Biography

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Eleonore Darmon’s playing is as vibrant and shimmering as her red mane. A flamboyant and multifaceted musician, she thrives as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.

At 5 years old, Eleonore Darmon repeatedly listens to her gypsy violin records. By the age of 10, she knows she will be a violinist. Her ardor and enthusiasm are noted by Ivry Gitlis when she participates in École des fans. Introduced to music by her pianist mother, Eleonore joins the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM) at 14, where she wins top prizes in violin and chamber music under Michael Hentz and Daria Hovora. She continues her studies with Pavel Vernikov in Florence and Vienna, enriching her playing with Russian violin school influences. “My violin is my voice,” she says.

Awarded international prizes and grants from the Banque Populaire, Cziffra, and Or du Rhin foundations, Eleonore begins her solo career at 16 with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Nancy Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing, who is as amazed as the audience by « this prodigious young violinist. » Her career expands with performances with various orchestras, such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (Sibelius Concerto), Baden Sinfonietta in Austria (Beethoven Concerto), Royal Moroccan Symphony Orchestra (Brahms Concerto and Double Concerto with Alexey Zhilin on cello), Aurora Symphony Orchestra in Sweden (Paganini’s Concerto No. 1)… She also has a long-standing collaboration with the Paul Kuentz Orchestra, with which she has performed as a soloist more than a hundred times in major repertoire works.

Soloist, chamber musician, whether in front of or within the orchestra, Eleonore Darmon views music as an act of sharing and communion: “Everything is chamber music! Whether facing the orchestra or within it, with piano or in quartet, the violinist must exhibit the same quality of listening towards other musicians.” In constant search, the violinist loves nothing more than sharing the intimacy and emotion of a piece with other artists.

A sought-after orchestral musician, she served as concertmaster of the Alliance Orchestra in Paris from 2013 to 2016. With this orchestra, she also performed as a soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in a filmed concert at Salle Gaveau in Paris, available in full on YouTube. Since 2015, she has been regularly invited as a principal or second violinist by ensembles such as the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the National Orchestras of Lille, Montpellier, and Bordeaux.

In 2018-2019, Eleonore was the Konzertmeister with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, performing among other works the complete Brahms symphonies. Marc Soustrot, the orchestra’s musical director, highlights her musicianship and indispensable role in the success of the concerts. In 2022, she is invited by the Aarhus Orchestra as a soloist in Brahms’ Double Concerto, alongside Jonathan Swensen and conducted by Hartmut Haenchen.

She also plays with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Orchestre National de France, the conductorless ensemble “les Dissonances,” the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and the “Consuelo” Orchestra. In 2024, she is the principal second violin for a concert at the Philharmonie de Berlin and performs as the principal violinist of the Orchestre de Paris at the Cité de la Musique. This diversity of roles within different orchestras gives her a profound understanding of orchestral dynamics.

In 2023, she is appointed Concermaster of the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lorraine, a position she holds the following year.

An authentic and cherished musician, Eleonore Darmon has had a passion for chamber music since a young age. She has had the opportunity to perform and develop her experience with partners such as Mischa Maisky and Frans Helmerson (Eilat Music Festival), Martha Argerich (Pietrasanta in Concerto), Gordan Nikolic (Chamber Music at Giverny), Lawrence Power, Emmanuel Rossfelder… Her duo with Antoine de Grolée, formed in 2011, is acclaimed for the intensity of its interpretations, and their first album, Tea Time, was released at the end of 2018.

She has also given masterclasses in Malaysia and participated in a musical cruise on the Danube alongside François Chaplin, Jérémy Garbag, and Pierre Génisson.

As an artistic director, Eleonore organized a chamber music season in Paris between 2013 and 2015, and since 2014, she has led the Festival de Sagonne, in the heart of Berry.

Eleonore Darmon plays an 18th-century Italian violin by Gianbattista Grancino and a French bow by Eugène Sartory.