Overview
With a deep belief in the transformative power of collaborative music-making, violinist-conductor Guillaume Pirard has become a highly respected artist and educator of his generation.
Since making his debut with the Orlando Philharmonic in 2016, Mr. Pirard has conducted the Lviv Philharmonic, the New York University (NYU) Philharmonia, the NYU Symphony, the Philharmonic of Moravia, the Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, the Mannes School of Music Opera, and the Mannes Orchestra. He served as Assistant Conductor for the Buffalo Philharmonic during the 2019-20 season.
As co-concertmaster and founding member of The Knights, Mr. Pirard toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with major festival appearances at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, the Festival-de-Paques in Aix-en-Provence, and the Salzburg Festpiele. Their most recent season included performances at the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Muziverein in Vienna. He has recorded with the ensemble on SONY Classical and Warner Music. His performance of Steve Reich’s Duet for two violins and strings was chosen as one of NPR’s “Songs We Love” in 2015.
A sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Pirard has performed with the Helicon Foundation, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia and Staunton Festival, the Context series at Rice University, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Quodlibet, A Far Cry, the Sejong Soloists, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie.
A dedicated educator, Mr. Pirard has served on the violin and chamber music faculty at New York University and San Diego State University, and has presented guest master classes at Cornell University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has served as a panelist and adjudicator for the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Born in Belgium, Mr. Pirard studied at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music, receiving a First Prize in violin performance at the age of 16. He continued his studies at the Juilliard School with Hyo Kang and Dorothy Delay. Following a strong desire to explore historical performance practice, Mr. Pirard studied in Den Haag and Brussels with some of the masters of the classical and baroque styles such as Vera Beths, Mira Glodeanu, and Anner Bylsma. In 2020, he earned a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the New School, under the tutelage of David Hayes.