Viola da gamba
Salomé Gasselin, an emblematic figure of a new generation of musicians, is bringing new life to her favourite instrument: the viola da gamba. Her career has been punctuated by numerous awards, including unanimous first prize at the Gianni Bergamo Music Award 2020 in Lugano, Switzerland, and second prize at the Bach-Abel Competition 2020 in Köthen, Germany…. The French paper Le Monde listed her as one of the ‘Promises of the Year 2023’, and in 2024 she was awarded the Victoire de la Musique Classique for “Instrumental Soloist Revelation”. In 2027, she is in residence at the New-York-City-based Villa Albertine, for her project “Une viole à New-York”.
Although she once believed that she would win her first victories playing rugby, Salomé quickly decided that the concert hall was her preferred stadium. She studied first at the Lyon CNSMD with Marianne Muller, then in Holland at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with Philippe Pierlot, and finally in Austria, at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg with Vittorio Ghielmi. Alongside music, Salomé studied modern literature in Paris.
Salomé is performing in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Hamburg ElbPhilharmonie, Bozar, AMUZ… and in festivals such as La Folle Journée de Nantes, the Thüringer Bachwochen, the International Piano Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, the Festival de Chambord, the Festival de Sablé, the Chigiana Festival in Siena, the Festival Radio-France Montpellier Occitanie, Classique au Vert in Paris, Paris Jazz Festival…
For her concerts, she has collaborated with ensembles such as Pygmalion, Jupiter, Masques, Ratas del Viejo Mundo, le Poème Harmonique and Capriccio Stravagant. In chamber music, she is joined by Daniel Zapico (theorbo), Emmanuel Arakélian (organ), Violaine Cochard, Arnaud de Pasquale and Justin Taylor (harpsichord), Daniel Zapico (theorbo), Paul-Antoine Benos Dijan (counter-tenor) and Kevin Seddiki (guitar and zarb). In 2025 she founds the Cairn Consort, a viol consort that focuses on a repertoire as vast as that of the string quartet, outside the box.
During the 2026-2027 season, Salomé Gasselin and her consort are joined by theorbist Daniel Zapico and director Eddy Garaudel for a project dedicated to the works of William Lawes, a project brought to life by La Belle Saison, notably at the Festival de Sceaux, at the Méjan in Arles and at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. She is continuing the “Prism” adventure in a programme where Henry Purcell meets Keith Jarrett. She is returning to the Philharmonie de Paris alongside counter-tenor Paul-Antoine Bénos Dijan, and is joined on stage, across Europe, by Justin Taylor, Kevin Seddiki and Emmanuel Arakélian.
Her first album, Récit, was released in 2023 with the label Mirare and critically acclaimed. In 2025 is released her album Mystères (Mirare), exploring Bach’s and Biber’s spirituality.
Salomé created the viola da gamba class of the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory of Marseille in 2021, where she has taught until 2024. She plays a French bass viol made by Simon Bongars in Paris in 1655.
Photo credit: Valentine Chauvin