Christophe Desjardins
is willingly and passionately involved in two complimentary spheres: creation, for which he is an interpreter much sought after by international standing composers, and having the repertoire of his instrument opened to the widest range of audience.

As a soloist, he has premiered works by Berio, Boulez, Boesmans, Jarrell, Fedele, Nunes, Manoury, Pesson, Levinas, Harvey, Widmann, Stroppa, Cresta, Sebastiani and Rihm.

He plays as a soloist with such orchestras as the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the NDR, WDR and SWR Sinfonie Orchestern, the Orchestra of the Toscanini Foundation, the National Orchestra of Lyon, the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra and many other ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe.

After his solo appearance with the Théâtre de la Monnaie of Brussels, he became a member of the Ensemble InterContemporain.

His discography includes Diadèmes by Marc-André Dalbavie, under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Surfing by Philippe Boesmans, AssonanceIV and …someleavesII… by Michael Jarrell, LesLettresenlacéesII by Michaël Levinas and SequenzaVI by Luciano Berio, recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.

His CD Voix d’Alto (Viola voices), dedicated to the performance of Luciano Berio and Morton Feldman’s works, was published in January, 2005, with the label Aeon; it has since received the most prestigious acclaim from the French press: Diapason d’Or, 4F from Télérama, Choc du Monde de la Musique.

In order to make music be discovered and perceived in a different way, he has created productions involving other arts (poetry, dance, video…): Once upon a time the viola, Viola/Multiples, Four Fragments for Harold, Violist Songs…

Christophe Desjardins plays a viola by Francesco Goffriller made in Venice around 1720.

He teaches at the Hochschule für Musik DEtmold (Germany) and at the CNSM in Lyon