Born into an illustrious family of musicians, Régis Pasquier was immersed in music from an early age. This early exposure proved fruitful; at just 12 years old, he won First Prizes in both violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. Two years later, he departed for the United States, where he met Isaac Stern, David Oïstrakh, Pierre Fournier, and Nadia Boulanger. Impressed by his playing, Zino Francescatti invited him to join Columbia Artists Management.
Soon, Régis Pasquier was in demand as a soloist by all of North America’s premier orchestras, notably the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George Szell and considered at the time to be the best orchestra in the world. A few years later, Zino Francescatti invited Régis Pasquier to record Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with him for Deutsche Grammophon.
Pasquier’s reputation spread rapidly, and “his clear, full sound, his scrupulous attention to phrasing, his remarkable technical ease, and his perfect intonation” (Le Figaro) were qualities that earned him invitations from the world’s leading orchestras across France, Japan, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and beyond.
Throughout his career, Pasquier has performed under the baton of some of the most prestigious conductors, including Lorin Maazel, with whom he toured extensively in the United States, as well as Georges Prêtre, Leonard Bernstein, Alain Lombard, Michel Plasson, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jean Fournet, Marc Soustrot, Rudolf Baumgartner, George Szell, Matthias Bamert, Edo de Waart, Michael Tilson Thomas, Charles Dutoit, Tamas Vasary, Yoël Levi, Seiji Ozawa, Louis Langrée, Neeme Järvi, Eugen Jochum, Emmanuel Krivine, and others.
His widely renowned chamber music partners have included Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Menahem Pressler, Leonard Rose, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Murray Perahia, and Paul Tortelier.
Critical acclaim was matched by public recognition: in 1991, Pasquier was named “Greatest Soloist of the Year” at the Victoires de la Musique and received a Special Prize from the Nouvelle Académie du Disque.
Regis Pasquier’s extensive discography demonstrates his versatility in both concert and chamber repertoire. He has recorded the violin concertos of Berg, Bartók, Prokofiev, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mozart, as well as Kurt Weill’s Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra and Bernstein’s Serenade. His chamber music recordings include the complete Paganini Caprices and Beethoven’s violin sonatas, while his collaborations with the Pennetier-Pasquier-Pidoux Trio have produced acclaimed recordings of Ravel and Rachmaninov.
Eager to pass on his knowledge to the younger generation, Pasquier taught violin at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris from 1985 to 2011. Régis Pasquier regularly travels around the world and performs chamber music concerts—particularly with the Pennetier-Pasquier-Pidoux Trio—and appearing as soloist with orchestras in Australia, Japan, Canada, the United States, Central and South America, New Caledonia, Russia, not to mention Europe: Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden.
Also passionate about jazz, Régis Pasquier was invited by Stéphane Grapelli to take part in several concerts with his band.
The CMIM jury is housed at the Ritz-Carlton – Montréal
