| Biography | Philippe Graffin (born 1964) is a French violinist and recording artist. He was born in Romilly-sur-Seine, France.
The French Violinist Philippe Graffin was a student of the late Joseph Gingold and Philippe Hirschhorn and has established a particular reputation for his interpretations of his native repertoire as well for his interest in rare and contemporary works. He rediscovered original settings of classics such as Chausson's Poème and Ravel's Tzigane and has also championed the forgotten violin concertos of G. Fauré and the concerto by English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Philippe has shared the stage with some of the greatest musicians of our time: Yehudi Menuhin, M. Rostropovich, Martha Argerich, and Sergiu Comissiona. He regularly partners with cellists Gary Hoffman and Truls Mork; pianists Pascal Devoyon, Steven Kovacevich, Claire Désert and the Chilingirian Quartet and is founder and artistic director of the "Consonances" chamber music festival of St Nazaire, France. He has appeared in the BBC Proms Chamber Music series and has been Artistic Director of several chamber music projects at London's Wigmore hall. As concerto soloist, he has performed with many of the UK's major orchestras throughout Europe.
A number of composers have written works for him including David Matthews, Yves Prin, Vassili Lobanov and Philippe Hersant. The Lithuanian composer Vytautas Barkauskas dedicated his award-winning violin concerto "Jeux" to Philippe and wrote a double concerto Duo Concertante for him and violinist Nobuko Imai. Most recently Russian composer, Rodion Shchedrin has written a concerto for violin, trumpet and string orchestra, dedicated to Philippe.
His performances included tours to Korea and Japan, a performance of Miklós Rózsa's Sinfonia Concertante with Raphael Wallfisch at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and the Elgar Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in a special 150th anniversary weekend. He continues to champion the Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto with a concert with The Philharmonia Orchestra in London to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK and with the Orchestre National d'lle de France. 2007/8 also includes the UK premiere of Rodion Shchedrin's Concerto Parlando with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a concert in the Wigmore Hall's Grieg centenary celebrations and tours to Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and France. (July 2015) |