 Violinist Gilles Apap brings a new energy and sound to the violin's virtuosity in a wide-ranging collection of classical and folk music. Apap is a classical virtuoso who is forging his own repertoire and style of performance; classical violin pieces mingle with folk and traditional music, accented with the flavor of jazz, flamenco and Gypsy music.
Gilles Apap was born in Algeria to French parents in 1963 and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music after beginning his training in France. He first appeared on the international scene in 1985 when he won first prize in the contemporary music section of the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition. Menuhin himself became a mentor to the young violinist,calling Apap "the first violinist of the twenty-first century. He improvises, teaches, and inspires. He has classical music, contemporary music, and the folk music of the whole world at his fingertips." French filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon brought Apap to even greater prominence when he featured the violinist in a two-hour 1995 documentary entitled The Unknown Fiddler of Santa Barbara. Monsaingeon, who has also made feature documentaries about Menuhin, Glenn Gould , and many other musicians, was particularly taken with the violinist's sound, calling it "music at its maximum purity." Apap lives in Santa Barbara, where he teaches, serves as concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra.
Gilles Apap greatly enjoys teaching young musicians. He has taught at both the Menuhin Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland and the Menuhin School in London and he returns regularly to teach at the University of Benares, India in addition to the master classes he gives along his concert tours.
Yehudi Menuhin wrote to him:
"The different folklorique music, particularly that of people who, sadly, are on the path of extinction, it's up to us to assimilate it, it's up to us to be inspired by what it has to offer, by its
characteristics, and to grant this music a new resurgence by way of the creative imagination of musicians who are able to play anything. For me, you are the example of a musician of the 21st century. You represent the direction in which music should evolve; on the one hand, the patrimonial respect of the precious classical works, presenting them in the correct style and with the intense communication that was appropriate to their time; on the other hand, the discovery of contemporary [popular] music and its creative element, not only in the improvisation, but also in the interpretation”
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