Biography

Leila Schayegh was born and grew up in Switzerland. She began learning modern violin before moving to period instruments. Since then she has not looked back, and she is now regarded as one of leading exponents of the violin on the early music scene. On stage she is a captivating performer through her great expressiveness and energy, drawing audiences into her playing. Her repertoire now ranges from the beginnings of the violin literature around 1600, when the instrument was held lower down against the chest, to the high romantic period. As well as the core repertoire of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Brahms and their contemporaries, she champions works which have been unjustly overshadowed by names which are well-known today. In 2017 she released a highly-regarded CD with sonatas by Carlo Farina, and in 2020 she concluded a complete recording of Jean-Marie Leclair’s concertos with La Cetra Basel which has been very enthusiastically received.
Leila Schayegh is in great demand at major international festivals and a regular guest leader of both early music ensembles and modern orchestras. She enjoys a close musical collaboration with the harpsichordist, organist and conductor Jörg Halubek. The two players perform as a duo and have released several prize-winning recordings, focusing on the repertoire for violin with obbligato keyboard instrument. For the classical period and later, her accompanist is the Austrian pianist Christoph Berner on the fortepiano. Other important collaborators in concerts and recordings are Stephan MacLeod and Gli Angéli Genève, as well as Vaclav Luks and Collegium 1704. In 2019 Leila Schayegh founded her own ensemble La Centifolia, enabling her to expand her programmes to include orchestral works.
Schayegh’s recordings have regularly won awards including several Diapason de l’année prizes, the Diapason d’Or, Editor’s Choice of the Gramophone magazine and the German Record Critics’ List of the Best.
Since 2010 Leila Schayegh has been Professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, passing on her knowledge and experience to the up-and-coming generation of players. As successor to Chiara Banchini she directs a class for violin in old notation, conveying great expressiveness based on an extensive knowledge of historical sources.

www.leilaschayegh.com