Vanessa Mollard, violin, student at the Manhattan School of Music with Patinka Kopec, was born in Antibes, France in 1982. She began her violin studies at the Cagnes sur Mer Conservatory, France, and the following year entered the Nice Conservatory in the studio of Mme. Artur, with whom she obtained, at the age of 13, the 1st Prize in Solfege and her Certificate of Completion of Musical Studying. In 1997, she decided to perfect her skills at the Royal and Superior Conservatory of Gent, Belgium with Mikhael Bezverkny. The following year, she came back to France to study with Pierre Hommage and she obtained, at the age of 16, her 1st prize in violin, chamber music, and her baccalaureate at the Conservatory of Marseille. In January 2000, she went to Indiana University to study with Franco Gulli, Mauricio Fuks and Henriek Kowalsky. She obtained her Performer Diploma in May 2002.Vanessa has played in numerous master classes with prestigious teachers and musicians: Olivier Charlier, Patrice Fontanarosa, Felix Andriewsky, Alexandre Brussilowsky, Gerard Jarry, Roland Daugareil, and Ivry Gitlis. She also worked with the Shostakovich Trio, and with composers Laurent Petigirard and Nicolas Bacri, whose compositions she premiered. She has also participated in several international festivals such as the International Festival of Gargenville with the famous pedagogue Emile Naoumoff, student of Nadia Boulanger.
At the same time, she has performed the Beethoven violin concerto in 1998 in Gent (Belgium), the Tchaikovsky violin concerto in Geneva (Switzerland), the Brahms violin concerto in Marseille (France) in 1999, and the Bruch and Sibelius violin concertos in Monte-Carlo in 2002 and 2003. In 1996, she played with the Cannes Philharmonic Orchestra (France) under Philippe Bender for several concerts. She won several competitions in France including the chamber music competition “Enfants du monde” and the violin competition “Royaume de la musique” in 1999.
[We hope to have a better photo of Ms. Mollard soon. This one was cropped from the portrait of the Zodiac Quartet. —Editor]
Musica Bella concerts: January 30, 2005; February 21, 2005; March 13, 2005; May 21, 2005; May 22, 2005
This bio last updated March 3, 2005