 From about 1826 Alkan began to appear as a piano soloist in leading Parisian salons , including those of the <unk> de la <unk> ( widow of Marshal <unk> ) , and the <unk> de <unk> . He was probably introduced to these venues by his teacher Zimmermann . At the same time , Alkan Morhange arranged concerts featuring Charles @-@ Valentin at public venues in Paris , in association with leading musicians including the <unk> <unk> <unk> and Henriette <unk> , the cellist Auguste Franchomme and the violinist Lambert <unk> , with whom Alkan gave concerts in a rare visit out of France to Brussels in 1827 . In 1829 , at the age of 15 , Alkan was appointed joint professor of solfège – among his pupils in this class a few years later was his brother Napoléon . In this manner Alkan 's musical career was launched well before the July Revolution of 1830 , which initiated a period in which " keyboard virtuosity ... completely dominated professional music making " in the capital , attracting from all over Europe pianists who , as Heinrich Heine wrote , invaded " like a plague of locusts swarming to pick Paris clean " . Alkan nonetheless continued his studies and in 1831 enrolled in the organ classes of François <unk> , from whom he may have learnt to appreciate the music of Johann Sebastian Bach , of whom <unk> was then one of the few French advocates . 
