At the age of 13, Thomas Lefort earned the praise of Ivry Gitlis and became his most loyal disciple. Today, he continues to champion the musical generosity and heritage of the last great violin legend of the 20th century. Trained in France, Italy and Switzerland, he is known for his flamboyant virtuosity and rare sensitivity, inherited from the tradition of excellence of the Italian school of violin.
Born in Marseille in 1994, he began studies with Frédéric Ladame, Suzanne Gessner, and Patrice Fontanarosa before being unanimously accepted in Roland Daugareil’s studio at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, where he graduated with First Prize. He also pursued further studies with Salvatore Accardo in Siena and Cremona, and with Renaud Capuçon in Lausanne. A laureate of numerous international competitions, he notably won the Ginette Neveu Competition (2007), the Lipizer Competition (2009), and the Grand Prize at the Isaac Stern International Competition in Shanghai (2022).
Thomas Lefort’s playing is unanimously hailed by leading figures of the violin world. Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, evoked a style harking back to the grand masters of the Golden Age; Joel Smirnoff highlighted the spontaneity and the freshness of his interpretations; Maxim Vengerov remarked on a novel and operatic approach, while Hagai Shaham, Kyoto Takezawa and Jian Wang praised the originality, sincerity, generosity, and warmth of Lefort’s musical expression.
Thomas Lefort has appeared with numerous orchestras in France and abroad, including the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania, the Padua Orchestra, the Orchestre Pasdeloup, the Orchestre des Pays de la Loire, and the orchestras of Shanghai and Guangzhou, under the baton of Jean-Claude Casadesus, Dmitri Liss, David Stern, Lawrence Foster, and Bruno Mantovani. He has performed in prestigious venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Salle Gaveau, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Victoria Hall in Geneva. Appearing at renowned festivals—including the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg, Gstaad Sommets Musicaux, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, and La Folle Journée—he shares the stage with artists such as Martha Argerich, Vanessa Benelli-Mosell, Pierre-Yves Hodique, Yves Henry, Edgar Moreau, Lucienne Renaudin-Vary, and Itamar Golan.
Co-founder and artistic director of the festival Les Étoiles du Classique in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which counts Martha Argerich and Jean-Claude Casadesus amongst its sponsors, he brings together over 200 young artists each year, passing on the spirit of transmission cherished by his mentor, Ivry Gitlis. He teaches at the Alfred Cortot École Normale de Musique in Paris and performs on a copy of the “Tivadar Nachéz” Stradivarius (1709), made by Stephan Von Baehr.
His début album, titled Folk was released in 2019 under the Mirare label, with the support of the Ute & Patrick Petit scholarship. This current album is his third.
