Elsa Grether & Ferenc Vizi
Biographie Elsa Grether & Ferenc Vizi
Elsa Grether
French violinist Elsa Grether is regularly invited to prestigious festivals and venues in France and abroad. As a soloist with orchestra, she has played concertos from Bach to Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tomasi among others, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, Orchestre National de Cannes, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Briansk Symphony Orchestra, Indiana Philharmonic, Deutsch-Tschechicher Chamber Orchestra…
She has given recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall in New-York, Berliner Philharmonie, Hamburg ElbPhilharmonie, Paris Invalides, Folle Journée de Nantes, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Menton Festival, Festival de Sully et du Loiret, Festival de Rocamadour, Festival des Forêts, Festival des Abbayes en Lorraine, Festival de Musique sacrée de Perpignan, Festival Berlioz, Grandes Heures de Cluny, Pâques à l’Abbaye de Fontevraud, Musicales de Normandie, Festival Classique au Vert, Festival Lille Clef de Soleil, Salle Cortot, Invalides and Petit Palais in Paris, Bozar and Flagey in Brussels, Radio Suisse Romande and Festival Musiques en Eté in Geneva, Altmark Festspiele, Ido Festival Düsseldorf, Palazzetto Bru-Zane in Venice…
Her coming engagements in 2025 include a recital at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kurt Weill Violin Concerto, Respighi Poema Autunnale and Ravel Kaddisch as a soloist with the Orchestre National de l’Armée de l’Air in Paris Invalides as well as recitals in Flagey in Brussels, Amiens Maison de la Musique, Soissons Cité de la Musique, La Rochelle, Pamiers, Prieuré de Marast, for the release of her 6th CD « Granada » in april 2025, dedicated to Spanish music for violin/ piano (Sarasate Carmen Fantasy, De Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Granados…) with pianist Ferenc Vizi (label Aparté).
Recent engagements include a debut recital at the Berlin Philharmonie, Sibelius Violin Concerto with François-Xavier Roth and La Jeune Symphonie de l’Aisne, return invitations to the Folle Journée Nantes and with Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse under Jacques Lacombe in Tomasi Violin Concerto, recitals in Paris Invalides, Paris Petit Palais, Salle Cortot, Arsenal de Metz, Montauban, Avignon, Mulhouse, Orléans, Reims, Liège (Belgium), KonzertGut Concert Series (Germany), solo recitals in Cagliari and Oristano (Italy), Festival des Abbayes de Lorraine, Festival de la Lucerne among others.
Her 3 CDs “Poème mystique” (Bloch and Pärt) with pianist Ferenc Vizi, “French Resonance” (Pierné, Vierne and Fauré) with François Dumont and “Kaleidoscope” for solo violin (Bach, Ysaye, Honegger, Tôn-Thât Tiet, Khatchaturian, Albeniz) were released in 2013, 2015 and 2017 by Fuga Libera/Outhere. All three CDs received unanimous acclaim and were awarded the highest distinctions: “5 Diapasons”, “4 stars” in Classica Magazine as well as excellent reviews from Gramophone, Pizzicato Magazine, La Libre Belgique…
Her 4rth CD, dedicated to the work of S. Prokofiev together with pianist David Lively, was released in 2019 (Fuga Libera/Outhere) and received great reviews (“CD of the week” and FFFF in Télérama, 5 Diapasons, 5 stars in Classica Magazine, 5 from Pizzicato Magazine, Musikzen, Concertclassic, Classiquenews, Crescendo Magazine…).
Her 5th CD, dedicated to Maurice Ravel’s complete works for violin and piano as well as rare transcriptions and arrangements (World premiere recordings), with pianist David Lively, was released in September 2022 on label Aparté. It won unanimous acclaim by the press and the public (The Strad Magazine, Gramophone, BBC Radio 3, FFFF Télérama, 5 Stars Classica, 5 from Pizzicato Magazine, CD of the week in Rondo Magazine…)
Elsa won the Pro Musicis Award in Paris by unanimous decision of the jury. She has held scholarships from a number of foundations such as Fondation Safran pour la Musique, Fondation Natixis Banque Populaire, Fondation de France (Prix Oulmont), Fondation Cziffra, Fondation Bleustein-Blanchet pour la Vocation. She was awarded the Josef Gingold full scholarship at Indiana University. In 1993 she was prizewinner at the Young Soloists’ Competition organized by the RTBF in Brussels.
She is regularly heard on radios such as France Musique (who just dedicated an hour-long program to her work in “Stars du classique” presented by Aurélie Moreau), Europe 1, Musiq3 and RTS Suisse and was the subject of a program in Alain Duault’s television program "Toute la musique qu’ils aiment" (France 3).
