Chaplin’s Smile

Philippe Quint
Multi-Grammy Award nominee violinist Philippe Quint is internationally recognized for his unique and insightful approach to standard repertoire, championing and rediscovering neglected repertoire and embarking on imaginative, exciting journeys of explorations and collaborations with artists of different genres. “Truly phenomenal” is how BBC Music Magazine recently described him, also adding that “Quint’s tonal opulence, generously inflected with subtle portamentos, sounds like a throwback to the glory days of Fritz Kreisler.

American violinist of Russian heritage, Philippe Quint is constantly in demand and regularly appears with major orchestras and conductors worldwide at venues ranging from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig to Carnegie Hall in New York, while making frequent guest appearances at the most prestigious festivals including Verbier, Aspen, Colmar, Hollywood Bowl and Dresden Festspiele.

Quint’s award-winning 17 commercial releases discography includes a recent debut on the Warner Classics label, a CD titled Chaplin’s Smile, that features 13 original arrangements of songs by Charlie Chaplin. The disc received worldwide acclaim, multiple Editor’s Choices from all major radio stations and such publications as Forbes, Gramophone, Limelight, Strad, and Strings. The album also inspired Philippe to create and produce Charlie Chaplin’s Smile, a multimedia show that will have debuts worldwide throughout the 2019-2020 season, including the opening of the 5th International Tchaikovsky Festival in Klin, Russia, Ravinia Festival, Baltimore Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County as well as its orchestral premieres of the show in Germany, Poland and Bulgaria to name a few.

Chaplin’s granddaughter, Kiera Chaplin said in Forbes magazine, “I think it’s amazing that in 2019, one hundred and thirty years after his birth, my grandfather Charlie Chaplin is still around and loved by so many, that even a hundred and five years after his first movie was made, he still surprises people. Philippe Quint's new album Chaplin's Smile is allowing him to be discovered by a whole new audience as a talented composer, a side of him many people did not know.”

Highlights of Quint’s 2019-2020 season include performances with Baltimore Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Bochumer Symphoniker, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony and Thailand Philharmonic under the batons of Andrew Litton, Steven Sloane, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Rune Bergmann, Jorge Mester and Carolyn Kuan.

Highlights of his 2018/2019 season included being named Artist-in-Association for the 2018/2019 season by Utah Symphony which included two weeks of performances with the orchestra and a recording by Utah Symphony for Hyperion label under the batons of Andrew Litton and Thierry Fischer. He also made his debut with Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, his Moscow debut with the National Philharmonic of Russia conducted by Maestro Vladimir Spivakov and took the Chaplin Project on tour with recitals in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Berlin, London, Utrecht and Bilbao while also making returns to the Aspen and La Jolla Music festivals.

In addition to his award-winning discography, the celebrated American violinist of Russian heritage has won worldwide acclaim playing with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Quint’s appearances in recent seasons have taken him to the London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Weimar Staatskapelle, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Komische Oper Orchestra, Leipzig’s MDR performing under the batons of such renowned conductors such as the late Kurt Masur, Edo De Waart, Andrew Litton, Tugan Sokhiev, Ludovic Morlot, James Gaffigan, Carl St. Clair, Michael Stern, Vladimir Spivakov, Cristian Macelaru, Kristian Jarvi, Krzysztof Urbanski, Jorge Mester, Jahja Ling, Krzysztof Urbanski, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Tugan Sokhiev, Tito Munoz, Steven Sloane and Bramwell Tovey.

In the 2016/17 season at the invitation of Maestro Vladimir Spivakov, Philippe opened the 28th edition of the Colmar Festival dedicated to Jascha Heifetz with Tugan Sokhiev conducting the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in a performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto.

Winner of  the “Ambassador of Arts” award in 2014 presented to Philippe Quint by Brownstone and Gateway Organizations at the United Nations in March of 2014, his 2015-2016 season highlights included debuts with Seattle Symphony with Ludovic Morlot, Milwaukee Symphony with Edo de Waart, Kansas Symphony with Michael Stern, Vancouver Symphony with James Gaffigan, plus returns to San Diego Symphony with Jahja Ling and Indianapolis Symphony with Krzysztof Urbanski.

