Pierre Fouchenneret, Lise Berthaud, Victor Julien-Laferrière, Théo Fouchenneret
Biography Pierre Fouchenneret, Lise Berthaud, Victor Julien-Laferrière, Théo Fouchenneret
Pierre Fouchenneret
one of the associated artists of the Foundation Singer Polignac, has enjoyed a strong recognition right back to his tender years. Thus as soon as his twelfth year he was granted the first prize for violin at the CNR - National Regional Conservatory - in Nice; then at sixteen the first prize for violin and chamber music at the CNSM - National Superior Conservatory of Music - in Paris; and he was a prize winner for Nataxis, and for the Grand Prize of the International Competition of chamber music in Bordeaux.Enriched by the exceptional teachings he benefited from Alain Babouchian at the CNR in Nice, Olivier Chartier at the CNSM in Paris and Devy Erlih, Pierre Fouchenneret has wished to transmit as well and has become a teacher in the Superior Pole of Bordeaux. This recognition also gives him the pleasure to collaborate with the most gifted musicians of his generation and to give performances on the greatest national and international stages. This is how in 2013 he founds the quartet Strada with François Salque, Sarah Nemtanu and Lise Berthaud.
His virtuosity, "his intense, precise and colourful playing" (Classica) and his buoyancy are appreciated by French and international orchestras as the ones in Bordeaux Aquitaine, Dijon, the philharmonic in Nice, Brno, the Baltic in St Petersburg. With a passion for chamber music, he is also the violinist of the string trio 71 together with Eric Picard and Nicolas Bone.
In the course of his career as a soloist and as a chamber musician, his first record devoted to Mendelssohn trios comes out in 2007. It will be followed by a series of records, all of them unanimously praised by the critics. Thus he is awarded the Choc Classica for a record devoted to the French composer George Louis Onslow. In 2015 he publishes no less than three opus; the first one is dedicated to the quartet with piano no. 3 opus 3 by Mendelssohn; in the second one "Bohème", he interprets the Bach Chaconne, the Kodaly Duo with François Salque and the second Bartok sonata for violin and piano with Romain Descharmes. Finally for the third one, again with Romain Descharmes he records Beethoven's complete sonatas for violin and piano. Driven by his absolute passion for this composer, he deepens his work and at the beginning of this year 2016 he releases a record of his last two quartets. The year 2016 will be marked by numerous projects among which a record featuring the complete music for violin of Fauré. In 2017 he will start a cycle of the complete Brahms chamber music alongside Eric Lesage.
The work done by Pierre Fouchenneret which we can discover in particular with his different recordings, reflects his perpetual search for an aesthetic that is pure and free of affect, but also his deep love and respect of the text.
Wonderful on stage, Pierre Fouchenneret can also take risks and surprise his audience: "It was so revealing to listen to the quality of the silence of the public absolutely seized […] Overwhelming is the word that was on the music lovers' lips, in a state of shock"; "a large public had come and was conscious of their privilege in attending a rare concert" (Ouest France).
Lise Berthaud
s unanimously praised as an outstanding figure on the international music scene. She has performed in various prestigious concert venues throughout the world (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Het Concertgebouw, Baden Baden Festspielhaus, Elbphilharmonie, Musikverein, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead, Philharmonie de Paris, Moritzburg Festival, Schwartzenberg’s Schubertiade Hohenems, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian) with such artists as Renaud Capuçon, Baiba Skride, Lauma Skride, Harriet Krijgh, Julian Steckel, Daishin Kashimoto, Eric Le Sage, Augustin Dumay, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Emmanuel Pahud, Gordan Nikollich, Martin Helmchen, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Alina Ibragimova, Veronika Eberle, Christian Poltera, Quatuor Ebène, the Modigliani Quartet.
As a soloist, Lise has played with all BBC orchestras, including for her BBC Proms Debut in 2014 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton. Other solo engagements include the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lyon, les Musiciens du Louvre, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sao Paulo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, Hallé Orchestra, and various orchestras in France, with conductors like Sakari Oramo, Pascal Rophé, Fabien Gabel, Emmanuel Krivine, Andrew Litton, François Leleux, Paul Mc Creesh, Marc Minkowski, Leonard Slatkin who invited Lise to perform and record (for Naxos) Harold in Italy with the Orchestre National de Lyon as part of the orchestra’s Berlioz complete works recording for Naxos.
During the 2013-2015 period Lise was part of the prestigious BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme which allowed her to perform with all BBC orchestras and record a great amount of repertoire both live and in studio.
