Gilles Apap (born 21 May 1963) is a French classical

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist. Born in

Béjaïa Béjaïa (; ; ar, بجاية‎, Latn, ar, Bijāya, ; kab, Bgayet, Vgayet), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean port city and commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Béjaïa is ...

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, he was raised in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, France. In 1985 he won first prize in the contemporary music category at the

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

Competition. He served as

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

with the

Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra The Santa Barbara Symphony is a professional symphony orchestra and register 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Santa Barbara, California. The orchestra was founded in 1953. Music directors have included Erno Daniel (1960–1967), who also ...

for 10 years, but has since focused on his career as a soloist with orchestras around the world. A virtuosic violinist, Gilles is also known for his interpretations of traditional music from Eastern Europe to America, such as gypsy, Irish, swing or bluegrass. He recorded three CDs in the 1990s with

Sony Classical Records Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...

, then formed his own company, ''Apapaziz Productions''. Since 1999, Apapaziz has recorded eight Gilles Apap CDs.

Discography

* 1994 Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys: ''Who?'' (Sony) * 1996 Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys: ''Gilles Apap & the Transylvanian Mountain Boys'' (Sony) * 1997 Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys: ''d'Ici & d'Ailleurs'' (Sony) * 1999 ''Enescu, Debussy and Ravel – Sonatas for violin and piano'' (Apapaziz) * 2001 ''No Piano on That One'' (Apapaziz) * 2002 ''Vivaldi's Four Seasons'' (Apapaziz) * 2003 ''Gilles Apap and The Sinfonia Varsovia'' (Apapaziz) * 2006 ''Gilles Apap: Music for Solo Violin'' (Apapaziz) * 2007 ''Friends'' (Apapaziz) * 2008 ''Sans Orchestre'' (Apapaziz) * 2012 ''Gypsy Tunes… California Style That Is'' (Apapaziz)

Films

* 1993 ''The unknown fiddler of Santa Barbara'' (

Bruno Monsaingeon Bruno Monsaingeon (; born 5 December 1943) is a French filmmaker, writer, and violinist. He has made a number of documentary films about famous twentieth-century musicians, including Glenn Gould, Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Piotr Anderszews ...

, Ideale Audience) * 1993 ''Gilles Apap and Friends'' (Bruno Monsaingeon, Ideale Audience) * 1993 ''

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould ''Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould'' is a 1993 Canadian biographical anthology film about the pianist Glenn Gould, played by Colm Feore. It was directed by François Girard, with a screenplay by Girard and Don McKellar. The film is present ...

'' * 1999 ''Gilles Apap plays Mozart's Third Concerto'' (Ideale Audience) * 2004 ''Apap Masala, Gilles Apap in India'' ( Max Jourdan, Ideale Audience)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apap, Gilles 1963 births Living people 20th-century French male classical violinists French fiddlers People from Béjaïa 21st-century French male classical violinists