Philippe Quint
violin

Biography

A two-time Grammy Award nominee, violinist Philippe Quint has emerged in recent years as one of the few soloists to combine a remarkable degree of lyricism, poetry and impeccable virtuosity. He has gripped the eyes and ears of audiences in Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the U.S. with what The Times (London) describes as his “bravura technique, and unflagging energy.”

Quint’s big break came with his 2001 debut album, a recording of William Schuman’s Violin Concerto (Naxos), which was singled out as an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone and garnered two Grammy nominations. The disc catapulted Quint into the top tier of soloists, in demand worldwide. Moreover, it thoroughly established his unique identity as a champion of American composers.  Since then, He has performed under the batons of such noted conductors as Marin Alsop, Peter Bay, Carl St. Clair, Christopher Confessore, Guillermo Figueroa, Hans Graf, Kynan Johns, Raymond Harvey, Daniel Hege, Andrew Litton, David Loebel, Kurt Masur, Jorge Mester, Marco Parisotto, Jung Ho- Pak, Martin Panteleev, Eckart Preu, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Arild Remmereit, Stefan Sanderling, Klauspeter Seibel, Christopher Seaman, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Steven Sloane, Michael Stern, Scott Speck, Bramwell Tovey, Eugene Tzigane, Gregory Vajda, Thomas Wilkins, Martin Yates, Jean-Marie Zeitouni.

Recent and upcoming highlights of his 2010-2011 season included performances with the Berlin Komische Oper Orchestra for their New Year's concerts with Carl St. Clair, Chicago Symphony, San Diego Symphony with Bramwell Tovey, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus with Steven Sloane, a tour of Germany with Nordwestdeutsche Symphoniker, and an 18-concert U.S. tour with the Cape Town Philharmonic.

In addition to his demanding musical career, Philippe Quint has recently begun exploring film and theater roles. In 2010 he completed filming of Downtown Express, a new film from multiple Peabody and Emmy Award-winning director David Grubin, produced by Michael Hausman (Brokeback Mountain, Gangs of New York, Amadeus), and co-starring singer-songwriter Nellie McKay. Though there is a long tradition of performers appearing on the big screen as themselves or famous violinists of the past, Quint’s role in Downtown Express marks the first time that a classical musician has been featured as the lead in an American independent film. To prepare for the role and further his understanding of the craft, Quint spent three years training intensely with legendary producer and acting instructor Sondra Lee.

Downtown Express chronicles the life of Russian classical violinist Sasha (Quint) who has recently come to New York to study at Juilliard, and who, defying his cellist father (played by Michael Cumpsty), becomes part of the experimental and raucous Downtown music scene of the city. Sparks fly when Sasha meets and begins performing with Ramona (McKay), a multi-talented singer-songwriter.

Philippe Quint studied at Moscow's Special Music School for the Gifted with the famed Russian violinist Andrei Korsakov, and made his orchestral debut at the age of nine, performing Wieniawski's Concerto No. 2. After emigrating to the United States, he earned both Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Juilliard. His distinguished pedagogues included Dorothy Delay, Cho-Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, and Felix Galimir. He also studied and participated in masterclasses with Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Arnold Steinhardt.

The Chicago Tribune proclaimed, “Here is a fiddle virtuoso whose many awards are fully justified by the brilliance of his playing.” Among his many honors, Quint has amassed top prizes at the Juilliard Competition ('98), Spain's Pablo de Sarasate International Violin Competition ('97), where he also received the Special Audience Prize, and the Salon de Virtuosi Award ('97). He has been a Career Grant recipient of the Bagby Foundation since 2002.

In addition to his recording of the Schumann Concerto, Quint’s formidable discography includes a large variety of rediscovered treasures along with popular works from standard repertoire. His recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto (2009), which was ranked in the top 20 on Billboard’s Classical Chart in its first week of sales, was also nominated for two Grammy Awards. Other critically acclaimed recordings include the world premiere recording of John Corigliano's Red Violin Caprices, Ned Rorem’s Concerto, Miklos Rozsa’s Complete Works for Violin and Piano with William Wolfram, Bernstein’s Serenade, and De Beriot’s Concertos. His most recent release from August 2010 is a unique compilation of works by Paganini arranged by Fritz Kreisler, which BBC Music Magazine called “truly phenomenal.”

Quint’s recordings have received multiple “Editor’s Choice” selections in Gramophone, The Strad, Strings, and the Daily Telegraph. His live performances and interviews have been broadcast on CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, as well as multiple appearances on NPR, WNYC and WQXR.

Quint has been consistently re-engaged both domestically and internationally; recent performances include appearances as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Minnesota, Bournemouth, Houston, the Weimar Staatskapelle, Orchestra Cote du Basque, Orchestra de Pamplona, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He has given solo recitals and chamber music performances at the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Ravinia, Aspen, Lincoln Center, and Chautauqua festivals, at Lukas Foss's Hamptons Music Festival, at the Kravis Center, UC Davis Presents, Rome Chamber Festival and at the National Gallery in Washington.

