Hélène Schmitt

Hélène Schmitt is a prize-winning French violinist and a professor of baroque violin in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.   Schmitt first started out as a chamber musician before specialising in baroque music. She spent 10 years in Bâle, Switzerland, next to Chiara Banchini and Jesper Bøje Christensen. Nowadays, she is very close to Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Rolf Lislevand with whom she often plays in concert.   Hélène Schmitt mostly performs on European stages but also recently in Japan where she has done a solo recital tour in Spring 2008. Her musical choices, her discography and her personal inclinations are very much European orientated.   She mostly plays the repertoire for solo violin of the 17th, 18th and beginning of 19th Century and the international critics are always very enthusiastic about her recordings and concerts. She is supported by the French label Alpha for which she has done so far 8 recordings. Amongst them the famous Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo of J.S. Bach. She shows a special interest for the Italian and German music and culture.   She has won three International Prices :   Bruggen soloists section in 1993 Van Wassenaar (Holland) in 1994 Schmelzerpreis in Melk (Austria) in 1996 She has also recently been invited to take part of the Jury of the prestigious International Competition Festival van Vlaanderen in Bruggen.   She has lived in Germany for 10 years after having studied the modern violin in Paris and baroque violin in Basel.   Her recordings are regularly plaid on the European radio channels (France-Musique, Radio Classique, WDR3 or Deutschland Radio) which also regularly broadcast programs and portraits of this great artist. The National German radio Deutschland Funk has recently co-produced with ALPHA her recording Johann Heinrich Schmelzer : Sonatas for violin and basso continuo.   Over the years she has built very strong relationships with numerous musical partners such as German harpsichordist Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Itlalian cellist Gaetano Nasillo and lute and guitar player Eric Bellocq with whom she has done recordings and performed many concerts.   She is invited to perform in prestigious festivals and concert series : Oude Muziek Utrecht, Innsbrucker Festwochen Innsbruck, Festival of Saintes, Festival Bach of Lausanne, Bachfest Salzburg, Les Grandes Journées de Versailles, Ambronay, Brussels, Cologne, Festival van Vlaanderen Bruggen , Brussels Philharmonie, Folle Journée de Nantes, Concerts Parisiens, Arsenal de Metz etc...   In addition to her concerts activities, she is currently working with the very talented dancer and choreographer Raphaël Cottin on a special show called "Sei solo" performed for the first time in Paris in December 2008.