Biography
Charismatic violinist Laurent Korcia interprets an expansive spectrum of repertoire stretching from Baroque solo pieces to orchestral film scores. His extensive discography appears primarily on the RCA and Naïve imprints.
Born in Paris during 1964, Korcia revealed precocious ability that drew the attention of pianist Pierre Barbizet. At age thirteen he enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSM), where he studied under Michèle Auclari, herself a pupil of George Enescu. He captured the institution’s Premier Prix before securing the highest award at the 1983 Paganini Competition in Genoa, an achievement that granted access to Paganini’s own Guarnerius violin. Subsequent honors included the Grand Prix of the Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, first prize at the Zino Francescatti Competition in 1989, and the Young Concert Artists Trust prize awarded in London in 1990.
Korcia began touring internationally throughout the 1990s. His first commercial recording, issued on the Timpani label in 1999, presented music by contemporary composer Édith Canat de Chizy; he has since remained an advocate for her works and those of other living composers. In 2001 he recorded Leoš Janáček’s Violin Sonata for RCA Red Seal and continued to release additional titles on that imprint. The year 2002 brought him the instrumentalist of the year distinction at France’s Victoires de la Musique ceremony as well as the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
He has performed across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, East Asia, and Australia with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Yutaka Sado, and Kurt Masur. Equally active as a recitalist, Korcia occasionally presents unaccompanied violin literature, among them the sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe. He joined the Naïve roster in 2005 with the album Danses and has issued the majority of his subsequent recordings there, aside from the 2009 Cinema project on APM. His catalog encompasses concertos by Tchaikovsky and Erich Korngold, Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas, and the 2014 release Mister Paganini. In 2024 he returned to Naïve with Schubert, collaborating with harpist Anja Linder.
Born in Paris during 1964, Korcia revealed precocious ability that drew the attention of pianist Pierre Barbizet. At age thirteen he enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSM), where he studied under Michèle Auclari, herself a pupil of George Enescu. He captured the institution’s Premier Prix before securing the highest award at the 1983 Paganini Competition in Genoa, an achievement that granted access to Paganini’s own Guarnerius violin. Subsequent honors included the Grand Prix of the Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, first prize at the Zino Francescatti Competition in 1989, and the Young Concert Artists Trust prize awarded in London in 1990.
Korcia began touring internationally throughout the 1990s. His first commercial recording, issued on the Timpani label in 1999, presented music by contemporary composer Édith Canat de Chizy; he has since remained an advocate for her works and those of other living composers. In 2001 he recorded Leoš Janáček’s Violin Sonata for RCA Red Seal and continued to release additional titles on that imprint. The year 2002 brought him the instrumentalist of the year distinction at France’s Victoires de la Musique ceremony as well as the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
He has performed across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, East Asia, and Australia with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Yutaka Sado, and Kurt Masur. Equally active as a recitalist, Korcia occasionally presents unaccompanied violin literature, among them the sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe. He joined the Naïve roster in 2005 with the album Danses and has issued the majority of his subsequent recordings there, aside from the 2009 Cinema project on APM. His catalog encompasses concertos by Tchaikovsky and Erich Korngold, Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas, and the 2014 release Mister Paganini. In 2024 he returned to Naïve with Schubert, collaborating with harpist Anja Linder.
Albums
The Lyrinx Recordings (1994): Ysaÿe: Six sonates pour violon seul
2022
Paris-Manhattan (Bande originale du film)
2012
Laurent Korcia: Cinema
2009
Nicolas Bacri: Une Priere
2004
Tzigane - Musique d'Europe central
1999
Chausson: Symphony in B-Flat Major / Poeme / Viviane
1998
Singles
