Eugène Joseph Bozza (4 April 1905 – 28 September 1991) was a French composer and violinist. He was one of the most prolific composers of chamber music for wind instruments. Bozza's large ensemble works include five symphonies, operas, ballets, large choral work, wind band music, concertos, and many works for large brass or woodwind ensembles. Outside of France, he is best known for his chamber music, rather than his larger works.
Laurent Korcia (born 1964) is a French violinist who studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. After receiving a Premier Prix from the Conservatoire, he won the Paganini Competition in Genoa, a Grand Prix at the Jacques Thibaud Competition, the Premier Grand Prix at the international Zino Francescatti Competition and a scholarship from the Young Concert Artists Trust in London.
In 2002, he was awarded the Victoires de la Musique as instrumental soloist of the year in France and was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He also received the George Enesco Prize of the SACEM and the Grand Prix of the Academie Charles Cross.
Korcia performs regularly with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Emmanuel Krivine, Kurt Masur, John Nelson, Michel Plasson, Manuel Rosenthal, Yutaka Sado, Tugan Sokhiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, and Walter Weller. He includes solo violin recitals in his concert repertoire, with programmes ranging from Bach to contemporary music.
September 13 and 14, 2008 Korcia performed sold out concerts at Les Folies Bergère in the 9th arrondissement in Paris. The resulting television special is featured on American Public Television, including several top market stations. Korcia CDs (Sony/BMG, Naïve) are solid sellers in France. His music has been used in movies, commercials and television programs. He was signed to a worldwide contract by EMI in 2008 and his Cinema album was released in Europe in March 2009, followed by such diverse markets as South Korea, South Africa and Australia. The USA release was released 28 July 2009. The Canadian release date was also 7/28/09, through EMI. Mexico followed in early August.
Since 1999, Korcia has been playing on the Zahn Stradivarius (1719), a violin on loan by the French group LVMH, Moët-Hennessy-Louis Vuitton.
Gérard Jarry (Châtellerault, 6 June 1936 – Saint-Eliph, 18 January 2004) was a French classical violinist. In June 1951, he won the "Premier Grand Prix" at the Concours-Long-Thibaud, at the age of 15. In 1959, he founded the String Trio French, alongside Serge Collot and Michel Tournus.In 1969, he joined Jean-François Paillard's Chamber Orchestra as concertmaster. He was part of the orchestra for thirty three years, during which he recorded Baroque and classical concertos, including the complete concertos of Jean-Marie Leclair, recorded in 1977 which won several major record awards; concertos by Haydn in 1973; Mozart in 1976; and Bach in 1978. In total, with Jean François Paillard, he produced more than 150 recordings (including fifty where he acted as soloist) and performed in more than 2,500 concerts on five continents.
He was a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, and trained several generations of artists, some leading an international career.
Christian Ferras (17 June 1933 – 14 September 1982) was a French violinist.
Jacques Thibaud (French pronunciation: [ʒak tibo]; 27 September 1880 – 1 September 1953) was a French violinist.
Pierre Amoyal (born 22 June 1949 in Paris) is a French violinist and is the artistic director of the Conservatory of Lausanne.
He owns the "Kochanski" Stradivarius of 1717. It was stolen from him in 1987 and recovered in 1991.
René-Charles "Zino" Francescatti (9 August 1902 – 17 September 1991) was a French virtuoso violinist, renowned for his lyrical playing style.