Philippe Honoré (born 21 March 1967) is a French

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 who has been a regular recitalist in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was appointed Violin Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in September 2012. He has performed widely in broadcast recitals on French radio and television.

Life and career

Honoré divides his busy schedule between solo work, chamber music, and collaboration with leading orchestras. He was a principal player with the Philharmonia Orchestra (from 2005 to 2011). After receiving top honours from the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music in

, he was made a Laureat of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in

in 1992. He was awarded an Honorary Associateship by the Royal Academy of Music in 2001. Honoré is a former member of the Vellinger Quartet and a founder member of the Mobius Ensemble. As such, he has appeared in some of the most prestigious venues abroad (such as Amsterdam's

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...

) and in the UK (such as the

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

and the South Bank in

). He has appeared as a soloist performing

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

, Mozart,

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

, and

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

concerti, as well as

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's Tzigane. Honoré regularly appears as guest leader with some of the UK's best orchestras. He has made numerous solo and chamber music recordings. His solo violin performances on the

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

album ''

An Equal Music ''An Equal Music'' (1999) is a novel by Vikram Seth. Plot The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret aff ...

'' are regularly featured on both Classic FM and Radio 3. The novel of that name by the author

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

was inspired by and dedicated to him. Honoré's collaboration with the composer

Alec Roth Alec Roth (1948) is an English composer. He is best known for his collaboration with Vikram Seth to produce the opera ''Arion and the Dolphin'' in 1994 based on the myth of Arion. Roth studied music from 1976 as a mature student at Durham Unive ...

over a recent four-year project earned him great critical acclaim. The performances took place at the

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

Festivals. BBC Radio 3 recorded and broadcast these annual concerts, in which, in addition to the world premières of Roth's work, Honoré also played solo

and Ysaÿe sonatas. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' described his account of Roth's solo work in 2007 as “magically played”. A studio recording by Honoré of Roth's Ponticelli for solo violin was released by Signum records in November 2011. Honoré recently gave a performance of the entirety of this four-year-long project at the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa in July 2012. The series of these four concerts including ''Songs In Time Of War'', ''Ponticelli'', ''The Traveller'', and the ''Seven Elements Suite'' was reviewed by the Wordpress ''Music and Beyond'' blog, which described Honoré as both a violin virtuoso and a super violinist and the performances were referred to as spine-tingling. Honoré's work with the Mobius Ensemble was awarded favourable reviews.

Published works

Albums

Notable instruments

Honoré's

is an Eberle, made in 1786 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

References

External links