Following his success at the Fritz Kreisler international  competition, French violinist' Philippe Graffin was invited by Yehudi Menuhin, to make his debut recording with the RPO.  Since then, Philippe’s unique personality and emotional playing  has shaped a career that spans over 5 continents and reflects his ever-questing mind. 

His acclaimed discography ranges from Mozart to works written for him. Included are more then 30 concertos, from Saint-Saëns (initiating Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series) to the rediscovery of Fauré’s Concerto; original and forgotten versions of Chausson’s Poème, Elgar’s Concerto and Ravel’sTzigane; and concertos by Britten, Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor - the latter recorded in South Africa and performed at the BBC Proms.   

Orchestral appearances include those with the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony & National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, and St Petersburg Philharmonic.

Conductors Mr Graffin has shared the stage with include, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Roger Norrington, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Emmanuel  Krivine, Sir Vernon Handley.

He has given recitals at Lincoln Center, The Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Palazetto Bru Zane, Radio France, and throughout the US, South Africa, Asia and Australia. Philippe champions modern composers including Dutilleux and Saariaho. Pieces written for him include those by V. Barkauskas, P. Hersant, D. Matthews, Y. Prin and R. Shchedrin. A collaboration with Gerard Depardieu for Belgian television  mixed poetry and music, and was made into a documentary.     

A pupil of Philippe Hirschhorn and Josef Gingold, himself a renowned student of Eugene Ysaÿe, Philippe premiered a recently discovered 7th Solo Sonata by Ysaÿe, which he completed and edited for Schott. It is the subject of two recent documentaries: Ysaÿe is Not Dead (Belgian TV) and his original film Ysaÿe’s Secret Sonata (YouTube). 

Mr Graffin curated various events about Ysaÿe , a festival at the Wigmore hall, london , a concert series with the residencie orchestra in The Hague and more recently he founded “Ysaÿe ‘s Knokke “ in Belgium . 

Philippe was artistic director of Festival ‘Consonances’ in St-Nazaire, France for 25 years. In 2019, he created ‘Traces’, in Brussels, a festival featuring neglected works, often by composers whose lives were crushed during the Holocaust. It aims to also include young artists in rediscovering and performing innovative programmes.       

He teaches at the Royal Conservatory (Brussels) and the Conservatoire de Paris.