Virgil Boutellis Taft

Described by critics as an “outstanding violinist” with a “fiery temperament,” an “intense, brilliant, sumptuous sound,” and “impressive virtuosity,” Virgil Boutellis-Taft pursues a career as a soloist and chamber musician on major international stages, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Benaroya Hall, Cadogan Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Cammilleri Hall, Salle Gaveau, Phillips Collection, Tel Aviv Opera, Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonic, and more. He has performed concertos with the Dayton Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra Emeritus, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, and Sinfonia Varsovia.

Virgil has been invited to play at major international festivals including Bowdoin (USA), La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée, Les Moments Musicaux de la Baule, Les Violons de Légende, Clairvaux (France), Eilat and Red Sea-Valery Gergiev (Israel), Valdres (Norway), and 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, and others.

He has 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, all three of whom have dedicated works to him.

His first album, Entre Orient et Occident, recorded in 2016 for Evidence Classics/Harmonia Mundi, was praised by critics, particularly for its “incandescent intensity.”

Virgil recorded his second album, Incantation, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at Henry Wood Hall, a “record to live with” according to musicologist Alain Duault (Classica, March 2021).

First Prize winner at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 16 and laureate of the BleusteinBlanchet Foundation, Virgil continued his training at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Royal College of Music in London, and Tel Aviv University for a post-doctorate as part of its International Music Program. Throughout his studies, he worked with soloists and teachers such as Michèle Auclair, Zakhar Bron, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Schlomo Mintz, Igor Oistrakh, Haim Taub, Hagai Shaham, and Almita Vamos.

In 2010, he won first prize at the ISA International Competition in Austria. In 2012, he became a laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation.
Alongside his violin studies, Virgil began learning the piano at the age of 7 with pianist Fanny Raust, a fellow student and chamber music partner of Ginette Neveu.

Virgil plays the Domenico Montagnana “ex Régis Pasquier” Venice 1742, thanks to the generosity of a private patron.