Who inspired you to pursue a career in music, and who or what have been the most critical influences on your musical life and career?
I never thought of making a career. To me, it is a path that I discover every day. Music is a craft where I feel at ease, and that spoke to me immediately as a child.
I would rather talk of inspirations than influences. I have always felt good around people working in and with nature; their sense of time and immediate connection to it is something in which I always found inspiration.
What have been the most significant challenges of your career so far?
I like to think that something is either easy or impossible. It’s a question of methodology. It might take more or less time to find the suitable latter one, but there is a method to everything. I always try to work as ergonomically as possible.
Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?
The most recent recording I did of the Strauss and Franck piano and violin sonatas.
I recorded them with the artist and pianist Guillaume Vincent and the sound engineer Martin Rust for the label FARAO classics.
Guillaume Vincent is a poet, a subtle spirit, and a burst of energy. His musical craft is of rare sensitivity and depth. The sound engineer Martin Rust is a meticulous worker. FARAO classics and its artistic team of people is a very authentic label, a label that works with great care and serves a musical purpose. The whole team that worked on this project has been incredibly devoted to the music. (The recording is available on www.farao-classics.de and on all streaming platforms.)
Which particular works do you think you perform best?
You tell me!
What do you do off stage that inspires on stage?
There is no difference for me. I go on stage as I am off stage. The dress code is certainly different, but that is superficial. On and off stage, it is the music that matters; I am just a craftsman working his best to serve it.
Inspiration comes from everywhere, literally.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
According to the different projects and concerts I am involved in.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
Not really, but I would quickly mention the lovely acoustic of the Hannover Radio Hall.
What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music audiences/listeners?
We have to present classical music as it is and stop trying to vulgarize it. Classical music needs to be understood and appreciated with preparation. It is not easy for anyone. One needs to read, open to it, train their ears, and be focused; it is an effort for someone unfamiliar with it. What is terrible about telling people the reality? Do soccer players say to their audiences that winning a game is easy? No, they describe it and talk about it as it is. Their audience has no problem with that; in fact that is what they like. Let’s be sincere to people, and they will join us.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Playing for Shimon Peres [former Prime Minister of Israel] was a special moment.
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
Success is a musical phrase that is long, full of meaning, well-constructed, and deeply incorporated in the global harmonies.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
I would suggest having one question in mind all the time: How?
Then if there is time left, a second one: Why?
Brieuc Vourch’s new recording of violin sonatas by Richard Strauss and César Franck, with pianist Guillaume Vincent, is released on the FARAO label and is available now. More information
Brieuc Vourch was born in Paris in 1995. At the age of thirteen, he entered the Juilliard School of Music in New York, in the class of Itzhak Perlman. He continued his training with Boris Kuschnir in Vienna and Daniel Gaede in Nuremberg.
He participated in the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, as well as in the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Academy in Germany. He has also received violinistic guidance from Thomas Brandis, Milan Šetena, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, and Leonidas Kavakos.
As a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists and ensembles such as the Philharmonische Orchester Heidelberg, the Copenhaguen Philharmonic Orchestra, Frans Helmerson, Nobuko Imai, Mihaela Martin, Tanja Tetzlaff, or Mojca Erdmann.
Winner of several international competitions, he regularly performs in the most prestigious concert halls such as St Martin-in-the-fields in London, the Grand Theatre in Shanghai, or the Alice Tully Hall in New York.
Brieuc plays on a Francesco Ruggeri violin from 1690.
He lives in Hamburg, Germany.
(Photo credit: Andrej Grilc)
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