Elsa was born in Mulhouse, France. After being awarded a Premier Prix in violin by unanimous decision of the jury at the Conservatoire de Paris-CRR on her fifteenth birthday, her lively curiosity prompted her to continue her training abroad, with Ruggiero Ricci at the Salzburg Mozarteum and then in the United States with Mauricio Fuks at Indiana University Bloomington and Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory in Boston. She subsequently received guidance from Régis Pasquier in Paris.
Ferenc Vizi
Born in Transylvania (Romania) in 1974, Ferenc Vizi began his piano studies in the class of András Körtési in his hometown of Reghin, then joined Gérard Frémy's class at the CNSM in Paris. He also received guidance from Cyril Huvé, Jacques Rouvier, and pianist Françoise Thinat at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Ferenc Vizi has distinguished himself in several major international competitions: Saratov in Russia, Hamamatsu in Japan, Rubinstein in Tel Aviv, and the ARD in Munich. Thanks to these competitions, he has enjoyed numerous engagements in South America, Japan, and several European countries, as well as a recording of Bartók's Second Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under the direction of Peter Rundel for Munich Radio.
Since then, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in recitals, primarily in Europe. His chamber music partners include Henri Demarquette, Raphaël Perraud, Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian, Alexis Cardenas, Benoit Fromanger and Richard Galliano. He joined Ann-Estelle Médouze and Laura Buruiana in the Brancusi Trio in 2014.
A Juventus prizewinner since 1995, Ferenc Vizi is a regular guest in France at the Théâtre de la Ville and has performed at Radio France, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, the Théâtre de Caen, the Festival de l'Épau, Piano à Riom, Piano à Auxerre, the Serres d'Auteuil, Piano Passion in Saint-Etienne, the Musée d'Orsay and the Opéra Comique in Paris, at the Nohant, Toulon, Périgord Noir, and 1001 Notes Festivals, the Folle Journée in Nantes, the Roque d'Anthéron Festival, La Chaise Dieu, the Piano(s) Festival Lille, and the Toulouse Summer Festival, in London at the It's All About Piano Festival, and in numerous national and provincial theaters. He has performed with the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre National d'Île de France, the Orchestre d'Auvergne and the Ensemble Orchestral des Hauts-de-Seine and has performed Tchaikovsky's 1st Concerto and Grieg's Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Târgu-Mures, where he studied, on tour in France at the Pin Galant in Mérignac, Palais Neptune in Toulon, the Cratère d'Alès and the Rampe d'Échirolles. In November 2018 he performed Ravel's Concerto in G major at the Palais de la Culture with the same orchestra in Târgu-Mures. During the summer of 2016 he performed Boulez's 12 Notations for the first time at the Juventus Festival and had great success with his Blue Notes program in several festivals in France. After a memorable Diabelli Variations at the Théâtre de la Ville in November 2015, he was invited back by the Théâtre de la Ville with his recital program Chimères & Contemplations in January 2017. Also in 2017, Ferenc Vizi premiered his program Liszt, Hanover Square Rooms, London, 9 June 1840 at the Berlioz Festival, and gave a recital at the Musée d'Orsay as part of the Degas sur tous les tones cycle. In 2018, he participated in the Folle journée in Nantes and gave a recital at the Liszt en Provence Festival.
With the Hungarian traditional music ensemble Cifra, Ferenc Vizi premiered the program Rhapsodies - Liszt et les Tziganes at the Scène nationale de Martigues and then at the Lisztomanias Festival in Châteauroux. Since then, this program has toured France, most recently at the Théâtre Impérial in Compiègne and the Montpellier and Nancy Operas.
Ferenc Vizi recorded Beethoven's Sonata Opus 111 and Schumann's Fantasy Opus 17 for the Æon label, and Voyage - works by Schubert, Liszt, and Wagner/Liszt for Satirino Records. In spring 2013, he released his recording of Rhapsodies, Liszt and the Gypsies for Satirino Records under the title Czardas Fantasy, Mendelssohn's complete works for cello and piano with cellist Laura Buruiana on Coviello Classics, and an album with violinist Elsa Grether dedicated to Ernest Bloch on the Fuga Libera label. His recording of the Diabelli Variations with Anima was released in November 2014, then Romance oubliée with cellist Hermine Horiot on the 1001 Notes label in early 2015. His recording of Schubert's sonata in A major D 664 and Quatre Impromptus D 935 for the Paraty label was released in autumn 2021.
