About La Follia instrumental ensemble
La Follia instrumental ensemble was created in 1971 by a group of professional musicians from the Rhineland region with violinist Miguel de la Fuente as the main leader.
This chamber orchestra has built up a reputation of excellence which has quickly spread internationally. This was largely due to the quality and choice of performances.
Revive yesterday’s and today’s music…
La Follia’s musicians aim to make their audience discover new scores based on great classics of the repertoire, written by modern musicians, as well as rediscover past works, which have been forgotten. Having performed more than 2000 times in concert, La Follia has created over 25 works and its treasured discography has been awarded the ‘Grand Prix de l’Academie du Disque lyrique’ and the ‘Grand Prix de la SACEM’ for its recording of ‘Stabat Mater de Boccherini’. In addition, La Follia’s work in promoting contemporary music, notably in rural areas, owed it the support of the ‘Musique Nouvelle en Liberte’ association.
…from the greatest international venues to the smallest of towns…
From the beginning, the ensemble has always maintained that its music should be played in all possible locations. Its continuous work since 1971 has led the musicians to perform at renown French venues and tour abroad in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Egypt, Israel, Morrocco, Argentina, Chili, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Panama.
La Follia also delivers work of educational value and hence organises shows for schools in the areas in which their concerts are held.
…through a continuous endeavour to respect the authenticity of the works performed
La Follia’s musicians adopt a variety of styles whilst continuing to respect the authenticity of performances - often offering works of a certain era using different styles in a concert.
Hugues Borsarello, artistic director and solo violinist
Born in a family of musicians, Hugues Borsarello started playing the violin with his father at a young age.
After having won the ‘CNR de Paris Award’ (the Paris Conservatoire Award), Hugues joined the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris (the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music) where he learned with Patrice Fontanarosa and formed a piano trio with David Saudubray and Gautier Capucon. This also gave him the opportunity to work with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jean-Guihen Queyras. During this time, he was accepted in the ‘Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchestra’, which was directed by Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa and with whom he went on several tours accompanied by Yuri Bashmet, Yo-Yo Ma.
During that same year, he was nominated as the super soloist of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, and this enabled him to experience the symphonic repertoire and be part of several renown orchestras.
Since chamber music has always been at the heart of his music career, he plays at many festivals including the Deauville Festival, Les Folles Journees de Nantes and the Tautavel festival, alongside Jérôme Ducros, Laurent Verney, Philippe Müller, Gautier Capucon, Sarah Nemtanu...
Hugues Borsarello is often asked to play as a soloist, and this gives him the opportunity to play Bach, Mozart, Tchaïkovski, Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius concertos and pieces from Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Sarasate, Joubert, Vivaldi, Piazzolla ...
In 2009, Hugues Borsarello was appointed as solo violinist and artistic director of the La Follia ensemble, replacing Christophe Poiget.
www.borsarello.com