After having studied at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory of Aix together with Jacqueline Courtin and Bernard Flavigny, he was admitted to the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance where he took classes with Geneviève Joy, Jean Hubeau, Christian Ivaldi and Dominique Merlet.
In France he has also worked with: Carlos Roqué Alsina, Alberto Neuman, Evgeny Malinin.
In 1984 he won the First Prize in the Acanthes International Competition presided over by Iannis Xenakis.
In 1986, a scholarship allows him to study in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he gets some good advice from Henriette Mirvis, Samvil Alumian, Mikhail Vosskressensky and Lev Naoumov.
The same year he won a prize in the First Frantz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht.
Michel Bourdoncle has an active concert career and regularly performs at top venues all over the world: Carnegie Hall in New York, Sala in São Paulo, Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro, Great Hall of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg, Sala Verdi in Milan, Weinbrenner Saal in Baden-Baden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Salle Gaveau and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Toursky Theatre in Marseille, the Montpellier’s Corum, Salle Paderewsky in Lausanne, Grande Salle of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Ljubljana Castle, the Philharmonic Theatre of Odessa, the Chisinau Philharmonic, the Bucharest Radio, the Philharmonic orchestras for Cluj-Napoca, Lasi, Timisoara, Craiova and Bacau, Smetana Hall in Prague, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Beijing Poly Theatre, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Hanoi Grand Theatre…
From 1981 until 1991 Michel Bourdoncle has worked as accompanist for the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance. He also taught piano at the National Superior Conservatory of Lyon for Music and Dance, and chamber music at the regional Conservatory of Marseille.