Nicolas Dautricourt

Biography

Voted « ADAMI Classical Discovery of the Year » at the Midem in Cannes, and Sacem « Georges Enesco Prize », Nicolas Dautricourt is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and engaging French violinists of his generation.

Invited to join the prestigious Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center in New York, he appears at major venues around the world (Washington Kennedy Center, New York Alice Tully Hall, London Wigmore Hall, Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Boston Gardner Museum, Teatro Nacional de Belém, Copenhagen Concert Hall, Ongakudo Hall Kanazawa, Nagoya Shirakawa Hall, Sendai city Hall... ), in France (Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cité de la Musique, Metz Arsenal, Musée d’Orsay, Opéra du Rhin, Grand Théâtre de Provence, etc.), and he is invited to many artistic events, including La Chaise-Dieu, La Roque d’Antheron, Printemps des Arts (Monaco), Festival de l’Orangerie (Sceaux), Parc Floral (Vincennes), Folles Journées de Nantes, Rencontres Musicales de La Baule, Flâneries musicales de Reims, Deauville Easter Festival, Les Arcs, Périgord Noir, Auvers-sur-Oise, Musique à l’Empéri.

He also takes part in festivals abroad, such as Lockenhaus (Austria), Music@Menlo (Usa), Ravinia (Usa), Himeji/Le Pont Festival (Japon), Sintra (Portugal), Davos (Switzerland), and has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre National de France, Detroit Symphony, Québec Symphony, Sinfonia Varsovia, Kiev Philharmonic, Mexico Philharmonic, Belgrad Philharmonic, NHK Tokyo Chamber Orchestra, Scala di Milano Ensemble, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, European Camerata, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre de Cannes, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen, Orchestre de l'Opéra de St-Etienne, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, Sendai Strings Ensemble, Novossibirsk Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Maroc, Baltic Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Orchestre Symphonique de Caen, Orchestre Pasdeloup, Orchestre Français des Jeunes, under conductors Leonard Slatkin, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Fabien Gabel, Michael Francis, Kazuki Yamada, Dennis Russell Davies, Yuri Bashmet, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Mishiyoshi Inoue, Jacques Mercier, Faycal Karoui, Vahan Mardirossian, Stanislas Lefort, Mark Foster, Arie Van Beek and others.

Nicolas Dautricourt, who is appreciated for his « sensitivity and passionate manner », is particularly fond of chamber music, which he plays alongside many inspiring artists, and keenly interested in jazz, he works regularly with top players such as Jean-Marie Ecay, Nelson Veras, Jean-Philippe Viret, Jean-Marc Jafet, Antoine Hervé, Dominique Fillon, Pascal Schumacher, as well as the accordionist Richard Galliano as a member of the Tangaria Quartet the Piazzolla Forever project, in such festivals as Jazz à Vienne, Marciac, Sud-Tyroler Jazz Festival, San Javier, Copenhagen, Athens...

Nicolas Dautricourt has recorded Karol Szymanowski’s complete works for violon and piano (Saphir Records), Ernest Chausson’s Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet coupled with Felix Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for the Calliope label. Both recordings received unanimous critical acclaim.

Finalist and prize-winner of numerous international violin competitions, such as the Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznan, the Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade, the Rodolfo Lipizer in Gorizia and the Gian-Battista Viotti in Vercelli Competitions, Nicolas Dautricourt studied from 1993 violin and chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire with Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Jean Mouillère, respectively, and was unanimously awarded a premier prix in each of those disciplines, the latter with the Kinsky String Quartet.

He went on to follow the advanced course (violin), while studying composition with Isabelle Duha at the Conservatoire of Issy-les-Moulineaux, where he was awarded another premier prix. He has also studied with prestigious masters such as Philipp Hirschhorn, Tibor Varga, Miriam Fried, Pamela Frank, Gérard Poulet and Hermann Krebbers, and has taken part in masterclasses given by the Borodin and Hagen Quartets.

Nicolas Dautricourt became in 2007 artistic director of the festival « Les Moments Musicaux de Gerberoy», and currently plays a magnificent instrument by Antonio Stradivarius (Cremona, 1713), the "Château Fombrauge", on a generous loan from Bernard Magrez.

Discography

Awards