Stars with Sinfonietta: David Grimal

Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 7:30 PM

  • Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 7:30 PM
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David Grimal has been playing violin since he was just five years old. After graduating from the Paris conservatory, he continued studying with Schlomo Mintz and Isaac Stern. He has been an acclaimed soloist for over two decades, and he’s also a celebrated chamber musician. He is a founder of the famous Les Dissonances orchestra performing without a conductor, and he has been awarded the Order of Arts and Letters for his achievements in the arts. He says that the violin (even a 1710 Stradivarius…) is simply a tool in the search for the most elusive and intangible music.
In short, David Grimal is the perfect protagonist of the cycle Stars with Sinfonietta (7 March, Kraków Philharmonic). The concert, following the “play and lead” formula, means that the French virtuoso performs in a double role – a soloist who also leads Sinfonietta Cracovia. We will hear a contrasting pair of violin concertos: J.S. Bach’s Baroque masterpiece juxtaposed with the Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks’s contemporary composition Distant Light. The evening also features divertimenti for string orchestra by Bela Bartók and Grażyna Bacewicz. (Barbara Skowrońska)

David Grimal – skrzypce, artistic direction
Sinfonietta Cracovia

Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto in A minor BWV 1041
Pēteris Vasks Violin Concerto “Distant Light”

Bela Bartók Divertimento for string orchestra
Grażyna Bacewicz Divertimento for string orchestra

David Grimal took up the violin at the age of five. Following his studies with Régis Pasquier at the Paris Conservatoire, he enriched his musicality by studying with prestigious artists such as Schlomo Mintz and Isaac Stern. He spent a year studying at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, then his meeting with the violinist Philippe Hirschorn proved decisive: the latter was to become his mentor.

Appreciated for the purity of his playing and his integrity as an artist, he is invited to perform with all the major international orchestras – Orchestre de Paris (C. Eschenbach, M. Plasson), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (S. Skrowaczewski, R. Frübeck de Burgos), Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon (E. Krivine), Capitole de Toulouse (Jap van Sweden), Île-de-France, Pays de Loire, Lille, Strasbourg, Nancy, Cannes, and so on – and with great orchestras all over the world: Mozarteum Salzburg (H. Soudant), Berliner Sinfonie (S. Sloane), Florida Philharmonic (M. Bamert), English Chamber Orchestra (J. Judd), Gulbenkian Lisbon (L. Foster), Sinfonia Varsovia (M. Schønwandt, P. Csaba), Sinfonieorchester Basel (H. Schiff), Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, BBC Philharmonic, Bremen Philharmoniker, the symphony orchestras of Monte-Carlo, Ulster, Stavanger, Rostock, Vorarlberg, Bolzano, Bilbao, Budapest, Bucharest, Taipei, Jerusalem, Mexico, etc.

Many composers have dedicated works to David Grimal. They include Marc-André Dalbavie, Brice Pauset, Thierry Escaich, Jean-François Zygel, Alexander Gasparov, Victor Kissine, Fuminori Tanada, Ivan Fedele, Philippe Hersant, Anders Hillborg, Oscar Bianchi, Guillaume Connesson and Frédéric Verrières. In October 2009 he was invited to create the Violin Concerto by Thierry Escaich with the Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2011 the recording of this performance received the Classica’s Choc. And in October 2010, he also created Schlag-Kantilene, prelude to the Violin Concerto by Beethoven by Brice Pauset.

Furthermore, for many years now David Grimal has enjoyed a rewarding collaboration with pianist Georges Pludermacher. They perform together all over the world and their recordings, including notably works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Franck, Strauss, Enesco, Szymanowski and Janacek, have received wide press acclaim (Strad Selection, 5 star BBC Mag, Arte selection, ffff Telerama…). David Grimal has also recorded Schubert’s Sonatinas with Valery Afanassiev, and in Dijon, he recorded Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas, along with Kontrapartita, a new work dedicated to him by Brice Pauset and commissioned by Dijon Opéra. The latter recording was an immediate success.

David Grimal also founded Les Dissonances, with which is able to explore other repertoires. In 2010, Label Aparté edited two recordings with Les Dissonances: Beethoven – Violin Concerto and 7th Symphony (ffff Telerama, “Le Monde” selection 2010) and the Four Seasons from Vivaldi and Piazzolla. With Les Dissonances, David Grimal creates in the heart of Paris “The Other Season”: 10 concerts a year for homeless people.

David Grimal teaches violin at the Musikhochschule Saarbrücken in Germany. He was made a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2008.

He plays the “ex-Roederer” Stradivarius (1710), and also the “Don Quichotte”, a violin made for him by French instrument maker Jacques Fustier.

Kraków Philharmonic Hall

ul. Zwierzyniecka 1

Besides their weekly symphony concerts, the Kraków Philharmonic also organises master recitals and educational concerts for children and young people.

The Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Hall in Kraków was the first philharmonic to open in Poland after the Second World War. Besides the weekly symphony concerts, it organises master recitals and educational concerts for children and young people, while the summer meetings with music assume the form of chamber concerts of slightly lighter character. A hallmark of the Kraków Philharmonic repertoire is its programme of oratorios, which the Philharmonic can present thanks to its extensive and varied lineup: the orchestra, mixed choir, and boys choir. The Kraków Philharmonic has become recognised for its promotion of the works of Karol Szymanowski in Poland and abroad.

The Philharmonic Hall frequently hosts concerts by special guests, for example, at major festivals.

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