Philippe Graffin has established a reputation for his interpretations of Romantic French repertoire, befitting one of the few pupils of Josef Gingold, himself a pupil of Ysaÿe, for whom much of the violin repertoire of this era was written. His recordings, including many premieres, bear witness to a questing mind. His acclaimed recording of the three Saint-Saëns concertos is the first volume in Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series; he has also recorded concertos by Frederic Cliffe and Frédéric d’Erlanger (volume 10). He is a champion of the forgotten concertos of Fauré and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and has performed the latter at the BBC Proms.

As soloist, Philippe has performed with orchestras including the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Saarbrücken Philharmonie, the Residentie Orkest, Gothenburg Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and St Petersburg Philharmonic. He performs works by many modern composers, including Dutilleux and Saariaho, and has had works written for him by Vytautas Barkauskas, Philippe Hersant, David Matthews, Yves Prin and Rodion Shchedrin. Philippe is the founder and artistic director of the ‘Consonances’ chamber music festival of St-Nazaire, France, and has been artistic director of several other festivals. Philippe Graffin plays a Domenico Busano violin, made in Venice in 1730, and is guest professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.