Tedi Papavrami is an Albanian violinist, teacher, and actor born (in
Tirana, Albania) on May 13, 1971. Although
it can most assuredly be said that he possesses a quite fantastic technique and
formidable artistic insight (second to none, in my opinion), he is much better
known in Europe than in the U.S. and therefore has a lower global profile than
he might otherwise. Besides being a musician
and actor, he is also a writer. In
addition, he has transcribed various works written for other instruments for his
use as violin pieces. Among them are
several Scarlatti piano sonatas. Nowadays,
that activity is rare among violinists, though it was commonplace in the old
days – say, prior to 1945. Papavrami
first studied with his father – Robert Papavrami, a violinist and violin
teacher – from age 5. At age 7, he
enrolled at the Jordan
Misja School of Art in Tirana. He made his orchestral debut at age 8,
playing Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs (Zigeunerweisen.)
At age 11, he played Paganini’s first concerto with the same orchestra –
the Tirana Philharmonic. Soon
thereafter, he was offered a scholarship by the French government to study at
the Paris Conservatory. He was 12 years
old. His teacher there – among others -
was Pierre Amoyal. Papavrami graduated from
the Paris Conservatory at age 15. He
studied further with Zino Francescatti and Viktoria Mullova. According to one source, he also received a
degree – I don’t know in what field of study – from the Lausanne Conservatory
in 1987. By 1986, he had already
established his base, so to speak, in Paris, France. Here is a YouTube video of his performance of
Paganini’s second concerto. I’ve already
heard nearly all of the recordings of this concerto that are out there and this
one is the best among them. Papavrami
has concertized around the world since completing his formal music studies but
spends scant time in the U.S. He is also
one of a handful of violinists who have played recitals composed entirely of
the 24 Paganini Caprices. In 2003, he
was engaged to play a principal role in the French film, Dangerous Liaisons,
with Catherine Deneuve and the notorious Natasha Kinski. In 2008, he was appointed violin professor at
the Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland and has been living in Geneva ever
since. In 2002, Papavrami was named
official French translator by the publisher of the works of his countryman, Ismail
Kadare. His recordings on the Naxos and
Aeon labels have been praised by every music critic. His first major recording (for Naxos) was
released in 1997. It features both
Prokofiev concertos. Papavrami’s
transcriptions - for solo violin - of the Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas have been
published but I know not by whom. Papavrami is also the violinist of the Schumann Piano Quartet - with violist Christoph Schiller, pianist Christian Favre, and cellist Francois Guye. Their magnificent recording of the piano quartets of Ernest Chausson and Gabriel Faure can easily be found on the internet. Papavrami's violin is one constructed especially for him by French violin maker (luthier) Christian Bayon.
