Bio | Emilio Percan

Emilio Percan

Emilio Percan – Violinist, Conductor & Professor

Since 2006, Emilio Percan has been performing as soloist and concertmaster with leading European orchestras, collaborating with renowned artists such as Viktoria Mullova, Daniel Hope, Simone Kermes, Dorothee Mields, Ivry Gitlis, Maurice Steger, Julia Lezhneva, Vivica Genaux, Edita Gruberova, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Chen Reiss. His concert activities have taken him throughout Europe, South America, Japan, China, Israel, and the USA, appearing at venues such as the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Cologne Philharmonie, Gewandhaus Leipzig, and Berlin Philharmonie.

He has recorded more than 20 CDs for labels including Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA, SONY, Harmonia Mundi, Capriccio, Pan Classics, and Onyx Classics. In 2017, he released an acclaimed recording of Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 1, performing both as conductor and soloist – praised internationally for its period-informed sound and interpretative freshness.

Equally at home in historically informed performance, Percan has led projects as concertmaster and soloist with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, l’arte del mondo, Das Neue Orchester, and the FAMES European Institute. His stylistic versatility and cross-disciplinary curiosity are also reflected in his role as artistic director of the G.A.P. Ensemble, which he founded in 2012. The ensemble’s productions, often in collaboration with artists from dance, theatre, and visual arts, have toured internationally and been documented in award-winning CD and radio recordings.

Alongside his performing career, Emilio Percan is a dedicated pedagogue. Since 2012 he has held teaching positions at institutions such as the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Folkwang University of the Arts Essen, Kalaidos Music Academy Zürich, the State University of Arts and Culture Moscow. His students are prizewinners of major international competitions (Tibor Varga, Rodolfo Lipizer, Eugene Ysaÿe), perform at leading festivals such as Verbier and Kronberg, and hold permanent positions in world-class orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus.

He is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide, including at the Schloss Akademie (Hamburg, Vienna), TMMC Brescia, and Gifted in Music Kapfenberg. Since 2013 he has also directed the Jeunesses Musicales International Summer Academy in North Macedonia.

Born in Skopje, Macedonia, Emilio Percan received his earliest training with Isabela Golovina in Moscow and continued his studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen with Pieter Daniel, Dirk Mommertz, and Stephan Schardt, shaping his artistic identity at the crossroads of modern and historical performance traditions.