Serge Blanc

Serge Blanc (31 December 1929 – 29 June 2013) was a French classical violinist. A child prodigy trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, he performed from the age of 11 in Paris with the Orchestre Colonne and the Pasdeloup Orchestra. He studied further at the Juilliard School of Music and played at the Tanglewood Festival. Back in France, he founded several chamber music ensembles and became principal of the second violins at the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris. For several years, he conducted the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, but then returned to the opera orchestra. He taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, and edited Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. Early life Born in Paris on 31 December 1929, Blanc began studying violin at the age of six. He passed the entrance exam to the Conservatoire de Paris at age ten and studied with Jules Boucherit. He was awarded the First prize for violin three years later, later also the Prix d'Honneur for chamber music. Being of Romanian-Jewish descent, Blanc had to be hidden during the years of Nazi occupation shortly after he passed the entrance exam, by his teacher Jules Boucherit, who was named Righteous Among the Nations for having protected Jews during the WWII. Boucherit and Claude Delvincourt, then the conservatories director and a resistance fighter, still organized public recitals for boy. In 1941, at age eleven, he played as a soloist with the Orchestra of the Colonne Concerts conducted by Louis Fourestier. At age thirteen, he played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 2 and Saint-Saëns's Havanaise with the Pasdeloup Orchestra. He played another recital at the Salle Gaveau at age 15, which was praised by the press, and musicians such as Alfred Cortot with whom he played violin sonatas by Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Fauré in concert.