Laurent Korcia

Taken under the wing of Pierre Barbizet from an early age, Laurent Korcia studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Michèle Auclair, herself a pupil of Jacques Thibaud and George Enesco. After being awarded a Premier Prix by the Conservatoire, he continued his studies with Felix Andrievsky at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize 'for the most outstanding contribution to the College'. At the age of eighteen, he won the Paganini Competition in Genoa, which earned him the honour of performing on Paganini's Guarnerius, he also won a Grand Prix at the Concours Jacques Thibaud, a first prize at the International Zino Francescatti Competition and was laureate of the Young Concert Artists Trust in London. He is considered one of the most distinctive violinists of his generation. In 2002, he won the prestigious Victoire de la Musique award as 'Instrumental Soloist of the Year' and was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He has also received the George Enesco Prize of the SACEM and the Grand Prix of the Académie Charles Cros. He has also recorded the music for the film The Diary of Anne Frank and participated in the recent documentary by Bruno Monsaingeon The Art of the Violin along with Itzhak Perlman, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel and Hilary Hahn. Laurent Korcia performs regularly alongside leading European orchestras with conductors such as Yuri Ahronovitch, Serge Baudo, Philippe Bender, Semyon Bychkov, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Stéphane Denève, Charles Dutoit, James Judd, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Emmanuel Krivine, Louis Langrée, Kazushi Ono, Sakari Oramo, Michel Plasson, Manuel Rosenthal, Yutaka Sado, Michael Schønwandt, Tugan Sokhiev, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, Heinz Wallberg and Walter Weller. His recent engagements include performances with the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Spivakov, the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, the Orchestre National de France and Kurt Masur. He is one of the rare contemporary violinists to include solo violin recitals in his concert repertoire, with programmes ranging from Bach to contemporary music. He gave all six Ysaÿe sonatas to great critical acclaim at the Auditorium du Louvre and the Verbier Festival, and performed the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Sonata for solo violin and the violin concerto Exultet by Edith Canat de Chizy, who dedicated her Irisations for violin to him. Other collaborations include the ballet Achterland by the choreographer Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker, based around the sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe, which travelled on a year-long world tour. In 2005, he performed the world premiere of Bruno Coulais's Stabat Mater at the prestigious French Festival de Saint Denis. After an exclusive contract with BMG/RCA, Laurent Korcia now records for the Naïve label. His discography has received major international awards (Gramophone, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Recommandé par Classica, ffff Télérama, Diapason d'Or, Strad Selection, BBC Music Magazine). His recordings include: - Danses, a collection of violin miniatures with guests including Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Michel Portal. - Une Prière by Nicolas Bacri, with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Semyon Bychkov. - Tzigane, Violin from Central Europe, with Georges Pludermacher. - Nos Souvenirs, with Jean-Marc Luisada: works by Ysaÿe, Fauré, Chausson, Chaminade, Franck and Debussy. - Bartók's Sonata for solo violin and the Sonata No.1 for violin and piano, with J.-E. Bavouzet - Chausson's Poème - the complete Sonatas of Eugene Ysaÿe New CD releases in December 2005: - a Bartók double CD including Violin Concerto no.2, the Sonata for solo violin, the two sonatas for violin and piano and Contrasts with the CBSO, S. Oramo, J.-E Bavouzet and M. Portal - Bruno Coulais's Stabat Mater with the Mikrokosmos Choir, Guillaume Depardieu and Aïcha Redouane Since 1999, Laurent Korcia has played the 'Zahn' Stradivarius (1719), a violin on loan from the prestigious French group LVMH, Moët-Hennessy-Louis Vuitton.