David Grimal

David Grimal (born 1973) is a French violinist. He started to play the violin at the age of five. He won First Prize in violin and chamber music at the Paris Conservatory in 1993. Afterwards he did his postgraduate studies with Regis Pasquier. He also enriched and deepened his musicality by studying with such personalities as Philipp Hirschhorn, Shlomo Mintz, Isaac Stern.

David Grimal pursues an international career as a solo violinist, which has seen him performing regularly over the past twenty years in the world’s leading classical music venues and with prestigious orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berliner Symphoniker, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre de l’Opera de Lyon, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach, Michel Plasson, Michael Schønwandt, Peter Csaba, Heinrich Schiff, Lawrence Foster, Emmanuel Krivine, Mikhail Pletnev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Péter Eötvös, Andris Nelsons, Christian Arming, among others... He has been the honoured recipient of dedicated works by various composers, among whom are counted Marc-André Dalbavie, Brice Pauset, Thierry Escaich, Jean-François Zygel, Alexander Gasparov, Victor Kissine, Fuminori Tanada, Richard Dubugnon, Ivan Fedele, Philippe Harrowing, Anders Hillborg, Oscar Bianchi, Guillaume Connesson and Frederic Verrières. In addition, David Grimal has for many years taken part in recitals with George Pludermacher. They have toured worldwide and their collaborative discography, which features works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Franck, Strauss, Enescu, Szymanowski and Janáček, has reaped countless awards (Strad Selection, 5 star BBC Mag, Arte Sélection, Télérama’s ƒƒƒƒ, etc.).

David Grimal has recorded Schubert’s Sonatines with Valery Afanassiev. In 2009, his recording of Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas along with Brice Pauset’s “Kontrapartita”, a creation originally dedicated to David Grimal himself, was distinguished by a Choc de Classica – Le Monde de la Musique (France’s leading classical music monthly). His recording of Thierry Escaich’s Concerto for violin with the Orchestre National de Lyon was also awarded a Choc de Classica in 2011.

Since 2008, David Grimal has been Artist in Residence at the Opéra de Dijon. He teaches violin at the Musikhochschule, in Sarrebrück, Germany. He also presides over many Master Classes and was a member of the jury for the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris, in 2010. He was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministre de la Culture in 2008.

In addition to pursuing his career as a solo artist, David Grimal has been keen to explore more personal projects. The liberty afforded by his collaboration with Les Dissonances has enabled him to develop his inner universe by venturing into repertoires not available to soloists. With Les Dissonances, he has founded “L’Autre Saison”, a series of concerts performed to the benefit of and with homeless people in the Église Saint-Leu, in the very heart of Paris.

David Grimal plays the Ex Roederer, Stradivarius (1710) lent by Fazenda Ipiranga, Mguaranesia / MG, Brasil. He was awarded the European Culture Prize at Wiener Musikverein in 1996. France made him Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 2008.