Pierre Fouchenneret, I Giardini, Pauline Buet, David Violi, Shuichi Okada, Camille Fonteneau, Violaine Despeyroux
Biography Pierre Fouchenneret, I Giardini, Pauline Buet, David Violi, Shuichi Okada, Camille Fonteneau, Violaine Despeyroux
I Giardini
Founded in 2012 under the impetus of its two artistic directors, cellist Pauline Buet and pianist David Violi, I Giardini is a collective of inspired and committed artists from among the most talented of their generation, united around a common sensibility and a shared joy in live performance onstage. Having made a space for free activity and adventurous exploration, I Giardini takes its inspiration from the sheer variety of musical sonorities, and the capacity of its team of artists to reveal a unique Romantic universe of living performance. It prizes above all a sense of musical rigour, combined with a permanent openness to other points of view and forms of expression. At the heart of their approach isthe joint programming of composers of fame and influence alongside those still waiting to be discovered – e.g. Fauré with Chausson, Mélanie Bonis and Fernand de La Tombelle, Schumann with Philippe Hersant.
I Giardini’s empathy with the music of today led the ensemble in 2021 to commission ‘The Wheel’ from contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw, supported by Music Strasbourg, Montepellier Opera, Lieu Unique Nantes, Musique Rive Gauche Paris, and Face Foundation New York. Since its formation I Giardini has appeared at the principal concert venues in France (the Musée d’Orsay, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Arsenal de Metz, TAP Poitiers, Opéra de Lille, Fondation Royaumont, Variations Classiques Annecy), as well as internationally.
Their last recording project for Alpha Classics with soprano Véronique Gens was nominated at the Victoires de La Musiques 2021 and awarded the Diapason d’Or 2020. The Mécénat Musical Société Générale and La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations are I Giardini’s major sponsors.
Pierre Fouchenneret
An insatiable artist with a discography of over twenty albums, Pierre Fouchenneret dedicates several years of his life to the works of a single composer, often surrounding himself with the finest chamber musicians to record a complete set. In 2016, he recorded the complete violin and piano sonatas of Beethoven with Romain Descharmes for Aparte. In 2018, the first volume of a complete set of Gabriel Fauré's chamber music was released, featuring Simon Zaoui and Raphaël Merlin. He also embarked on the ambitious project of performing all of Brahms' chamber music with the Strada Quartet, Eric Lesage, Florent Pujuila, Adrien Boisseau, and others. The complete set was released by B-Records during the 2018 to 2021 seasons. In the spring of 2020, his recording of Schubert and Raphaël Merlin's octets was released, featuring Nicolas Baldeyrou, David Guerrier, and Marc Desmons, among others.
A child prodigy, Pierre Fouchenneret won his first prize in violin and chamber music at the CNSM de Paris at the age of 16 in the classes of Olivier Charlier and Daria Hovora. He later won the Grand Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition of Bordeaux, the Grand Prix Georges Enesco from Sacem, and became a laureate of the Natixis Foundation and an associate artist of the Singer Polignac Foundation.
Invited to stages worldwide, the "extraordinary bow" (Le Figaro) of Pierre Fouchenneret quickly led him to perform with exceptional musicians such as the Fine Arts Quartet, Jean-François Heisser, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Zong Xu, Julien Leroy, and Nicolas Angelich. In 2013, he founded the Strada Quartet with Sarah Nemtanu, Lise Berthaud, and François Salque.
Pierre Fouchenneret is highly regarded by French and international orchestras for his boldness and vision of the repertoire. He has been invited by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, the Brno Philharmonic, the Philharmonics of Nice and Strasbourg, the Baltic of Saint Petersburg, and the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
A sought-after teacher, Pierre Fouchenneret is professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva.
