Alexandra Soumm accompanied by Julien Quentin
a Recital at Florian Leonhard Fine Violins
"It was a great honour to have such a wonderful talent as Alexandra Soumm, along with the acclaimed pianist Julien Quentin playing here" said Florian Leonhard yesterday (9th June), after an evening recital including Mozart's Sonata in B flat K378, Five Melodies by Prokoviev and Strauss's Sonata.
Alexandra Soumm was born into a family of musicians, in the Ukraine. In 2000, she entered the Vienna Conservatory and the Graz University of Music in the class of the eminent pedagogue Boris Kuschnir. Alexandra won the Grand Prize of the Vienna Conservatory Competition in 2002, and First Prize in the 2004 Eurovision Competition for young musicians in Lucerne.
In 2006 she made her debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; since then she has performed with many orchestras in Britain and Europe, recently performing the Mendelssohn concerto with the Grazer Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sibelius concerto with the Staatsorchester Braunschweig. Alexandra regularly appears at international festivals.
In the spring of 2008 Alexandra’s debut recording of the Bruch and Paganini concertos was released on the Claves label, her second disc with Claves, a recording of the violin sonatas by Grieg, was released in spring 2010.
Alexandra joins BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme at the beginning of the 2010-11 season, which will also include her third visit to the Israel Philharmonic and a return to the Orchestre de Paris, as well as debuts with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia in Moscow, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. She will also be performing recitals in the Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels and the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris.
Alexandra plays a violin made by Giovanni Batista Guadagnini in Turin, c. 1785, kindly on loan from a benefactor, and is supported Florian Leonhard.
French pianist Julien Quentin has established himself as a versatile and sensitive musician, exhibiting great maturity and poise. His remarkable depth of musicianship and distinct clarity of sound coupled with flawless technique, make him an artist in demand as both soloist and chamber musician.
He has made successful recital debuts in Paris (Salle Cortot), Geneva Conservatoire Hall and Bargemusic in New York. He has appeared as soloist with the Wroclaw Philharmonic, Córdoba Philharmonic Orchestra and the Indiana University Concert Orchestra under such conductors as Tommaso Placidi, Eduardo Alonso-Crespo, Paul Biss and Jens Troester.
Regularly invited to numerous international Festivals, Quentin’s appearances in Europe include Verbier, Lucerne, Gstaad, Zermatt, Braunschweig, Schwetzingen, Ludwigsburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Beethovenfest Bonn, Radio France Montpellier, Saint Denis and Harrogate.
A regular performer in North America, he has appeared at the Virginia Arts, Ventura and Shandelee Festivals in the United States. He has broadcast in Canada, United States, Japan and in countries across Europe.