In the summer of 2015, he hosted the 2nd Annual Benefit “Philippe Quint & Friends” at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall presented by the Russian American Foundation. The first benefit concert took place at the New York Times Center in 2014 and featured John Corigliano, Joshua Bell, Michael Bacon, J.Ralph and Emily Bergl. Along with Lou Diamond Phillips, Darren Criss and Lea Salonga, Philippe appeared at the Kennedy Center’s “After the Storm” Benefit Concert for the Philippines. Later that summer he also debuted at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a part of a special “Joshua Bell & Friends” concert.

Philippe Quint is the first classical artist to star in the lead role of a major independent film Downtown Express co-starring Nellie McKay from producer Michael Hausmann (Gangs of New York, Brokeback Mountain and Amadeus) and multi-Emmy winning director David Grubin. This 2012 film premiered in New York and Los Angeles as well as at a number of national and international film festivals including Woodstock, New York, Houston (Opening Night), Mons (Belguim), Cuba, Vermont, and Florida.

An active chamber musician, Philippe has appeared at the Mostly Mozart, Verbier, Luzern, Caramoor, Colmar, Ravinia, Aspen, Rome, Moritzburg, La Jolla, Lincoln Center and Chautauqua festivals in addition to recitals and chamber performances at the Kravis Center, UC Davis Presents, National Gallery in Washington and most recently at San Francisco Performances with Composer/Pianist Lera Auerbach.

Quint’s live performances and interviews have been broadcast on television by CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC World News, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg TV, as well as by radio stations nationwide including NPR, WNYC and WQXR. His recordings have received multiple “Editor’s Choice” selections in Gramophone, The Strad, Strings, and the Daily Telegraph. His remarkable degree of lyricism, poetry and impeccable virtuosity has gripped the eyes and ears of audiences in Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the U.S. with what The Times (London) describes as his “bravura technique, and unflagging energy.”

Philippe Quint’s formidable award winning  discography includes a large variety of rediscovered treasures along with popular works from standard repertoire. His AvantiClassics label recordings include Mendelssohn & Bruch Violin Concertos paired with Beethoven’s Romances with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería led by Carlos Miguel Prieto, original arrangements of Bach’s works by composer/pianist Matt Herskowitz titled “Bach XXI” , “Opera Breve” CD with pianist Lily Maisky, Glazunov & Khachaturian Violin Concertos with Bochumer Sinfoniker and Steven Sloane and Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Sofia Philharmonic led by conductor Martin Panteleev, paired with Anton Arensky’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 35.

Other critically acclaimed albums are on the Naxos label and include the world premiere recording of John Corigliano's Red Violin Caprices, Korngold’s Violin Concerto (Prieto/Mineria), William Schuman’s Violin Concerto, Ned Rorem’s Violin Concerto, Miklos Rozsa’s Complete Works for Violin and Piano with pianist William Wolfram, Bernstein’s Serenade (Alsop/Bournemouth) and a unique compilation of works by Paganini arranged by Fritz Kreisler, which BBC Music Magazine called “truly phenomenal.”

Making his home in New York since 1991, Philippe Quint was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now St. Petersburg, Russia), and studied at the Moscow's Special Music School for the Gifted with the famed Russian violinist Andrei Korsakov making his orchestral debut at the age of nine. After moving to the United States, he earned both Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School. His distinguished pedagogues and mentors included Dorothy Delay, Cho-Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Arnold Steinhardt and Felix Galimir.

The Chicago Tribune proclaimed, “Here is a fiddle virtuoso whose many awards are fully justified by the brilliance of his playing.” Among his many honors, Quint was the winner of the Juilliard Competition and Career Grant Recipient of Salon de Virtuosi, Bagby and Clarisse Kampel Foundations.

Philippe Quint plays the magnificent 1708 "Ruby" Antonio Stradivari violin on loan to him through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society®.