A “Truly communicative” (New York Times) and “impeccable and powerful soloist” (Neue Musik Zeitung), Franco-American violinist Elissa Cassini explores the full expressive range of the violin through her captivating tone and charismatic performances.Her concerto appearances include the celebrated favorites by Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Beethoven, Schumann and Sibelius. She also recently performed Philip Glass’s concerto, the ‘American Four Seasons’ with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne in Rennes under the baton of Laura Jackson.
Expanding on the traditional repertoire, Elissa’s passion for new music was sparked when Pierre Boulez invited her as concertmaster to the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra in 2009. She has since collaborated with internationally acclaimed composers such as Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Alexandre Lunsqui, Philippe Leroux, Tristan Murail and Kaija Saariaho. Elissa’s premieres include Jérôme Combier’s concerto ‘Conditions de Lumière’, performed with the Argento New Music Project and the Cairn Ensemble in New York and the NEM in Montreal under Guillaume Bourgogne, Anders Eliasson’s Concerto for Violin and Strings, with the Arcos Chamber Orchestra at the Berlin Konzerthaus and Nicolas Bacri’s Concerto Op. 116, with the Orchestre de Massy in France.
Elissa performed her Carnegie Weill Hall debut recital as a recipient of the “Artists International” prize, the same year she received her Masters degree from the Juilliard School. New York audiences have since heard Elissa perform at Zankel and Merkin Halls, Miller Theater, the Park Avenue Armory and Le Poisson Rouge. An avid chamber musician, Elissa was invited as artistic director of the 2016 "Musique dans les Vignes" festival in Anjou, France, performing with cellist Gary Hoffman. She has also performed at international chamber music festivals such as Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Prussia Cove, Coïncidences, Stift Festival and Musique à Marsac.
Elissa has created Duplexity Concerts an international series of virtuoso instrumental duos transcending the traditional recital format. Since it’s launch in 2015, Duplexity has presented programs such as ‘Ravel Un-Ravel-ed’ with Ashley Bathgate (Bang On A Can-New York), ‘Re-Inventing Bach’ with flutist Roy Amotz (Meitar Ensemble-Tel Aviv) and ‘Bar Talk’ with Daniel Rowland (Brodsky Quartet-London). Duplexity’s forays into dance, drama and new media offer innovative musical contexts for the violin and promote an evolving dialogue between artists and their audiences.