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Sophie Pantzier, Francois Lefèvre and Johann Caspar Wedell founded the Franco-German Trio d'Iroise in summer 2017 at the chamber music festival Rencontres musicales d'Iroise in Brittany. After just a few months of rehearsals, they were awarded the coveted DMW scholarship in the final of the German Music Competition in March 2018, along with admission to the National Selection of Young Artists Concerts and the special prize from the Marie-Luise Imbusch Foundation in Lübeck. Since then, their concert activities have taken them all over Germany and abroad, including to France, Italy and Saudi Arabia. They are also regular guests at major chamber music festivals such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, Heidelberger Frühling and Europäischen Musikwochen Passau.
Their repertoire includes not only the famous classics of the string trio literature, but also lost, unknown and specially composed works. To this end, they are in regular contact with the surviving relatives of unknown composers and have also worked with arranger Malte Schiller to create arrangements of traditional Syrian music for Syrian musicians (oud, kanun and rhythm instruments) and string trio.
Since October 2018, the trio has been studying for a master's degree in chamber music at the HTMH Hannover with Professor Oliver Wille.
Sophie Pantzier and François Lefèvre are members of the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Caspar Wedell is solo cellist of Ensemble Reflektor.
Sophie Pantzier was born in Leipzig in 1987 and has been a member of various national and international youth orchestras, chamber orchestras and ensembles. She began her studies with Professor Egelhof in Lübeck in 2007 and moved to Professor Chastain in Zürich in 2010. Parallel to her master's degree, which she also completed with Professor Chastain, she was first an academist in the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester and then in the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester before taking up her permanent position as 1st violin in the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover in 2015.
Francois Lefèvre was born in Paris in 1988 and began playing the viola at the age of 8. He studied his bachelor's degree with Louis Fima in Paris and then switched to J.P. Vasseur in Lyon. He completed his master's degree with M. Buchholz in Cologne. From 2013-2015 he played a temporary contract in the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln before taking up his permanent position in the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover in May 2015. He has also been deputy principal violist in this orchestra since March 2017. Together with his wife, he founded the chamber music festival "Rencontres Musicales d'Iroise" in 2011, where the trio formed musically in summer 2017.
He has a particular musical interest in modern music and unknown works. The composer Christian Dachez composed a solo sonata for him and for his festival and string trio, he is in regular contact with the surviving relatives of unknown composers.
Johann Caspar Wedell was born near Frankfurt am Main in 1989. He received his first cello lessons from Professor Susanne Müller-Hornbach at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt am Main. He later moved to Professor Michael Sanderling as a junior student before beginning his studies with Sabine Krams in Frankfurt in 2008. From 2010 to 2016, he studied with Professor Leonid Gorokhov at Hochschule fur Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where he successfully completed his master's degree. He won first prizes at the national Jugend Musiziert competition in both the solo and chamber music categories, where he was also awarded the special prize of the Lord Mayor of Darmstadt. He was also a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation.
Johann Caspar Wedell was principal cellist of the Landesjugendorchester Hessen, Jungen Deutschen Philharmonie and Jungen Norddeutschen Philharmonie. He currently holds this position in Ensemble Reflektor.
Johann Caspar Wedell is a regular guest at various international festivals, including the Zermatt Festival, Kunstfestspielen Herrenhausen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Sommerlichen Musiktagen Hitzacker and Heidelberger Frühling. As a chamber musician, he has already been able to count musicians such as Leonid Gorokhov, Alexander Rudin, Ulf Schneider and Volker Jakobsen among his partners. In the field of new music, he has worked personally with Jörg Widman and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Johann Caspar Wedell plays a cello by Sebastien Vuillaume. |
