Isabelle Durin and Michaël Ertzscheid

Crédits photo : studio Falour

Hebrew Melodies of the Romantic Era
A piano and violin recital

“This disk includes themes and melodies of Hebrew origin and makes for very pleasurable listening…The artists breathe great life into this repertory – from bravura to making a romantic phrase speak to us.
A delight for the ears.”
Music and Film, issue 876

“Isabelle Durin and Michaël Ertzscheid, “Hebrew Melodies of the Romantic Era” Works by Bloch, Bruch, Goldfaden, Perlman, Williams.
A very beautiful program.”
Le Figaroscope 01/16/08    

“When the instrumental configuration is stripped down to its simplest, the emotion hits like a nail through the heart or a tonic for the soul. Joseph Achron’s “Hebrew Melody (Op. 33)” is definitely of the former sort, with Durin’s violin recounting a vivid tale of suffering, loss and redemption.  Performed and recorded with care and precision, Hebrew Melodies delivers on its romantic promise.” Global Rhythm

The Performers

Isabelle Durin, violin
With a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Philosophy with honors from the University of Paris I-Sorbonne, Isabelle Durin has equally high standards when it comes to music.
After studying violin for several years, she entered the “Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional” in Versaillesin Alexandre Brussilovsky’s class, where she won a first prize (gold medal) in violin, as well as a first prize in chamber music and honorary first prize for violin.

The following year, she was accepted at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique” in Lyon where she worked with Jean Estournet and Kazimierz Olechovski. She received her degree (DNESM) in 2001, after which she further perfected her knowledge and practice of chamber music alongside famous violinists like Patrice Fontanarosa and Jean-Pierre Sabouret, Boris Garlitsky, Roland Daugareil and Shmuel Ashkenazi (during the Shleswig Holstein Muzik Festival in Lübeck.)  She also attended the chamber music class at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique” in Paris (Alain Meunier and Michel Strauss) and toured, notably with the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchestra.

She has been a member of the Ile-de-France National Orchestra under the baton of Yoel Levi since 2003, when she received the bronze medal from the Society for the Encouragement of Progress.

In collaboration with French cultural centers, she gives concerts in France and abroad in prestigious venues, including the Opera and the French Space in Hanoi, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism and the Holocaust Memorial in Paris, the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Cracow.
Since 2002, she has been the artistic director of the Musical Festival of the Château of the Legion of Honor in Pouy-sur-Vannes. 

Michaël Ertzscheid, piano
Michaël Ertzscheid is also an alumnus of the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris” (CNSMDP) where he studied accompaniment with Jean Koerner and earned his degree in advanced studies (DFS) with honors. He went on to finish his instrumental studies at the same institution and obtained first prize in improvisation (J‐F Zygel, T. Escaich), chamber music (Pierre-Laurent Aimard), scholarship (harmony, counterpoint, fugue) and education (C.A in piano).

At age 30, he prides himself on having worked with some of the greatest musicians, including Pierre Boulez, Christophe Eschenbach and John Axelrod in productions with the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. He has participated in numerous festivals, including the Festival of Young Talents and the Summer Nights Festival, and has performed in prestigious venues, such as the Théâtre du Châtelet, Royal Opera House, Salle Pleyel, Théâtre Mogador, Cité de la Musique and Unesco, and in picturesque spots, like churches in Savoie and Hautes‐Pyrénées, Parisian boats, the Spanish Synagogue in Prague and the Cinéma Le Balzac, where he provided piano accompaniment for silent films. He has performed in France as well as abroad at the Spoleto Festival in the U.S., in London, in Cracow and in Vienna.

Along with his classical training, he has also crossed paths along his professional musical path with such original artists as Bartabas, Damon Albarn, Keren Ann, Lambert Wilson, the dancer Toshiko Oiwa and others.

Currently a professor of piano at the “Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional” of Boulogne-Billancourt and professor of analysis at the “Conservatoire de Paris”, Michaël Ertzscheid regularly organizes master classes and gives lectures. In 2008 and 2009 these included, Piano and Improvisation in Grenada, Synesthesia and Music in Paris, Symbolics of Tonalities for the Haydn Projectin Eisenstadt, Lady MacBeth by Verdi at the Opéra Bastille, Perception and Reception in the String Quartets by Britten at the University of Tours and copyediting work on the opera edition Saint Frances of Assisi byOlivier Messiaen for Leduc.

Discography

Isabelle Durin’s first album, Romantisme Hébraïque, was released in 2008 on Jade-Music (Universal) with Michaël Ertzscheid on piano. The album is distributed in the U.S. (Ryko distribution) under the title Hebrew Melodies of the Romantic Era.

Michaël Ertzscheid is recording an album devoted to Réveil des oiseaux (Birds’ Awakening) by Olivier Messiaen as well as an album of contemporary and French music with Jérôme Laran on saxophone, which he will be working on in Japan in April 2010.

Program

French and Yiddish Works
Length of program: 1h05 of music, with or without intermission.

Links

www.isabelledurin.com
www.myspace.com/isabelledurin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxpeEo67bTg  

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