Elise Bertrand, violin
Gaspard Thomas, piano
A passion for chamber music and composition brought Élise Bertrand and Gaspard Thomas together in 2017 while they were studying at the Paris Conservatoire, and formed the basis for the creation of their duo.
Deeply committed to promoting lesser-known and contemporary repertoires, they had the privilege of participating in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Episode for violin and piano at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad festival in January 2022, at the invitation of Renaud Capuçon. They also record works by various composers such as Lekeu, Fauré, Ravel, Szymanowski, Prokofiev and Bacewicz.
Élise, also a composer, shares with Gaspard the first recording of her Sonate-Poème, Op. 11. During their collaboration, they benefit from the valuable advice of Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Roland Daugareil, Gordan Nikolic, Pierre Fouchenneret, Christophe Poiget, Geneviève Laurenceau, Itamar Golan, François Salque and Florent Boffard. They hold master’s degrees in chamber music from the class of Emmanuelle Bertrand and Claire Désert at the CNSMDP.
They have performed at the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, the Colmar International Festival, the Palazetto Bru Zane in Venice, the Auvers-sur-Oise Festival, in Alsace during the tour organised by the AJAM, at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Nice Classic Live Festival, the Vexin Festival, the Château de Grignan and the Prieuré de Chirens. In the winter of 2023, they will perform their First World War programme (Respighi-Janacek-Debussy) several times in Paris at the Musée Henner and the Musée de l’Armée.
During the 2024-2025 season, they will perform in Neuss, Germany, at the CRR in Nantes, where they will also give masterclasses in chamber music and composition, then in Rouen and at the Schubertiade de Sceaux, in Saint-Martin de Pallières, Castres and Uzerche, to name but a few events.
They will also be in residence at the Festival de La Chaise-Dieu in August 2025 and at the Château de Lourmarin in October 2025.
In the 2025-2026 season, they will perform at the Festival du Vexin, La Pochette Musicale, the Concert de Chausson at the Salle Cortot alongside the Silmaril Orchestra, in Venice at the Hôtel Nolinsky, at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory in Paris, in Crans-Montana, and elsewhere.
Since June 2025, Élise and Gaspard have been artists in residence as a duo at the Singer Polignac Foundation.
Their time at the Académie Jaroussky in the Tchaikovsky class also opened up their duo to variable formations, combining singing and instruments, and since March 2022, they have also been playing with Hermine Horiot and Jérémy Garbarg in a piano trio. An album featuring female composers is planned for release soon with this formation.
Élise and Gaspard have received numerous national awards (nominated for the Révélations Soliste Instrumentale des Victoires de la Musique Classique 2024 for Élise and Talents Classique Adami 2024 for Gaspard) and international awards (Szymanowski and Piano Campus competitions for Gaspard, Ginette Neveu for Élise, among others).
They are generously supported by the Safran, Banque Populaire, L’Or du Rhin, Fondation Oulmont and Gautier Capuçon Foundations, as well as the Société Générale Corporate Foundation, which lends Élise a Joseph Gagliano violin from Naples dating from 1796.
