“I see music as a journey, a suspended moment that changes with every performance. In this way, the audience is carried, without detour, into a story that we create together.”
This conception of musical interpretation as a unique and immersive act of sharing lies at the heart of Violaine Despeyroux’s artistic practice. The French violist, trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, stands out on stage for her distinctive personality and her energy—both precise and electrifying.
Her ardor and determination have brought her to major European and international venues such as the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood (USA), the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, BOZAR in Brussels, and the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence. She has performed alongside renowned artists including Renaud Capuçon, Alexandre Kantorow, the Modigliani Quartet, and Pierre Fouchenneret. Violaine Despeyroux has been widely recognized for her interpretative talent, notably winning First Prize unanimously at the National Competition for Young Violists, as well as Second Prize and the Prize for Best Performance of a Bach work at the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition in Birmingham.
A versatile artist, Violaine Despeyroux is equally at ease as a chamber musician and as a soloist. She has been heard in France, Italy, and Belgium, performing under conductors such as Vahan Mardirossian and Ian Fountain. This season will mark her Belgian debut performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Renaud Capuçon.
Driven by a constant desire to explore new repertoire, Violaine Despeyroux is passionate about chamber music and the dialogue it creates between musicians and their audience. She regularly appears in prominent festivals such as the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Anthéron, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, and Les Folles Journées in Nantes. She is also frequently invited to perform with major orchestras, including the Opéra National de Paris Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, WDR Cologne, and the Kölner Kammerorchester.
Yet this singular artist also seeks to be where one might least expect her, to set convention aside and explore new paths. For Violaine Despeyroux, classical music is first and foremost a living, vibrant art—one whose colors and emotions she delights in exploring endlessly. These subtle nuances and powerful encounters bring her personality and her instrument—a Jacquot viola from 1863—into perfect harmony.
