner Philharmonie debuts in 2016. He also signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon that year, telling the Huffington Post: “After I’ve put my autograph on that contract, here we are celebrating my signature with the staff at Universal Music [DG’s parent company]. It feels so good to be surrounded by professionals from the most prestigious music industry. And yet, they’re all young and bright and sexy!”
