RÉMY BALLOT / VIOLIN

Rémy Ballot, Chief Conductor of Klangkollektiv Wien and Conductor in Residence of Brucknertage St. Florian, has earned himself a remarkable reputation for tutoring young orchestras. In 2009/10 he was appointed Artistic Advisor of the Orchestra Academy in Ossiach (Carinthia) under the patronage of the Vienna Philharmonic. There he raised the playing standard of the mixed group of young up-and-coming musicians to an international level.
Through conducting the Upper Austrian Youth Symphonic Orchestra at the Brucknertage St. Florian in 2014 and 2016, Ballot expanded his special rapport with the symphonies of Bruckner while breathing new life into this great musical canon. The recordings of Bruckners tremendous Eighth and audacious Sixth symphonies resulting from this extraordinary collaboration have enthralled both critics and audiences (Record of the Month - 8th Symphony, 2015 - from the American magazine Stereophile), astonished that they are hearing only a youth orchestra. Or, in the words of critic Ken Ward, That they could rehearse and perform such a sustained and intense performance as this seems nothing short of miraculous.
Rémy Ballot was born in Paris and studied the violin (Gérard Poulet), music theory and pedagogy at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. While still a student in Paris, Ballot founded his first orchestra made up of highly gifted young musicians, providing him with a platform to develop his talent as conductor for the first time in public.
In 2004, Ballot moved to Vienna to develop his musical career. Soon after arriving he established himself as a regular first violin in the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, performing under the most prominent conductors. He also gained the opportunity to work as assistant conductor for several projects, including Massenets Manon and Hindemiths Mathis der Maler with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and Wagners Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra in Nantes.
Through working and performing with various ensembles such as the Stage Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, the Altomonte Orchestra St. Florian, the Academic Orchestra Association Vienna as well as the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Ballot continually extended his artistic repertoire. One unique result of these fruitful collaborations was a recording of Oliver Graber's Concertino for piano and orchestra performed under Ballots baton at the Vienna State Opera in 2013.
After having created a great stir conducting the Altomonte Orchestra in performances of Bruckners Third and Ninth symphonies at the 2011 Bruckner Festival in St. Florian (Upper Austria), Ballot was made Artist-in-Residence of the 2013 festival. He continues as Conductor-in-Residence at the Brucknertage summer music festival in St. Florian, where he is engaged in performing and recording the complete symphonies of Anton Bruckner for Gramola Records, the first ever Cycle to be recorded in the Basilika Church of St. Florian - for many years the "spiritual home" of the composer, who is now buried in the crypt beneath the famous Bruckner Organ. The next volume, of the Seventh Symphony, recorded in August 2018 during the Brucknertage, was released in December 2018.
His first recording of Bruckner's 3rd Symphony (2014) was awarded the prestigious French diapason d'or découverte and the highly coveted Pizzicato Supersonic Award, which has been given three times in succession for the latest volumes in the series.  Other accolades have included Record of the Month (8th Symphony, 2015) from the American magazine Stereophile and a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards (9th Symphony, 2015).
Beginning in spring 2018 Rémy Ballot has presided as Chief Conductor over the newly founded chamber orchestra KlangKollektiv Wien. The majority of the 40 regular musicians of the orchestra are also members of the most prominent and important orchestras in this most musical of cities, such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper. The inaugural concert of KlangKollektiv Wien in October 2018 at the Vienna Konzerthaus coincided with the release of the first volume in a series of the Schubert symphonies for the Vienna-based Gramola label, beginning with the 'Unfinished' and First Symphonies.
Furthermore Ballot supported Philippe Jordan and the Wiener Symphoniker as musical assistant in the concert and recording project of Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique and Lélio ou Le retour à la vie in November 2018.