Leila Schayegh · Musica pro tabula

Festive early baroque music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and others

BIOGRAPHY

Only one thing kept Leila Schayegh from a career in classical violin: early music. No sooner had she graduated with honors from the Basel Music Academy with Raphaël Oleg in 1999 than she was drawn to Chiara Banchini at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 2002, graduating summa cum laude in 2005. Since then Leila Schayegh has played her way to the top of the early music scene. As a soloist and chamber musician she can be heard regularly on the important stages of the early music scene, most recently in Utrecht, Bremen, Versailles, Warsaw, Milan or at the MDR Musiksommer. As a soloist and for workshops, she is also a guest with modern orchestras, in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe and with the State Orchestra Schwerin. A close musical collaboration connects Leila Schayegh with the harpsichordist, organist and conductor Jörg Halubek. Another long-time partner is the conductor and harpsichordist Vaclav Luks. After recording Benda violin sonatas (2011), they recorded violin concertos by Mysliveček with Collegium 1704 in 2017. Since 2008 she has also been concertmaster of the Ensemble Gli Angéli Genève under Stephan MacLeod, and as such has performed almost all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas. Today, Leila Schayegh is expanding her repertoire in the direction of classical and romantic music. In 2017, she recorded the violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms with Jan Schultsz for the Glossa label.
Twice in a row, her recordings have been awarded the Diapason de l'année (Caldara trio sonatas with Amandine Beyer in 2015, Bach obbligato sonatas with Jörg Halubek in 2016). Other awards include the Diapason d'Or, Grammophone's Editor's Choice, and the German Record Prize's Best List.
She has been passing on her knowledge and experience since 2010 as a lecturer at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she succeeds Chiara Banchini in leading a class for violin in old scale, passing on her experience to a younger generation: a great expressivity based on a comprehensive knowledge of the historical sources.