In addition to his work as a soloist, Quint is Founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Series at Mexico Festival in Mexico City, and collaborates with cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Navah Perlman in a trio. He recently formed the Quint Quintet – a group dedicated to exploring music of Astor Piazzolla and Argentine Tango.

Philippe Quint plays the 1708 "Ruby" Antonio Stradivari violin on loan to him through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society®.

Website: http://www.philippequint.com | www.myspace.com/philippequint

Critical Acclaim

NEW YORK TIMES
“Clad in black, with his dark hair falling over his closed eyes, Mr. Quint dazzled the crowd with a theme from the movie “The Red Violin”; Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So”; a Paganini Variations; and the Meditation from Massenet’s opera “Thaïs.”

NEW YORK TIMES
“Quint has the power, breadth of tone and passion… “

LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Quint made a smashing impression...Make no mistake, this man can play…Quint understood this tour de force pieces celebrate virtuosity and music. He is well acquainted with both."

THE STRAD
“No matter what Beriot throws at him, as witness the athletic high jinks of no. 3’s finale, Quint emerges completely unscathed and apparently thirsty for more.”

GRAMOPHONE
“Philippe Quint’s panache is stunning and this CD offers some of the most attractive music for solo violin in the entire repertoire”.

BALTIMORE SUN
"It's a grabber from the first notes. Philippe Quint is the sterling violin soloist; the ensemble sounds taut and fully engaged. Hot stuff."

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
“With his lanky build and shoulder-length dark hair, he looked like a modern day Paganini -and he played like one, too. Violinist Philippe Quint wowed the crowd…brilliant technique and compelling personality.’’

HOUSTON CHRONICLE
“Philippe Quint was the soloist in the Tchaikovsky Concerto… Quint’s performance was beautiful, expansive and thoughtful earning him an unusual second solo bow at the end.”

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
“The soloist is Philippe Quint … his performance is elegantly sinuous and musically subtle preferable on my CD player to Gidon Kremer or Zino Francescatti among numerous others who have recorded what remains, for me, Bernsteins finest concert work…”

SUN-SENTINEL
"Extraordinary soloist…A few violinists of any generation can make Tchaikovsky’s evergreen Concerto spring to life these days. Quint did just that."

LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Violinist Philippe Quint played it warmly and with intensity, a down payment on the blazing performance he turned in. The collaboration between Quint and Mester was tight, especially evident in the precision with which they ended the first magical slow movement..."

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“And what a terrific soloist the young Russian born American violinist Philippe Quint makes! …he vanquishes the violin writing with ease. Here is a young fiddle virtuoso whose many awards are fully justified by the brilliance of his playing”.

STRAD
“Dazzling performance… violinist of uncommon brilliance and flair. Intonation is impeccable and Quint brings to the score the grand gestures of his Russian training”.

BALTIMORE SUN
“The assured, penetrating performance of Violin Concerto by young Russian born American fiddler Philip Quint demonstrates how deserving Schuman is of attention”.

WEST PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS
"A legend in the making, Russian violinist Philippe Quint gave a thrilling performance…"

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
“Philippe Quint, a Russian-born American, sounds like a first rate violinist here. He is especially eloquent in those passages where the violin enters in a still, small voice after an orchestral cataclysm”.

DETROIT FREE PRESS
“Philippe Quint’s high powered reading would be easy to recommend even if there were a competition”.

LONDON TIMES
'”The eye and ear were gripped by the soloist…a young Russian-born New Yorker called Philippe Quint....(Stravinsky Violin Concerto).... he displayed bravura technique, unflagging energy, a convincing approach to this theatrical and often sardonic music, and the instincts of a showman. One senses he is heading for even more glamorous destinations..."

HOUSTON CHRONICLE
“Performed by the Russian-born violinist Philippe Quint, the Korngold Concerto was the audience favorite. Quint performed with shining tone and large scale of emotions”.

LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Quint’s appearance combined with charismatic articulation and Mozartean grace; here was a tight, stylish and affable reading with minimum of self-consciousness and a maximum of tone color. One can hardly remember a performance of a familiar piece at once so complete and so moving."

LOS ANGELES TIMES
“The concert continued with the premiere of a violin concerto commissioned from Lera Auerbach, played smartly by twice Grammy-nominated Philippe Quint, to whom the work is dedicated. Quint, also a Soviet defector, played with lyricism, energy and devotion”.

THE INDEPENDENT
“This Russian born American (Philippe Quint) is not only a superb technician, negotiating Stravinsky's complex rhythms and lyrical flights with equal ease, but also a compellingly mercurial and vivid player, totally at home with this concerto varied moods; Quint is up for a Grammy Award, along with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra itself, for a NAXOS recording of the William Schuman Concerto’’.

KENTUCKY COURIER JOURNAL
Quint remains an ardent, technically masterful advocate of the concerto, playing the piece with the utter conviction of one who believes it to be the equal of any work in the standard repertory. His articulation and command of every textual element, particularly in the clarity of his rapid spiccato, were impressive.”