Biography
Hailed by critics as an “outstanding violinist”, “of fiery temperament”, with “intense, brilliant, sumptuous sound” and “impressive virtuosity”, Virgil Boutellis-Taft performs as soloist and chamber musician in major international concert halls: Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Benaroya Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Cammilleri Hall, Salle Gaveau, the Phillips Collection, Tel Aviv Opera …, and with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Springfield Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra Emeritus, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, the Sinfonia Varsovia.
Virgil is invited to play in major international festivals including Bowdoin (USA), La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée, The Music Moments of La Baule, The Violins de Légende, Clairvaux (France), Eilat and Red Sea-Valery Gergiev (Israel), Valdres (Norway), Prussia Cove (England). In chamber music, he shares the stage, with artists such as harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, pianists JuYoung Park, Guillaume Vincent, Lise de la Salle, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Albert Cano Smit, Suzana Bartal, Cathy Krier, guitarist Thibaut Garcia, cellists Anne Gastinel and Camille Thomas … He also shared the stage in New York, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco with film composer and pianist Paul Cantelon, composer Tara Kamangar and Drew Heminger who all three have dedicated works to him.
His album “Between East and West”, recorded in 2016 for Evidence Classics/Harmonia Mundi, has been hailed by critics, in particular for its “incandescent intensity”.
“Engaging personality… sweet sound… sophisticated musical sense… facile technique… an extraordinarily talented young artist.”
(Peter Stafford Wilson, Music Director, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, January 2012)
First Prize of the Conservatoire de Paris at age 16 and a laureate of the Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation, Virgil continued his education at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, at the Royal College of Music in London and at Tel Aviv University for a post doc, as part of its “International Music Program”. Throughout his studies, he worked with soloists and pedagogues such as Michele Auclair, Zakhar Bron, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Schlomo Mintz, Igor Oistrakh, Haim Taub, Hagai Shaham, Almita Vamos.
In 2010, he won the first prize of the ISA international competition in Austria.
In 2012, he became a Laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation.
Parallel to the study of the violin, Virgil began the piano at age 7, with pianist Fanny Raust, classmate and chamber music partner of Ginette Neveu.
Virgil plays the Domenico Montagnana “ex Régis Pasquier” Venice 1742, by generous loan of an anonymous benefactor.