Emmanuelle Boisvert
Violin
Concertmaster, Detroit Symphony
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert wins the hearts of audiences, critics and musicians alike with an undeniable finesse and charismatic presence befitting her prestigious position.
Boisvert was only 25 years-old when she became the first woman to win the position of Concertmaster with a major U.S. orchestra. That year, she also made her first solo appearance with the DSO and, ever since, has given annual solo performances. Each year she plays something new and more challenging; she has never repeated a work. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press has proclaimed that, "Boisvert’s musicianship takes a back seat to no one," while Lawrence Johnson of The Detroit News has called her talent "brilliant, endlessly imaginative, daring…"
As the Orchestra’s leader, she is no less inspiring to her colleagues. Said Johnson in a 2008 feature, "for 20 seasons, violinist Emmanuelle Boisvert has served the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the steadying, crucial position of concertmaster – not just as leader of the first violins, her colleagues say, but indeed as standard-bearer of the orchestra's artistic aspirations."
Boisvert began her studies at age 3 at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec. With additional study at the Meadowmount School of Music, she attended the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she was a student of Ivan Galamian and David Cerone. After graduating from Curtis, she played for the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Marlboro Music Festival. Boisvert was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra when she won her coveted Concertmaster position in Detroit in 1988.
