Sarah Nemtanu | Violin

Sarah Nemtanu’s artistic career is a great reflection of her personality : generous, curious and enterprising. From her orchestral activities to chamber music, whilst also creating festivals and playing with artists from diverse musical backgrounds, Sarah Nemtanu is full of energy and new ideas. She is widely respected both by audiences and fellow musicians for her strong stage presence and her expressive and communicative performances.

At the beginning of 2011, when the Figaro Magazine made a list of the 6 women violinists in the world who were making a big impact on the musical scene, Sarah Nemtanu was one of them.

This is but one of the numerous examples of an unanimous international renown that started when Sarah Nemtanu was named concertmaster of the Orchestre National de France at just 21 years of age. In 2007 she was nominated in the « young instrumental soloist of the year » category at the French Classical Music awards. In 2009 she was the « real » violinist for the film Le concert by Radu Mihaileanu, and doubled the « sound » for Mélanie Laurent by playing the Thaikowsky concerto. Her CD Gypsic, released by Naïve in 2010 is still one of the label’s best-selling classical discs. One can frequently hear Sarah on the radio and see her on television programs such as « La boîte à Musique » with Jean-François Zygel, « Fauteuil d’Orchestre » with Anne Saint-Clair and under the Eiffel Tower in « Le concert de Paris ».

Her career began in Bordeaux, her hometown, where she started the violin with her father Vladimir Nemtanu, concertmaster with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine. Quick to progress, she joined the CNSM in Paris, under the instruction of Gérard Poulet, at the age of 16. During her years studying, Sarah Nemtanu discovered a passion for chamber music and orchestral playing. In the classes of Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean Mouillère and Alain Meunier, she obtained first class degrees in both violin and chamber music.

After success in international competitions 1st prize at the « Maurice Ravel » academy in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in 1998 and 3rd prize at the « International Stradivarius Competition » in 2001 she was presented to audiences in Paris in december 2000 at the Cité de la Musique when she played the Brahms Double Concerto with Gautier Capuçon under the direction of Emmanuel Krivine.

Her performances as a soloist at the heart of the Orchestre National de France have earned her great acclaim : for example her rendition of the Mendelssohn Concerto directed by Kurt Masur on tour in Italy. Her encounters with strong musical personalities such as Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Ricardo Mutti and Valery Gergiev, have taken her to the greatest concert halls in the world.

If she loves revisiting the « classics » of the repertoire, as for the disc « Gypsic », which evokes, thanks to her Romanian origins, the tsigane spirit and balkan rhythms, she also excels in more traditional works both as a soloist for classical concertos or premiere (Bechara El Khoury, Dimitri Tchesnokov) or as a chamber musician with the pianists Romain Descharmes, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Adam Laloum, her string quartet « Strada », her sister and also violinist Deborah « Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu duett » (they recorded 3 CD’S) or indeed the trumpeter David Guerrier, her appearances are always of note.

Sarah Nemtanu’s love for music is inseperable from the notion of giving and she likes to play to support great causes or to help with the musical education of young people ; the need to communicate and share being, for her, an essential element in her way of living through her art.

She regularly transmits her passion for the rôle of orchestral musician, teaching young students in master classes, academies or courses. Teaching is a very important part of her life as a musician. In this direction, she has been a violin teacher at CNSM de Paris since 2022.