Sophie Besançon, Violin

Sophie Besançon began her violin studies at the Conservatoire National de Région in Dijon, her hometown. After entering the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1985, she was unanimously awarded first prize and then perfected her technique with Pierre Doukan. She then carried on studying with Viktor Liberman at Utrecht’s Hochschule in the Netherlands, where she graduated with distinction in 1996. She received awards in the Wieniawski (Poznan), Sarasate (Pamplona) and Tchaikovsky (Moscow) competitions and won prizes from the Yamaha and Sasakawa Foundations.

As a soloist, Sophie has performed with the new Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier and the Orchestre d’Avignon. In 1990 she took part in the Marlboro Festival in the United States with some members of the Guarneri quartet and the Beaux-Arts Trio.

From 1996 to 2001 Sophie led the Orchestre National de Montpellier and performed with her own trio in many places such as Montpellier, Bordeaux and in Japan. She became a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 2001 and still regularly performs chamber music (sonata and trio).

She currently teaches at Lyon’s Conservatoire National de Région.