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Biography of violonist Elsa Grether
"To say Grether has met her brief is an understatement. This is easily my favourite solo recital in quite some while." C. Gardner, Gramophone, Nov 2017
"Grether’s playing is technically outstanding, dynamic and vivid, with a silky timbre." Pizzicato Magazine, September 2017
French violinist Elsa Grether is regularly invited to prestigious festivals and venues in France and abroad. As a soloist with orchestra, she has played concertos from Bach to Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tomasi among others, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, Orchestre National de Cannes, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Briansk Symphony Orchestra, Indiana Philharmonic, Deutsch-Tschechicher Chamber Orchestra…
She has given recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall in New-York, Folle Journée de Nantes, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Menton Festival, Festival de Sully et du Loiret, Festival de Rocamadour, Festival des Forêts, Festival des Abbayes en Lorraine, Festival de Musique sacrée de Perpignan, Festival Berlioz, Grandes Heures de Cluny, Pâques à l’Abbaye de Fontevraud, Musicales de Normandie, Festival d'Arténétra, Festival Lille Clef de Soleil, Salle Cortot, Invalides and Petit Palais in Paris, Bozar and Flagey in Brussels, Radio Suisse Romande and Festival Musiques en Eté in Geneva, Altmark Festspiele, Ido Festival Düsseldorf, Palazzetto Bru- Zane in Venice…
Her recent and coming engagements in 2022/23 include a debut recital at the Berlin Philharmonie, Sibelius Violin Concerto with François-Xavier Roth and La Jeune Symphonie de l’Aisne, return invitations with Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse under Jacques Lacombe in Tomasi Violin Concerto, recitals in Paris Invalides, Paris Petit Palais, Salle Cortot, Arsenal de Metz, Montauban, Avignon, Mulhouse, Orléans, Reims, Liège (Belgium), KonzertGut Concert Series (Germany), Festival des Abbayes de Lorraine, Festival de la Lucerne, Escapades Musicales d’Arcachon, Festival Stras’Orgues.
Her 3 CDs "Poème mystique" (Bloch and Pärt) with pianist Ferenc Vizi, "French Resonance" (Pierné, Vierne and Fauré) with François Dumont and "Kaleidoscope" for solo violin (Bach, Ysaye, Honegger, Tôn-Thât Tiet, Khatchaturian, Albeniz) were released in 2013, 2015 and 2017 by Fuga Libera/Outhere. All three CDs received unanimous acclaim and were awarded the highest distinctions: "5 Diapasons", "4 stars" in Classica Magazine as well as excellent reviews from Gramophone, Pizzicato Magazine, La Libre Belgique…
Her 4rth CD, dedicated to the work of S. Prokofiev together with pianist David Lively, was released in 2019 (Fuga Libera/Outhere) and received great reviews ("CD of the week" and FFFF in Télérama, 5 Diapasons, 5 stars in Classica Magazine, 5 from Pizzicato Magazine, Musikzen, Concertclassic, Classiquenews, Crescendo Magazine…).
Her next CD will be dedicated to Maurice Ravel's complete works for violin and piano as well as rare transcriptions and arrangements (World premiere recordings), with pianist David Lively.
It will be released in September 2022 on label Aparté.
Elsa won the Pro Musicis Award in Paris by unanimous decision of the jury. She has held scholarships from a number of foundations such as Fondation Safran pour la Musique, Fondation Natixis Banque Populaire, Fondation de France (Prix Oulmont), Fondation Cziffra, Fondation Bleustein-Blanchet pour la Vocation. She was awarded the Josef Gingold full scholarship at Indiana University. In 1993 she was prizewinner at the Young Soloists’ Competition organized by the RTBF in Brussels.
She is regularly heard on radios such as France Musique, Europe 1, Musiq3 and RTS Suisse and was the subject of a program in Alain Duault’s television program "Toute la musique qu’ils aiment" (France 3).
Elsa was born in Mulhouse, France. After being awarded a Premier Prix in violin by unanimous decision of the jury at the Conservatoire de Paris-CRR on her fifteenth birthday, her lively curiosity prompted her to continue her training abroad, with Ruggiero Ricci at the Salzburg Mozarteum and then in the United States with Mauricio Fuks at Indiana University Bloomington and Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory in Boston. She subsequently received guidance from Régis Pasquier in Paris.
Orchestra Repertoire
CONCERTOS (* joués avec orchestre)
| J.S. Bach | Concerto en La mineur BWV 1041 Concerto pour deux violons BWV 1043 * |
| L. van Beethoven | Concerto en Ré majeur, op.61 * Triple Concerto en Ut majeur, op.56 * |
| A. Berg | Concerto «A la mémoire d’un ange» |
| J. Brahms | Concerto en Ré majeur, op.77 * Double Concerto en la mineur op 102 * |
| B. Britten | Concerto, op.15 |
| M. Bruch | Concerto en Sol mineur, op.26 * |
| V. Chébaline | Concertino pour violon et cordes * |
| A. Dvorak | Concerto en La mineur, op.53 * |
| J. Haydn | Concerto en Ut majeur, Hob. VII a no.1 * |
| F. Mendelssohn | Concerto no.2 en mi mineur, op.64 |
| W.A. Mozart | Concerto en Si b majeur K.207 Concerto en Sol majeur K.216 Concerto en La majeur K.219 * |
| S. Prokofiev | Concerto en Ré majeur n°1, op.19 * Concerto en Sol mineur op. 63 |
| E. Rautavaara | Concerto |
| C. Saint-Saëns | Concerto en Si mineur n°3, op.61 * |
| S. Schostakovitch | Concerto en La mineur n°1, op.77 |
| J. Sibelius | Concerto en Ré mineur, op.47 * |
| P.I. Tchaikovsky | Concerto en Ré majeur, op.35 * |
| H. Tomasi | Concerto pour violon et orchestre « Périple d’Ulysse » * |
| A. Vivaldi | Les Quatre Saisons * |
ŒUVRES DIVERSES AVEC ORCHESTRE (* jouées avec orchestre)
| L. van Beethoven | Romance Fa majeur op.50 |
| E. Chausson | Poème op.25 |
| A. Dvorak | Romance en Fa mineur op.11 |
| W. Lutoslawsky | Partita |
| M. Ravel | Tzigane * |
| C. Saint-Saëns | Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso * Havanaise * |
| P. Sarasate | Airs Bohémiens Carmen Fantaisie * |
| P.I. Tchaikovsky | Souvenir d’un lieu cher-Valse-Scherzo op.34 et Sérénade mélancolique |