After taking part in Eric Le Sage’s successful recordings of Schumann and Fauré complete piano chamber music works, she released her first solo album in 2013 with pianist Adam Laloum under the French Aparté label. The disc featuring works by Brahms, Schumann and Schubert was unanimously praised and won several awards in France.
In 2018-2021 she took part in the recording of Brahms’ complete chamber music for B-Records with Eric Le Sage, Pierre Fouchenneret, François Salque and others, which has been critically acclaimed since then.
Her passion for contemporary music has also lead her to collaborate with various composers, including Philippe Hersant, Thierry Escaich, Henri Dutilleux, Gyorgy Kurtag, Guillaume Connesson, Florentine Mulsant or Eric Tanguy.
Lise Berthaud was born in 1982 and started studying the violin at the age of 5. She studied with Pierre-Henry Xuereb and Gérard Caussé at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and was a prize winner of the European Young Instrumentalists Competition in 2000. In 2005, she won the Hindemith Prize at the Geneva International Competition. She was short listed by the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2009 as “Révélation de l’Année” (Newcomer of the Year).
Lise is Professor of chamber music and viola at the Neuchâtel Branch of the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève.
She plays a 1660 Antonio Casini viola, courtesy of Bernard Magrez.
Victor Julien-Laferrière
1st Prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2017 in Brussels, as part of the first edition dedicated to cello, Victor Julien-Laferrière also won the 1st Prize and two special prizes at the 2012 Prague Spring International Competition. In 2018, he was awarded the Victoire de la Musique in France as “Best Instrumental Solo”.
Victor Julien-Laferrière began the cello with René Benedetti, then studied successively with Roland Pidoux at the Paris Conservatoire, Heinrich Schiff at the University of Vienna and Clemens Hagen at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. At the same time, he took part from 2005 to 2011 at Seiji Ozawa International Music Academy Switzerland.
In 2018 and 2019, Victor Julien-Laferrière is the guest of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Valery Gergiev, Orchestre National de France/Emmanuel Krivine, RTÉ Orchestra Dublin/Nathalie Stutzmann, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse/Tugan Sokhiev, Orchestre National de Belgique/Maxim Emelyanychev, Orchestre National d’Ile de France/James Feddeck, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra/Stéphane Denève, Jiri Rozen, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie/Yves Abel, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris/David Reiland, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Joshua Weilerstein, I Pomeriggi Musicali de Milan/Yusuke Kumehara, Ural Philharmonic/Dmitri Liss, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Alexander Joel, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia/Olivier Grangean, Orchestre National de Montpellier/Michele Gamba, Orchestre National de Lille/Jean-Claude Casadessus.
In recital and chamber music, he is the guest of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, CelloBiennale in Amsterdam, Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Essen Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs- Elysées, Louisiana Museum in Copenhague, KKL of Lucerne, Tonhalle of Zurich, Auditorium du Louvre, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Phillips Collection in Washington, Fondation Louis Vuitton, festivals of Prague Spring, MecklenburgVorpommern, Kuhmo, Gstaad, Copenhagen Summer Festival, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Rheingau Musik Festival, Folles Journées de Nantes et Tokyo, Ester festivals of Deauville and Aix-en-Provence...
He also receives many recording awards, including the Diapason d’or of the year 2017 for his sonata album with the pianist Adam Laloum. In January 2019, Victor Julien-Laferrière releases a new album devoted to Schubert with the Trio Les Esprits (Sony Music). His next release is planned for the Automn 2019 with the pianist Jonas Vitaud for the label Alpha Classics.
As from 2020, Victor Julien-Laferrière is playing on a beautiful instrument by Domenico Montagnana, property of Xavier and Joséphine Moreno.
Théo Fouchenneret
Born in Nice, Théo Fouchenneret started studying piano in his hometown with Christine Gastaud. At thirteen years old, he entered the CNSM in Paris, first in the class of Alain Planès, then with Hortense Cartier-Bresson, with whom he continued his studies during the 3rd cycle. He also studied chamber music with Jean-Frédéric Neuburger and Yann Ollivo, and received the advice of many renowned professors. Théo Fouchenneret won the Gabriel Fauré Prize in 2013. An adept of chamber music, he founded the Ensemble Messiaen, with which he won 1st Prize at the Lyon Competition. He currently leads an active career as chamber musician and soloist, regularly performing with renowned musicians at festivals in France and in Switzerland, as well as in Lebanon, China and Japan.
