Philippe Graffin

Philippe Graffin was born in Romilly-sur-Seine, studied violin in Marseille and then at the Paris Conservatoire where he graduated with a first prize at the age of sixteen.  He later studied in the United States with Prof Josef Gingold in Bloomington, Indiana.  Other teachers have included Miriam Fried and the Russian violinist Philipp Hirschhorn.

In 1987 he was Laureate of the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Austria.  During a gala concert presented on Eurovision he caught the attention of  Lord Menuhin, who subsequently invited him to make his first recording, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under his baton.  Since then Mr Graffin has appeared throughout Europe and played with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Hague’s Residentie Orkest, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and with the Nash Ensemble of London he gave the UK première of David Matthews’ 2^nd Violin Concerto, written especially for him. 

A passionate chamber musician, he regularly partners the leading soloists of his generation – the cellists Gary Hoffman, Truls Mork, pianists Pascal Devoyon, Jeremy Menuhin and Kathryn Stott.  He is founder and artistic director of Consonances, a chamber music festival in St. Nazaire, France which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year.  In November 1999 Mr Graffin was Artistic Director of a highly successful three-concert Chausson Centenary Series at the Wigmore Hall where he has performed regularly and where he was also artistic director of  an Ysaÿe Festival in1995.    In addition, he has played at many other international chamber music festivals such as the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades,  Finland’s  Turku festival, the  Stavanger Festival in Norway, Korsholm Festival in Sweden as well as the Barge Music Series in Brooklyn, NY.

Mr Graffin’s has given premières of  works of contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, Vassili Lobanov, Henri Dutilleux and numerous French composers.  Additionally he has recorded Yves Prin’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France and for his 1999 Festival he commissioned a work for solo violin and narrator by Vassili Lobanov.

Following the success of  three previous recordings by Graffin of the Ysaÿe solo violin sonatas and Chausson’s complete chamber music, Hyperion have recently  released two new recordings: The Three Violin Concertos of Saint-Saëns with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins and the complete violin and piano music of Saint-Saëns, both of which have received overwhelming  critical acclaim.   Pending release are recital discs of Bruno Walter & Carl Goldmark and a third disc in his Saint-Saëns series and a  disc of rare French concertos recorded with the Ulster Orchestra under Thierry Fischer.

Last season Graffin gave recitals in Paris and New York and concerto engagements included  the Bournemouth Symphony, English Northern Philharmonia,  Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Gothenburg Symphony.   Highlights of the 2001/2  season include the Brahms concerto with the English Symphony, a return to the Lithuanian Philharmonic to play the concerto of Radion Shchedrin under the baton of Mstislav Rostopovich and the German premiere of Chausson's Poeme in the chamber version at the Berlin Konzerthaus.   He will also be giving concerts in Holland and Germany and continuing his innovative work in the recording studio.