Daniel Rémy - violinist

Born in Cambrai, France in 1934, Daniel Rémy began studying music at the city's Conservatory of Music. From the age of ten he played in the Cambrai Symphonic Society Orchestra conducted by his father Marcel Rémy. At the age of 15 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory where he obtained several first prizes; in Violin (in the class of Gabriel Bouillon), in Chamber Music (with Jacques Fevrier) in Professional String Quartet (with Joseph Calvet). He also obtained a Teaching Diploma.

On graduating from the Conservatory, he was invited to play in several chamber orchestras (Paul Kuentz, Jean-François Paillard, Maurice Hewitt etc....) In 1955 he joined the Lamoureux Orchestra which was at that time conducted by Igor Markevitch.

After returning to France in 1961 from military service in Algeria, he joined the National Orchestra of the O.R.T.F. (now the French National Orchestra) where he played until 1974. During his time with the orchestra he toured extensively around Europe, and to diverse regions and countries such as the USA, USSR, Latin America, Canada, Iran, Japan etc... In 1974 Daniel Rémy was appointed Concert-Master of the French Radio & Television (O.R.T.F) Chamber Orchestra. He held this position for one year before becoming Second Soloist of the Orchestra of the National Opera of Paris.

Passionate about chamber music, and in particular the string quartet motivated Daniel to establish, in 1974, the "Quatuor Français" (with Alain Chomarat - second violin, Jean-François Benatar - viola, David Simpson - cello). The group performed a large classical and romantic repertoire in France and elsewhere. The Paris Opera employed the Quartet for a series of ballets based on the Quartet of Verdi. Contemporary music was not neglected by the French String Quartet who performed works by György Ligeti (first performance in France of the String Quartet No.2), Luigi Nono, Pascal Dusapin, Philippe Manoury, Paul Méfano, Cristobal Halfter among others.

Daniel Rémy was frequently called by Pierre Boulez to participate in the Ensemble Intercontemporain. He was also violin soloist of the ensemble 2E2M directed by Paul Méfano. Daniel was consequently involved in a number of premiere performances with both of these groups.

Committed to passing on his knowledge to the young, Daniel was a teacher at the Paris Conservatory for a number years.

In supporting his profession, Daniel was actively involved in various unions while an orchestral member.

*Recording of the "Quatuor Français" : concert of 22 March 1981 at Église de Billettes, Paris. Taken from an all-Beethoven programme : Beethoven - Quartet n° 8, in E minor (op. 59 n° 2) First Movement mp3 Second Movement mp3 Third Movement mp3 Fourth Movement mp3 The other works on this programme were Quartet n° 9 (op. 59 n°3) & Quartet n° 10 (op. 74)

Photo : Stéphane Ouradou