Laurent Korcia

Charismatic violinist Laurent Korcia performs a wide range of music, from Baroque solos to film music for violin and orchestra. He has a substantial recording catalog on the RCA and Naïve labels. Korcia was born in Paris in 1964. His talent was spotted early, and he came under the guidance of the pianist Pierre Barbizet. At 13, Korcia entered the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSM), studying there with Michèle Auclari, a student of George Enescu. He won the Conservatoire's Premier Prix and went on to win the top prize at the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1983. A perk of that prize was the chance to play Paganini's Guarnerius violin. Other major prizes followed, including a Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, first prize at the Zino Francescatti Competition (in 1989), and the Young Concert Artists Trust award in London in 1990. Korcia launched an international career in the 1990s, and in 1999, he made his debut recording on the Timpani label, featuring works by contemporary composer Édith Canat de Chizy. He has continued to champion her and other contemporary composers. In 2001, he recorded the Violin Sonata of Leoš Janáček for the RCA Red Seal label, and he issued several more recordings on that label. In 2002, he won the instrumentalist of the year honor at France's Victoires de la Musique event, and he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor that same year. Korcia has appeared in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, East Asia, and Australia, performing under such conductors as Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Yutaka Sado, and Kurt Masur. He is also well known as a recitalist, unusually performing solo violin works such as the sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe at times. Korcia moved to the Naïve label in 2005 for his Danses album and has recorded mostly for that label since. An exception was the Cinema album, recorded for APM in 2009. His recordings are a varied group, including one of concertos by Tchaikovsky and Erich Korngold, one of Ysaÿe's unaccompanied sonatas, and, in 2014, Mister Paganini. In 2024, Korcia returned on Naïve on the album Schubert, backing harpist Anja Linder. ~ James Manheim, Rovi