French born pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet has performed in Pittsburgh in at least three visits with Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit and Marek Janowsky.   He was scheduled for a return when the pandemic hit but promises to back soon. Fom his home in LA, he spoke with Jim Cunningham about his new cd Carte Blanche with 24 tracks of very personal favorites, arrangements, encores, music from the film score for Pride and Prejudice, Pierre Sancan, Morton Gould, Chopin, Couperin.  He’s done 50 cds for Decca, so the company said you’ve got Carte Blanche to record what you like and he went to work just this past May at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Renee Fleming interviewed Jean Yves for the notes and he discusses their work together on a PBS special broadcast just this past New Year’s Eve 2020.  Jean Yves has a special memory of playing an encore for Mariss Jansons and he had to include something for his Mom on the play list.