Yann Passabet-Labiste

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Biography

Yann

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Yann Passabet-Labiste is one of the most fascinating artists of his generation.
His ability to captivate audiences with the depth and intensity of his musicality, the finesse of his sensibility and his love and dedication to classical music are what make him one of the most influential artists of today.

Particularly prolific during the pandemic, in late 2020, Yann won three international competitions in a row within a three-month period and is now working on his new album for the label Syrius. Winner of the 2019 Golden Classical Music Award, Yann was invited to give a solo performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The French violinist started his studies in Paris and went on to win several awards under the guidance of Maurice Moulin, Gérard Poulet, Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian, and Liliane Béguin-Rossi. Yann went on to complete his master’s degree with Maestro Jean-Pierre Wallez at the superior conservatory in Geneva (Switzerland) and in 2001, was awarded a brilliant 1st prize of virtuosity and 1st prize in chamber music (trio and quartet) with a special distinction, under the guidance of Maestro Gabor Takacs-Nagy.
At the age of 18, Yann was selected by France Musique from over 100 musicians to perform a broadcast concert in the Salon Musicora (Paris). He was awarded numerous 1st prizes in international competitions and laureate during his career, most notably when he was 23 at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland. He is also a prize-winner at the Grand Prize Virtuoso international competition in UK, the Concorso Internazionale di Esecuzione Musicale “Premio Città Di Padova” in Italy, the Grand Prix d’Europe in Paris, among many others.

Besides his soloist and chamber music career, since he was 25, Yann has occupied the violin solo position in many orchestras in France and Switzerland. He had been a member of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich for four years and has given numerous concerts in famous concert venues with internationally renowned artists.
In 2006, he went on a concert tour in Japan with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In 2015 and 2016, Yann was invited to play with the Japan Virtuoso and performed at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, and Yokkaichi City Cultural Center.
Some of the most famous artists with whom Yann Passabet-Labiste has had the chance to perform are: Paavo Järvi, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Frans Brüggen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Emmanuel Pahud, James Galway and many others, and in venues such as: Paris Gaveau and Pleyel, Geneva Victoria Hall, Zürich Tonhalle, Luzern KKL, Berlin and Gasteig Munich Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Wigmore and Royal Albert Hall (during the BBC Proms) and Luxembourg Philharmonie, to name but a few.

In 2016, Yann founded Artistica Music Agency, for which he serves as co-artistic director together with his father Gérard Passabet-Labiste.

The famous violinist pedagogue Eduard Schmieder described the uniqueness of Yann’s playing, likening it to a very rare combination of dramatism and poetry.

Yann Passabet-Labiste plays a beautiful modern German violin signed by Boris Haug (violin maker in Mark Wilhelm’s workshop in Suhr, Switzerland), and a French violin by the talented Christophe Girardot (violin maker in Dijon, France).
He has also had the good fortune to benefit from the genius of Mark Wilhelm (violin maker in Suhr, Switzerland) for sound control and production.

Yann enjoys mountains, singing with birds, sunsets, yoga, and meditation.

Updated in March 2021.