Portrait
- (
January 2011
- please, do not use outdated
versions)The young swiss soloist Rachel Kolly d'Alba, born in Lausanne (Switzerland), received her first violin and piano lesson at the age of five. Considered as one of the most talentend swiss violinist, she is recognized for her poetic and sincere way of performing music. Her vibrato, phrasing and virtuosity, all add to her distinctively passionate performances.
Rachel recently signed to Warner Classics and Jazz – the home of generations of celebrated artists. This new relationship will generate several recordings over the next months, the first of which included the famous 6 solo Sonatas by her beloved composer Eugène Ysaÿe.
Since her debut as a soloist at the age of twelve, she appeared with famous orchestras as the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, the Berne Symphony Orchestra, the Bern Chamber Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the national symphony Orchestra of Lituenia, the Bienne Chamber Orchestra, The National Orchestra of the Loire valley, the Orchestre de chambre de Toulouse, the Orchester Gesellschaft Zürich, the Sinfonietta Lausanne, the Arcademia Symphonica Germany, the New Europa Orchestra, The Biel Symphonic Orchestra or the Orchestre de chambre Fribourgeois and has worked with conductors such as Dmitri Kitajenko, Laurent Gendre, Pascal Rophé, John Axelrod, Kaspar Zehnder, Jonathan Harrisson, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Urs Peter Schneider, Zolt Nagy, Hervé Klopfenstein or Marc Kissoczy.
She performs all over Europe. As a soloist she is invited to play at numerous renowned festivals such as Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), Festival de Divonne (France) or Internazionale Festival di Musica in Este (Italy), Festival de musique contemporaine d’Erevan (Armenia), Festival « Schleswig Holstein » (Germany), Festival de Poitiers (France), « Encuentros » und « mozarteum » at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (Argentina), « Sigall » (Chile), International festival of Flanders (Belgium) or Murten classics (Switzerland).
She studied at the Conservatory in Lausanne where she received, with 15 years old, the diploma for teaching, for the violin and for the chamber music. 1998 she went on with her studies at the University for Music and Drama in Berne in the class of the renowned Slovenian violinist and teacher Igor Ozim, where she received her diploma as a soloist in 2003. She continued her studies with Jean-Jacques Kantorow in Paris and in addition to her violin studies, she studied orchestration with Jean Balissat in Lausanne, composition with Michael Jarrell in Geneva and contemporary chamber music with Bruno Canino.
She takes also master classes with Maestro Franco Gulli (Bloomington), with Thomas Kakuska (Alban Berg Quartet), with Thomas Brandis (Berlin), György Pauk (London) and Ivry Gitlis (Paris).
Rachel Kolly d'Alba signed with
Warner Classics & Jazz, the 6 solo sonatas by
Ysaÿe released worldwide in may 2010. She will record next the
Works by Saint-Saëns Chausson, Ravel and Ysaÿe for violin and
orchestra, recording released in september 2011. Rachel Kolly
d'Alba recorded two other CD, besides radio and television
broadcasts for DRS, Radio Espace 2, as in Austria, Germany, France,
Slovenia and Armenia.
The young and passionate violinist is a first prize winner at
several international competitions. Already 1994 she won the first
prize at the Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Zurich, followed by
first prizes at the Music Competition Moudon - with distinction -
(1998), the Paderewski Prize (1998). 2000 she reached the finals at
the Councours Eurovision in Lugano, or the first Prize winner at
the Kiefer-Hablitzel-Wettbewerb (2001) or the
Fridl-Wald-Wettberwerb Switzerland (2002). 2005 Rachel Kolly d'Alba
won the first prize and the prize of the audience at the
international competition Julio Cardona in Covilha, Portugal.
Highlights of the 2010/11 season include performances of the
Mendelssohn concerti, Schostakovitch, Bruch, Tchaikovski, Lalo,
Paganini « la campanella », Saint-Saëns Nr 3, Ravel,
Chausson, Bach and Vivaldi concerti.
Rachel is also the artistic director of the concert serie
« Riviera-Concerts ».
Rachel plays a sumptuous violin by Stradivari made in
1732.
5 years old